It has been so hot I have not gotten out to cut the grass.
I keep telling myself its not that high LOL

You know I went to FV to see the Toro dealer and he cant get parts for the many more. I knew one was from 02/2010 and looking on line for parts the other was from 2003! I was able to find a kit with everything I need for $10.31 ea and free shipping so I ordered 2 kits.
If it dose not work I am not out a lot and I will just buy a new weed wacker.

Any way I went to Apex to see guys at my old job to say hi.
On the way home I went down 1010 to 50. Well some of the lights had a long wait time and when I got moving the truck bucked a few times and then ran good. Did this 2 time and I just thought fuel in the carb was boiling. Run find the rest of the way home.

Well today I was not so lucky. Taking garbage to dump I turn onto Fair Ground rd going for 4th gear and the truck shuts off?
Rolling I was able to get it started and a few feet more it bucks 1/4 mile it shuts off and would not restart
I pull the horse shoe connector off the coil and the 2 plugs to the DSII box. Coil looks ok but the plugs got green stuff and grease in them.
I have a test light and I scrap the contacts of the coil & plugs put everything back together and she starts back up.
Off we go to the dump fingers crossed and she makes it there, left running when dumping and run good back home.

I had to run to Smithfield out past the outlets and wanted to test if the truck would be ok for tomorrow so off we go!
Only thing I see is the AFR gauge is reading way lean. I hope when it shut off one time it sneezed up the carb and blew off a vacuum cap.
Made it there with out issues so lets try to Lows foods on 50 / 42 to shop. Run great to the food store and home.

It was too hot to look it over to see if a vacuum cap is missing and I want to clean and grease the plugs before the drive tomorrow.
I hope when I de-greased under the hood after the oil change water got into the plugs and caused a bad connection.
Driving in this heat made it show up. Other wise I got nothing. I need to find my old DSII box and throw it behind the seat if it is not there already,
I only replaced it because it was leaking the potting down the inner fender on to the garage floor but still worked.

Just in case I have to make sure I have the road asst number for the tow home if I cant get it running.
Dave ----

 

Seems like problem crops up at just the wrong time! I have a little steam cleaner like this if you want to borrow it to help with degreasing. I have used it with plain water, and I have also used it adding some simple green or purple power to the water to give it more grease cutting ability.


Running lean will make the ignition system work harder, so maybe there is a missing vacuum cap somewhere that set the whole thing into motion.

 

Thanks for the offer on the cleaner.
I have did the first cleaning with carb cleaner and letting it dry before I hit it with contact cleaner.
I will let that dry and then grease and plug it back together and fingers crossed no issues.

When I go back out I got to remember to check the vacuum caps and hope I find 1 missing.
The gauge was fine to Apex and back the other day.
If I dont see anything when I get it running I will use the carb cleaner to see if I find anything.
Dave ----

 

Well I think I got the cutting out fixed but need to drive it to make sure but ......

So I started checking for a vacuum leak.
All vacuum caps / hoses are in place Started spraying and after taking stuff off I found the intake manifold gasket had blown out when the truck was cutting off & on.

I had to order the gasket as Big O did not have it in stock and will not be in till noon.
Because it is running so lean and it looks to be only 1 hole I dont want to drive it 100 miles to the show tomorrow.
If they had the gasket I was looking to change it and be ready as I was looking forward to it as it was a nice show.

Well I needed something else to do over the long weekend other than cutting the grass
Dave ----

 

I'm sorry to hear you can't make it to the show but I'm glad you got it figured out. I'm just topping off my fluids, wiping the car down, and then hopefully have a nice nap before 6am.

 

Just finishing breakfast now, clean up and I head out to the garage to start pulling it apart.
This way when they call the part is in I can slap it back together.

I dont remember last years show on a holiday weekend like this years was it?
Hope all have a good time and be safe.
Dave ----

 

Pulled the manifolds off started at 7:30am and manifolds off and gaskets cleaned by 9am
Big O was to call me when the gasket came in but no call by 2pm so I stopped by and picked it up.

Son gave me a hand putting it back together. Lot harder going back together than coming apart!
Dropped a nut and washer but did not fall to the ground.
Son pulled out his phone bore scope to find and get them back.
The hard one was the washer as it is thick and I did not have any and you need it as it catches a lip on each manifolds.

It was running by 5:30pm got it up in temp, moved it from my garage to the house garage were it sleeps.
Tomorrow I will re-tighten the nuts take it for a test drive before putting the air filter back on.
Dave ----

 

Glad to hear you got the intake gasket sorted out. I'm assuming you found the washer that fell. Other than that PITA I guess the job went ok?

