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looking at buying a 1976 FORD F600 that has a 361 FT four barrel engine. I have not looked at an FT engine since 1978 when we sold our N600 truck.
My question is about the threaded port you can see in the photo that appears to be part of the distributor housing. there is a bolt jammed in there right now. I am sure the fitting is a NP thread which is why the bolt isn't threaded in. The vacuum advance is positioned on the opposite side of the distributor. There appears to have been oil leaking out from where the fitting where the bolt is and you can see the puddle of oil just below the bolt and the fitting. I have purchased a NPT plug to replace the bolt with. My questions is what is the port for? Is it somehow connected to the oil galleries? Additional oil pressure sender outlet?
I have looked at countless photos of FT and FE engines and I have never seen a photo that shows this fitting on the distributor housing. Help please! What is the threaded outlet under the distributor where the bolt is jammed in? 361FT, 1976 vintage in an F600
Thanks for the help. I expect it is where a mechanical tach drive cable would be. That might require some oil pressure for lubrication and hence the leaking oil. The truck has an electric tach in it now.
Originally Posted by 85e150
Welcome to FTE. Your post is moved to the Large Truck Forum
Are you sure the oil is coming out of the distributor and not that nasty looking intake manifold gasket? Some FT's had a vacuum carburetor governor that was operated by a centrifugal control valve in the distributor housing. That's what you have there. Looks like the vacuum source line to the carb. is still hooked up, someone used the bolt to plug the vacuum signal coming out. Can't imagine there would be oil coming out of it unless that distributor is completely worn out and you have excessive crankcase pressure from blow by and/or a plugged PCV. There is a picture of the complete system in this thread:
I believe you are correct looking at the photo in the thread. It appears someone likely swapped a 4 bbl Holley and intake onto the engine.
Question then becomes, will this run decently with out the vacuum being applied to the governor portion of the distributor. I do not have a good understanding of how those governors work. Vacuum advance still there and hooked up.
Originally Posted by Louisville Joe
Are you sure the oil is coming out of the distributor and not that nasty looking intake manifold gasket? Some FT's had a vacuum carburetor governor that was operated by a centrifugal control valve in the distributor housing. That's what you have there. Looks like the vacuum source line to the carb. is still hooked up, someone used the bolt to plug the vacuum signal coming out. Can't imagine there would be oil coming out of it unless that distributor is completely worn out and you have excessive crankcase pressure from blow by and/or a plugged PCV. There is a picture of the complete system in this thread:
I believe you are correct looking at the photo in the thread. It appears someone likely swapped a 4 bbl Holley and intake onto the engine.
Question then becomes, will this run decently with out the vacuum being applied to the governor portion of the distributor. I do not have a good understanding of how those governors work. Vacuum advance still there and hooked up.
Yes as long as the distributor does not leak vacuum. Still it's probably better to disconnect and plug the line (at the carb.) from the carb. to the distributor (not the vacuum advance line).
The fitting with the bolt in it is the connection for the vacuum line that goes to the governor on the right side on the carburetor
The hole under that fitting is for the mechanical tach drive cable
The vacuum hose connected to the fitting on the back of the housing goes to the carburetor
I don't see the vacuum advance in that photo
Some 361 FT engines came with a 4 barrel Holley carb like used on the 391
My brother had a F-800 with 361 2 bbl, a cousin has a LN-700 with 361 4 bbl
The oil leak looks to be more like the intake gasket is leaking
We had to install an old Holley 4bbl carb off a 1983 Mustang 5.0L (carb just been rebuilt) to get the old truck running. I had had the 5.0L running with this carb and it ran perfectly.
The 361 would idle fairly well but giving it a bit of throttle it would sputter and backfire even with choke until it was fully warmed up. Once fully warmed up that problem seemed to go away at 1000 -2000 rpm under gently applied.
However there were loud pops comimg out of the muffler periodically which led me to believe gas/air mix was being pushed out of one cylinder uncombusted. This occurred for first few miles then stopped. So I am guessing there was a stuck intake valve that finally freed up. Does this make sense?
I never checked the timing.
I know it needs a major tuneup and original carb rebuilt. Throttle linkage is quite different on the Mustang carb but farmer engineering got it to work to get it out of the field. I tried redrilling throttle linkage arm on carb to take the ball stud on the truck. Damn hard steel and even my HQ expensive drill bits could not scratch it.
