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The main thing that is needed is the distributor. The computer controlled the timing on the old distributor. You need a older style distributor that has the mechanical weights in it to advance the timing as the rpms increase. It will run with the old computer carb and you can get by with it, but it will run better with a older style carb you can get off ebay or Amazon.
So I would swap out the distributor first and get it running with that. Then you can unplug the computer and all the wiring and pull that out. Then later you can get another carb and swap that in.
The main thing that is needed is the distributor. The computer controlled the timing on the old distributor. You need a older style distributor that has the mechanical weights in it to advance the timing as the rpms increase. It will run with the old computer carb and you can get by with it, but it will run better with a older style carb you can get off ebay or Amazon.
So I would swap out the distributor first and get it running with that. Then you can unplug the computer and all the wiring and pull that out. Then later you can get another carb and swap that in.
Dave, he has the HEI dist. installed and he is trying to get it to idle as it goes up and down.
He has the feed back solenoid on the carb removed and a gasket over the hole.
I think he should put the solenoid back on the carb, leave unplugged and see what happens.
He also has a cracked exh manifold near where the 2 bolt together.
I had a non-Ford crack near there that made it run like crap so he will need to fix that.
Either a replacement log or EFI manifolds.
Wonder what vacuum reading he is getting when it tries to idle?
Dave ----
Three issues here, old vacuum cap, missing vacuum cap & kinked heat riser line.
I added some colored circles to your image. As Dave mentioned, cap the open port on the vacuum tree (red circle). Replace the cracked cap in the purple circle. The kinked heat riser tube (blue circle) is, most likely, not causing your current issues but that should be addressed. As of now, it does not appear you're getting any warm air to flow up to the choke. I know you also have electricity going to the choke so you may not need the riser line at all.
With respect to the crack in the manifold. I too think it's in the intake but if it's pushing air out, I wonder if something has happened to the exhaust/intake interface and that exhaust gases are pushing into the intake. There's also a flapper inside the exhaust manifold that heats the underside of the intake when the engine is cold. Once warm, that flapper is supposed to close (external bi-metallic spring) and direct all of the exhaust into the exhaust pipe. You may need to drop the intake & exhaust manifolds to determine what happened. You're going to have to do that anyway to resolve the cracked (intake?) manifold.
I’ve got it all capped as Branco said to. The riser line is kinked but it doesn’t go anywhere. That solenoid on the front of the carb directly pulls the throttle cable, but is unplugged and is just holding that screw/notch plate the pulls the throttle cable. I put it back on but now it’s idling super high and then dying. I think I’ll do the intake and exhaust mani’s and get a non feedback carb. I’ll start a new post for that
Ok that part you installed at the base of the carb and the plug that is in the center bottom is a TPS (throttle position switch) and if it is giving you issues you can remove it.
The part I was talking about is the plate with the 2 screws holding it at the top on the side facing us.
You have a white cap in front of it on the front side of the carb.
There was a solenoid bolted there. That is the one I wanted you to put back and not plug in to see if that would stop the idle hunting (up & down)
A non-feed back carb would also fix it but if you have that other solenoid you can try bolting it on and see what happens.
Dave ----
Ok that part you installed at the base of the carb and the plug that is in the center bottom is a TPS (throttle position switch) and if it is giving you issues you can remove it.
The part I was talking about is the plate with the 2 screws holding it at the top on the side facing us.
You have a white cap in front of it on the front side of the carb.
There was a solenoid bolted there. That is the one I wanted you to put back and not plug in to see if that would stop the idle hunting (up & down)
A non-feed back carb would also fix it but if you have that other solenoid you can try bolting it on and see what happens.
Dave ----
Ohhh okay. Yeah that has the gasket from the solenoid behind it. That’s actually what I put on to stop the idle hunting before I did the HEI swap. The solenoid went bad so I removed and plated it, and adjusted the idle up to compensate. Kept it running evenly but at 650-700 idle.
Thanks Dave and Jim and all you guys that helped me with this. I thought I was getting in over my head but this post made it happen and I learned a lot. I’ve some other issues to tackle and will start another post for that but it’s great to see and feel this project moving forward