Saturday was a long day; I got up a little after midnight, did some tinkering and cleanup on the car, tried to go back for a nap at 3am but could not fall asleep so ended up being awake all night, then driving to the show, staying all day, then driving back. I got home at 6:10 which was almost exactly 12 hours from when I left - so that was a long day. But I had no problems to report on the car, ran good and didn't break down this time. Last year the show was on Sep 2, so that probably still would have been Labor Day weekend.


Don't fall asleep around these guys!

After all the 289 work I did a couple of weeks ago, I had resnugged everything after a test drive. But since yesterday's trip was the longest I've taken her on in a while, I just checked tonight and I saw a little seepage from coolant on one of the water pump bolts, and one of the timing cover bolts looks wet with oil. So I snugged everything again, many were too tight to move, but at least 4 I was easily able to turn 1/4 to 1/2 turn. Hopefully that does the trick, front of the motor is still clean - no more leaks! Just the seepage line from that one bolt.

193.5 mile round trip, and she only used 3/4 of a tank there and 3/4 of a tank back. That's probably at least 9mpg.

 

It was a nut and washer that we had to fish for but thee washer was the one I really needed.
With out that bore scope we would not have found either. The washer he was able to put a magnet on the end to get it out anything else we had could not get to it.
The back of my legs were hurting just pulling it apart and had to force myself to put it back together and I wont say how they feel today
But I want to go back over the bolts today so I can put the air filter back on and call it done.

That is a long day and done blame you for taking a nap. I am not up that long at shows and want to take a nap. I do close my eyes and hear them same people talk about doing something that is when I say something back
Good to hear the car made it up and back with out problems. A few weeps I dont think is all that bad more so after that long drive.
As for the 9 MPG might be something to look into? You got a Holley 2300 on that right? I have a jet kit but dont have any power valves.
When in gear at idle see what the vacuum is and as a start they say half of the idle vacuum and pick up a PV of that reading.
If the PV is open or leaking it can dump a lot of fuel and make the MPG go down. I am pretty sure was can get that up a little
BTW what do the plugs look like? You dont drive on the high ways but it would not hurt to "blow it out" ever now and then.
Get on at 319 and run down to 312 or up to what exit is to Benson 301 / 242 and take back roads back home.
That is maybe 10 miles at 65 / 70 MPH and that will not hurt it at all.

Mine running lean like it was, real reason for not going, and the cutting off & on the day before I felt it best not to push it for 200 miles with out more test driving locally. Going out after breakfast to go back over everything and put the air filter back on. May go for a drive have to see.
Dave ----

 

Well you are taller than I am, but to be sure my little 5 inch high step stool that I built for working on the truck has saved me over and over. Without it, I'm stretching tippie-toe to reach anything, which kills my legs, or else I would stand on a milk crate, but that is too high so I'd have to bend uncomfortably to stay under the hood and that kills my back. Now the only truck related injury I have is from constantly whacking my forehead on the hood latch. Lucky for you the Bullnose hood latch is a better design!


I been working on Ford trucks all my life..

So when you say you needed the bore scope, you mean the nut & bolt fell down inside the intake? I thought it fell somewhere but never hit the floor.

I never fill my car all the way up, so it's not possible to get an exact amount of fuel that is burned. Those old cars if you fill them, when the modern ethanol gas expands it pushes it's way out the filler tube neck. Not accurate at all to say "well it was a little over 1/2 before and I used such and such" but the best guestimate I have been able to do over the many years is that it is between 9 and 10 mpg. Now previously, when I had the motorcraft 2 barrel, I remember doing the same cipherin' and coming up with 17mpg, and that exhibited all the things associated with a lean mixture - the raspy throttle response, the higher engine heat, the highly sensitive to octane & detonation, etc. So when I put the Holley on and all that went away, I realized that they probably plan it that way - the solve all driveability problems by making the mixture richer. But I do the plugs every 5 years and yeah they look dirty when I remove them, but the car runs good otherwise. Now I know about the power valve and the hg number, but I get confused in my memory about which I did what to - meaning the F100 has a holley 2300 and so does the Mustang. The Mustang typically pulls 13-14hg of vacuum, the truck pulls 15-17hg. The bigger cam in the 289 probably bleeds some off while the 351 in the truck is bone stock cam. I probably could go one size smaller on the jets just to see.

I'm kind of annoyed that I can't find anything saved on my computer about the jet size I'm running, that is something I would typically write down. The only thing I have been able to find is several notes about a used holley carb I bought for the F100 a long time ago, it was one of holley's emissions legal carburetors from the 80's. I guess I tried several jets before finding the right ones because I have a page full of notes about it, but that carb was only rated for 275cfm and just wasn't very great at all so I replaced it with a new holley 5 or 6 years ago. I also found a note in my phone about the holley 350cfm in Andre's Mazdaratti having 61 jet size, which apparently we left alone but swapped to a lower PV.

