Hey guys, i have a question about my '84 460 in an f-250 4x4, when i first start her up in the morning, it cranks over just fine, starts up real good and idles high like it should for about 15 seconds...then the idle drops and it starts to miss... blowing blue/kinda blackish smoke out both the tailpipes...

sometimes this lasts longer than other times, but it tends to miss for only about 30 sec-3 minutes, then idles high again with no problems and just spits water/vapor out the tailpipes...

i'm thinking about replacing the plug wires whereas they are the stock wires and did not get changed at the last tune-up. which was about 10 months ago including cap, rotor and plugs.

any info would help, thanks guys!
-James

 

Sounds like your choke butterfly valve is hanging up and making the engine run very rich until the choke warms up all the way. Pull the air cleaner off when its cold and start it up. Watch the butterfly and it should open smoothly after first opening a bit at start up. Try opening it a little bit with your finger and see if the engine runs better. Then the fun starts looking for where it is sticking. The black smoke is telling you its running too rich.

 

alright, thanks Bear 45/70, i'll check that out in the next few days, and i'll get back to ya...


and another thing, is there anyway to adjust the mixture settings on these stock holley carbs?

 

Yes, The mixture screws are on the front of the carb in the base plate under the float bowl. They have plugs over them, which you have to remove. Easiest way is to drill a 1/8" hole in them, screw a sheet metal screw into them and yank them out with a pair of vise grips. They aren't very effective, at least mine aren't, but they came in ok, I'm up to 9+mpg now with the 3" single exhaust system. I will be replacing it soon with an old 4050 List # 1850, 600CFM Holley. I understand these older carbs better than emission carbs. Will also be doing a dist. advance curve job when I replace the carb.

 

hey man, thanks, i was also looking into getting a new carb, but i was going to go with the 750 edelbrock, i know i've heard mixed reviews and i have one on a '77 f-250 ranger w/ the 460, runs great, what do you think, or what are your personal experiances with them?....and thanks for the info on the mixture screws

 

Ok, here my view. Back when the Edelbrock carbs were still called Carter carbs, ran a pair on a 1966 426 Hemi. The damn things were fire prone if the engine hiccupped(back fired). Ran holleys, both 2V, 4V, two-2V, two-4v and three-2V set ups. Biggest problem was towing the cars to the races after the car had set for a week or 2 and had no fuel in the float bowls. the floats would bounce up and down and lower the float level. Finally got smart and just ran the engine before towing. Street engines don't have that problem. I find the Holley's to be a lot simpler to tune. Jet changes are easy(I have a complete set of jets with pairs running from 45's to 120's). Changing the secondary opening is just a matter of a spring change, made even easier by the new easy access plastic topped vacuum units. You can change the accelerator pump charge amount and duration with a simple cam change. Last but not least the floats are easy to adjust externally and the mixture scew are also easier to get at. Otherwise the "KISS" principle applies; you know "Keep It Simple, Stupid" and that's been my life style for a long time now. I got to go to a Holley Tech school at a National drag race in Texas many years ago and after fighting Q-jets before have never looked for anything other than a Holley for replacing stock or hot rodding.

 

not a big edelbrock fan i take it, thanks for the info, i'll keep that in mind, and thanks again for all the other info