Timing question
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Timing question
Hi all:
Some of you may have read that I blew the engine in my '78 E-150 in April.
I've since found a good quality used replacement 351W for a good price and my buddies and I spent the last two weekends installing it.
The engine runs pretty good, certainly sounds better than the one I blew up ever sounded, but I've got some problems.
I need to know what the timing should be set to. I can't find this info anywhere.
I've got an Edelbrock 600cfm carb with electric choke. It acts like the choke is on all the time. I can't get the engine to idle down because of it. There are two terminals for power on the choke. Does anyone know which should be positive and which should be negative? I couldn't find the info on the Edelbrock site. This is the same carb I had on the other engine and it was working fine.
That's about it. Right now the engine is getting only 9mpg so I'm desperate to get it working right.
Thanks.
Some of you may have read that I blew the engine in my '78 E-150 in April.
I've since found a good quality used replacement 351W for a good price and my buddies and I spent the last two weekends installing it.
The engine runs pretty good, certainly sounds better than the one I blew up ever sounded, but I've got some problems.
I need to know what the timing should be set to. I can't find this info anywhere.
I've got an Edelbrock 600cfm carb with electric choke. It acts like the choke is on all the time. I can't get the engine to idle down because of it. There are two terminals for power on the choke. Does anyone know which should be positive and which should be negative? I couldn't find the info on the Edelbrock site. This is the same carb I had on the other engine and it was working fine.
That's about it. Right now the engine is getting only 9mpg so I'm desperate to get it working right.
Thanks.
Elder User
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 627
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Is the choke closed when the engine is warm? If so loosen the screws on the cap and adjust it so that it opens. The wire to your choke is from the stator pole on your alternator and is positive. ground the other.As for timing put a vacuum gauge on your vacuum tree and set the timing so that the gauge reads 1in. below maximum. turn your dist.(adv.) until you get the highest reading and then back off till the gauge drops 1 in.
Postmaster
Joined: Jun 2001
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6 - 8 BTDC is about where your timing should be according to stock recommendations, it can go higher but thats a safe starting point.
I noticed when I installed my edelbrock that the linkage kept the carb open just a tad bit and I could not get it to idle any lower, tweaked linkage and it was fixed, maybe its that simple for you. Next time you have the truck nice and warm after driving it for 20 or so minutes, leave it running, pop the hood and see if the choke is open or closed then you can rule that out. Good luck
I noticed when I installed my edelbrock that the linkage kept the carb open just a tad bit and I could not get it to idle any lower, tweaked linkage and it was fixed, maybe its that simple for you. Next time you have the truck nice and warm after driving it for 20 or so minutes, leave it running, pop the hood and see if the choke is open or closed then you can rule that out. Good luck
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Thanks all for your input.
Found out yesterday that even though I had the carb wires connected, the harness where I was getting power from had become unplugged near the firewall. Plugging the harness back in solved the choke and idle problem completely.
I'll see about getting help to set the timing. Being disabled I'm unable to reach to do it myself, but I have friends and some family who are good at following instructions.
I bought the engine earlier this month and three good friends of mine installed it for me. I blew the old one up. The old engine had around 270,000 miles on it.
It was an interesting install. Only one of us is a true gearhead. He likes to drag race AMC's. One friend is an unemployed baker, another works on electrical & electronics, heating, air conditioning, and plumbing in motor homes and travel trailers, and I work on computers.
So basically we had one guy who knew what he was doing mechanically, one who is very mechanically enclined, one who knows nothing at all about anything having to do with engines and such, and me. I know why an engine works, I know how an engine works, and I have a vague idea on how an engine is mounted to the chassis and transmission, but very little else.
It took us two complete weekends to remove the dead engine and install the working engine and make it run again. Not bad for a group of novices.
I still have to replace an L shaped short water hose which looks iffy, re-connect the tach, find out why the engine is missing, and adjust that timing.
The engine has good compression on all eight cylanders so I think I may need to replace spark plug wires, or it's because of the timing, I'm not sure.
My friend Clint and I tried to adjust the air/fuel mixture on the carb last night, but it bacame very obvious to us both that we don't know what we're doing so we set it back to where it was when we started. I may have to find a mechanic to do that job.
Thanks again for the help, sorry for rambling, but I'm excited to have my van running again.
BTW, The van is a '78 E-150 an can be seen at http://www.moselle.com/~jamesd/van.html
It needs some body work and a complete paint job but I really like this van alot.
Found out yesterday that even though I had the carb wires connected, the harness where I was getting power from had become unplugged near the firewall. Plugging the harness back in solved the choke and idle problem completely.
I'll see about getting help to set the timing. Being disabled I'm unable to reach to do it myself, but I have friends and some family who are good at following instructions.
I bought the engine earlier this month and three good friends of mine installed it for me. I blew the old one up. The old engine had around 270,000 miles on it.
It was an interesting install. Only one of us is a true gearhead. He likes to drag race AMC's. One friend is an unemployed baker, another works on electrical & electronics, heating, air conditioning, and plumbing in motor homes and travel trailers, and I work on computers.
So basically we had one guy who knew what he was doing mechanically, one who is very mechanically enclined, one who knows nothing at all about anything having to do with engines and such, and me. I know why an engine works, I know how an engine works, and I have a vague idea on how an engine is mounted to the chassis and transmission, but very little else.
It took us two complete weekends to remove the dead engine and install the working engine and make it run again. Not bad for a group of novices.
I still have to replace an L shaped short water hose which looks iffy, re-connect the tach, find out why the engine is missing, and adjust that timing.
The engine has good compression on all eight cylanders so I think I may need to replace spark plug wires, or it's because of the timing, I'm not sure.
My friend Clint and I tried to adjust the air/fuel mixture on the carb last night, but it bacame very obvious to us both that we don't know what we're doing so we set it back to where it was when we started. I may have to find a mechanic to do that job.
Thanks again for the help, sorry for rambling, but I'm excited to have my van running again.
BTW, The van is a '78 E-150 an can be seen at http://www.moselle.com/~jamesd/van.html
It needs some body work and a complete paint job but I really like this van alot.
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Fantastic, thanks.
Originally Posted by daerhldgs2
air /fuel is easy, turn the screws one at a time clockwise until the rpm's slow and then slowly turn the screws counterclockwise until the max rpm is attained, if you go to far it will slow down again.