 

I have one of them steps that fit over the trucks tire and has anon-slip step.
I either got it at HF or Northen Tool. It adjusts for different size tires and think how high the step is.
It works great and will not "kick out" from under you like a milk crate or step stool.
My back was ok it was the back of my legs as I was using them to support the upper body and they got a work out.
Hurt so much so I did not work on the truck today.

The nut and washer did not fall into the intake but between the manifolds and block.
At the time before I dropped the nut I could not get the intake to meet up to the head at the rear and did not want to force it thinking the nut also could hold it out and I would snap off 1 of the manifold holding ears. The washer I needed as I had no others and it had to be thick so it would not bend when tightening the manifolds. The washer sits on have of the intake ear and half on the ExH manifold ear and even 2 washers together would bend.
That is why I needed to find them.
The scope fits on your phone and the screen shows what the end is looking it. It has LED lights you can dim or make bright and has some different ends you can screw on. If it was not for the magnet end I dont think we would have gotten the washer because anything we had could not bend to get it.

On your full tank leaking you got tolove the fill a few inches above the top of the tank.
You could have filled it and by the time you got to the show would have used some and not leaked.
Should of had enough to get home without stopping for more I would think.
Running rich also dirties the oil faster. You are driving it enough to boil the condensation out of the motor so that is good.
My old carb notes should be in my Holley pit box. Just thinking I cant remember if I gave my carb notes for the drag car to the guy that bought my car?
Dave ----

 

On more modern tanks, say at least since the 80's, there is a thing inside the filler neck to only allow a certain size fuel nozzle inside. Remember they did that with unleaded being a tad smaller than regular, so that you could not use unleaded by mistake on a vehicle that came with a catalytic converter. That tight fit gives a place for the gasoline to splash back when full and trigger the thingy to cut off, but on an older tank like mine it's a really big hole, so you know it's full when it splashes out the back and cuts the nozzle off, which happens at the same time. Then when you put the cap on, it will drizzle out anytime it splashes back up against the vented style cap, so you get gas wash-down on the back panel and rear bumper. The best way I have found to avoid is to just to add gas when it's below 1/2 tank, and only $15 or maybe $20 at the most each time. I don't like seeing it above 3/4

I have seen those hook steps that hang off the front wheel, I would like to check yours out next time I am over. Just to see if the height is good for me. I agree with you on the milk crate kicking out from under me, has happened many times. The homemade step I made, not so much. It's wide and sturdy has never flipped on it's side on me even if I stand with my foot partly off the edge.

I have a lot of stuff in my carburetor box including several sets of jets, however I don't know what I have right now which would give me the clue on what to try next. So I think since cooler weather is coming, one of these days I'll pull the bowl off the front, see what is in there, and then replace them with a size down and just see how she feels. Probably not this week though as I have been meaning to work on the 85 Mustang plus I have more stuff to do on the trailer.

 

If I ever get the Javelin on the road I hope I dont have the same problem with gas out the back as my fill is behind the rear plate.
Have not heard of others having that problem even the Mustang guys and did not on the 2 fast backs I had back in the early 80's.
i know the fill is close to the top of the tank on the Stangs as the tank top of the trunk floor.

Any time you want to swing by and check out the step is good with me.
Bring the truck and we can try it on yours.

Yea if the red Stang is running and you got other work pressing and as hot as it has been no need to get into the carb jets

I been lazy & hurting so have not re-tighten the manifold bolts yet but going to today.
I also got to get the grass cut just dont feel like riding around for hours on a tractor LOL
Dave ----

 

Look at the bright side, at least this whole week is in the 80's instead of in the 90's so we're getting a break from the heat!

Does your Javelin have a vent tube at the top of the tank? I know two people with issues. Wayne had gas coming off the frame rail and made no sense to him because it was the opposite side of the fuel line, but finally saw it / touched it / figured it out, was coming out the vent tube on top and traveling all the way across & then down the frame rail. He said he believes the check valve inside it must be bad, but will wait to order a new one as it is a big job to drain & drop the entire tank just to get to it. Second person is Mike V, when he parked on a backwards incline at the car show, his charcoal canister filled with gas and was dripping everywhere. I don't how to go about solving that problem, I put a new charcoal canister in for him and advised him to never fill it all the way up again.

 

If you end up going over to Dave’s to check out his short person assistance device, give me a heads up. Need to clock more miles on Ol’ Blue so I might could swing by for a visit.