According to the carb number tag you informed us of, it is a 1979 carburetor. As a matter of fact, it was built on October 9, 1979. I have a sourcebook on Super Duty carb numbers and years and I will double-check that for you.

At any rate, the 79 nor 81 Holley carbs did NOT have anti-backfire valves. If they ever backfired through the carburetor, the power valve was shot! A bum power valve won't let it accelerate properly.

Also, check the operation of the governor. Especially in the last years they were built, Ford had a lot of trouble with the governors operating improperly on the Super Duty engines.

The Super Duty motors never had a great deal of vacuum. Check to ensure the vacuum line to the advance is good. Check to make sure the diaphram on the advance is even working. Mice love to gnaw on rubber hoses--along with almost everything else.

Speaking of mice, do check to make sure they haven't built a large nest in the exhaust system. A restriction, obviously, will heat up the exhaust. Since it is so hot and red for so much of its length, I am almost certain there is a restriction in the system.

Actually, since it is running so badly, I am compelled to believe it is a combination of factors. (1) Your description seems to indicate the governor is not opening fully. (2) The power valve may well have been ruined by a backfire. (3) A clogged exhaust system will make the truck seem very "constipated." (4) If the timing is also retarded, the exhaust will run terribly hot. (5) A clogged exhaust system will also make the pipes glow cherry red.

The truck is supposed to be timed at 10 degrees BTDC, regardless of the transmission used. It is supposed to idle at 600 RPM. It is to have no less than 6 and no more than 8 PSI of fuel pressure. The distributor is supposed to begin its centrifucal advance of 1 1/4 degree @ 500 RPM; the centrifugal advance finishes at 2000 RPM @ 14 degrees. The vacuum advance is 1/4 of a degree at 5 inches of Mercury. It is fully advanced at 9 1/2 degrees at 20 iches of Mercury--which is about the best you will ever get out of a SD. The D9HE EA carburetor is a model 4350 Holley used by Ford on the Super Duty engines from 1979 till 1981. The float adjusts so the fuel is just barely visible at the bottom edge of teh sight plug. The acclerator pump cam is set @ #1.
The choke is to be set at the 5 Rich index mark.

I could not find a governor limit spec for you. I could not find a governor close rate for you, either. You might find that from a Ford medium and heavy truck dealer.

Check the trigger wheel to stator alignment in the distributor. Each 1/2 tooth the wheel is out of alignment when a cylinder is to fire is 7 degrees the engine is off in its timing!!

The spark plugs are to be gapped at 0.044. Any gap wider than that and it may not be igniting the fuel mix, further enriching what is going into the exhaust system. Further, if the mice have gnawed on the plug wires, they MAY still try to fire the plugs without arcing to ground; but, the voltage MAY be reduced enough that it is not adequately igniting the fuel mix--also enriching what gets in the exhaust.

If you cannot find the governor specs, please let me know and I will try to get ahold of a Ford SD shop book. Or, if needed, I can call a friend of mine who works for FoMoCo. Just feel free to let me know if I can find anything more or different for you.

Good luck--and I do hope what I have sent proves to be at least some measure of help to you!!

 

Several years ago I lived in a small rural community with a volunteer fire department, my father joined mainly to help maintain the trucks which were all in need of repair at the time. One of the trucks I remember was a '75 F-880 pumper with a 475 engine. We gave it a tune up and rebuilt the carb once and I did test drive it. I recall it did have quite good power and had no problem getting up to 70 mph with a 1000 gallons of water on board. It was a 5x2 manual though not an auto. I do remember the exhaust getting a little red when it was pumping at night too. I'd say the advice on the carb rebuilding and the timing is on the right track. If all else fails the stock muffler on the truck may be too restictive even in new condition. Or maybe someone as replaced it with one too small, muffler shops are notoriously bad for doing this since a lot of what they have on hand only goes up to 2.5". I have run across this problem on many occasions with gas power trucks and motorhomes burning out or cracking exhaust manifolds, especially if they were running single exhaust. A restictive exhaust system really holds a lot of heat in an engine under constant, heavy load. I would think on a 534 the minimum should be a 4" free flowing heavy duty muffler for single or a pair of 2.5 or even 3" mufflers for duals.

 

My 534 manifolds glow dark red at night if I am working the truck hard. In fact I even burned a hole in one manifold and had to repair it by welding - I think we used a special high nickel rod. The material had turned kind of mushy - you could push a screwdriver through before we welded it. I checked the timing and advance and it seemed to be set properly and working OK. Mine is converted to burn propane, so I think it is a combination of the low compression ratio and high octane propane that causes mine to glow.

 

Sorry everyone for taking so long to get back...been sorting out a family issue. Turns out the old girl had eaten the timing chain and was dumping fuel thru the secondaries. Runs pretty good considering it still has an automatic behind it. I want to thank everyone for the help. I learned alot!

 

Timing chain??? I thought 534's had a gear driven cam, with no chain. Still, the gears certainly could be worn out.

 

Timing chain. That's exactly what happened to a '74 Ford E300 Cube van (SRW) , 302 V8,that I used to drive.

No power, running hot.

 

It had eaten a timing chain with only 11,000 miles on it? Wow....
Almost like the oil had become acidic or something.

 

The '74 E300 with a 302 lost it's timing chain within the first year of commercial service. It was a lo po 302 , very underpowered for a 8600 lb. GVW truck.

 

Was on a Volunteer Dept that ran an Engine that was an 85 Louisville L-7000 or 5000? I think. Had the 534 with Holly 4 BBL. If it is ordered as a Fire Apparatus that long ago, it should not have had the Emission equipment. Fire Apparatus used to be exempt. Hauling 1000 Gal. water, 1200 feet of 5" hose, 400' of 2 1/2" hose and a lot of equipment including ladders. GVW had to be in the neighborhood of 32,000 to 36,000 #

Anyway, had 4" free flow dual exhaust. More than once I can remember seeing the exhaust and manifolds glowing red after pumping in the summer for extended periods of time. It was a conventional cab, so we just popped the hood if we were going to be working for any length of time. This was a well maintained truck. Severe Duty service intervals were strictly adhered to. ISO always wanted proof. I do believe that this truck is still on the road as a frontline apparatus at an outlying station.

These trucks were not designed to be screamers moving down the road. Top end was 60 MPH. 534 is a stroker with a lot of torque designed to move heavy loads at a reasonable rate of speed. This truck was a good hill climber though for a gas engine. It had an Allison Automatic with a two spd axle. On the axle high side we could hit 75 MPH on the open highway with only minor grade changes. No torque for the hills if you were on the high side.

 

our dept has a 534 in one truck and a 391 in the other beleave it or not the 391 will eat the 534 up.

 

the 391 has the power and weight factor on its side. its a good engine.

 

What everyone seems to forget about the mileage on this is how many hours it has on it! I worked a well drill with the 262 6cyl. It was in a 1963 N600. It had 3000hrs of operation, the owner used the hour meter for service intervals, he couldn't believe it could be worn badly, only had 8000 miles on it. Figure 3000 hrs. at say 35 mph.....105000, if you go up to 50, 150000. How many hours are on the engine? How fast does it go at 2600rpm? Figure from there.

 

standard rate of coversion is 1 hour equals 33.55 miles. 100,650 miles.

 

I was going to say the exact same thing... used to be a volunteer firefighter myself... we had a '67 Chevy C-60 with around (now) 9000 miles on the original 327 but the poor motor is bad tired... there's no telling HOW many hours that thing has on it (no hour meter) but being in service for 40 years straight, it's seen it's fair share of duty AND maintenance. There's times i've seen the truck sit and run either at idle, pumping at 2500 RPM, or going down the road shuttling water for a drop tank for up to 6 hrs straight depending on the condition of the fire. Half the time it was me driving the no power steering, no power brakes, 4 speed beast down a one lane dirt road to get there! It was more like the truck drove YOU opposed to you driving the truck.

 

Well Kristoph30 don't feel alone I myself am and have been a Vol. Firefighter for 35 plus yrs., we have a 1972 Ford L900 with a 534 eng. and a 5 spd. trans. which they bought my 2nd. year in. This truck fits alot of what you said about your truck, can't get out if its own way, glowing exhaust the whole smear. I checked this morning the tag on the left valve cover, the timing says 8* BTDC, the carb tag says D1HF FA 2C1, other numbers on the carb are 6282 and 5741, now one of those I'm thinking one of them is the carb number. I'm thinking it might be a 650 cfm but I will check. In the town just south of me we have a shop the builds racing engines so I am going to them to mainly have the carb rebuilt seeing as how I believe it has never been done. Does anyone know if the lifters are adjustable of not.