The Big Six Blues
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From: Montana
The Big Six Blues
So my father has an '84 F150 4x4. It's got the 300 Six in front of a 3-speed manual. He has some carb problems.
He got the truck around 50,000 miles. He rebuilt the original carb on it at 72,000 miles. The new engine (same kind) was put in at 75,000; along with a new rebuilt 1-barrel carb from Holley. That Holley rebuilt carb he has now has always gave him trouble for as long as I can remember. The engine will flood, the choke don't work too well, and it "diesels" quite a bit after you turn the engine off. The engine is in great condition and my dad keeps a strict maintaince schedule. The truck has 100,000 miles on it right now.
Is there some way to fix the problems my dad has? Can he keep this carb or should he get another one? I have the tag from the original carb as well as some numbers that were cast cast into the carb my dad has now if any numbers are needed.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for readin'.
-"$lick"
He got the truck around 50,000 miles. He rebuilt the original carb on it at 72,000 miles. The new engine (same kind) was put in at 75,000; along with a new rebuilt 1-barrel carb from Holley. That Holley rebuilt carb he has now has always gave him trouble for as long as I can remember. The engine will flood, the choke don't work too well, and it "diesels" quite a bit after you turn the engine off. The engine is in great condition and my dad keeps a strict maintaince schedule. The truck has 100,000 miles on it right now.
Is there some way to fix the problems my dad has? Can he keep this carb or should he get another one? I have the tag from the original carb as well as some numbers that were cast cast into the carb my dad has now if any numbers are needed.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for readin'.
-"$lick"
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From: Montana
Would a different carb affect the gas mileage? I don't mean so much as to raise it up but take it down. Right now, he gets 13-15 mpg with no load. He wouldn't be too inclined to get a different carb if it would hurt the gas mileage.
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From: Nashville
There were dozens of versions of the Carter 1bbl carb over the years, and holley rebuilds and sells many of them. Your dad might have gotten a bum carb or it might just be he was sold the wrong variant.
When I switched from the stock 1bbl Carter carb to the 4bbl Holley 390 on an offenhauser DP intake I saw a big jump in power and actually got on average 2mpg better. The 1bbl carbs are very inefficient... no bones about it. If you don't want the expense of switching intakes you can get a 2bbl to 1bbl adapter plate and use a small holley 2bbl carb.
As to the dieseling... that seems to be a universal problem with the 300's in stock form. With the intake soooo close to the exhaust there's tons of heat transfer so gas boiling over and causing dieseling/ flooding is no real surprise. An insulated spacer between the carb and manifold would probably help, but don't know of one available for the 1bbl carb.
When I switched from the stock 1bbl Carter carb to the 4bbl Holley 390 on an offenhauser DP intake I saw a big jump in power and actually got on average 2mpg better. The 1bbl carbs are very inefficient... no bones about it. If you don't want the expense of switching intakes you can get a 2bbl to 1bbl adapter plate and use a small holley 2bbl carb.
As to the dieseling... that seems to be a universal problem with the 300's in stock form. With the intake soooo close to the exhaust there's tons of heat transfer so gas boiling over and causing dieseling/ flooding is no real surprise. An insulated spacer between the carb and manifold would probably help, but don't know of one available for the 1bbl carb.
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I've been finding some pretty cool stuff in the sticky for performance mods to carbed 300's. I'm gonna' see if I can convince my dad it would be worth his time to upgrade the stock exhaust manifold.
I found the adapter plate for a Holley 2-barrel at the Clifford site. Summit has Holley 2-barrels in their magazine.
You guys have been a lot of help. Thanks.
-"$lick"
I found the adapter plate for a Holley 2-barrel at the Clifford site. Summit has Holley 2-barrels in their magazine.
You guys have been a lot of help. Thanks.
-"$lick"
Last edited by condolan; Aug 14, 2006 at 11:39 AM.
Tuned
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Your last motor should have gone farther than 75K. The TFI ignition is crap. Rip it out and put in a dizzy with vacumn advance, old school. Got net problems and have to make this short. Cya.
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Tuned
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I have a 85 300I6 that had the TFI ignition. All the sensors did not work with the computor. The computor changes the timing and also is connected to the carb in stock form. My van was blowing black and blue smoke, so I rebuilt it. Put the stock stuff back on, still black and blue smoke. Now I have a dizzy with vacuum advance with a HEI GM module and coil, Clifford heated manifold w/ a Holly390 4bbl, and the EFI headers. No more black and blue blues. And the sucker flies like the wind.
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Tuned
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Forgot to mention that my Chiltons manual on page 6-66 has the years 1984-1986 as the years that use the TFI ignition, the test mule for the EFI. I see 9 sensors on the schematic at a quick glance, might be more. NUKE EM !! Some shops will not work on these years of truck or van.
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From: Montana
Originally Posted by 300I6VAN85
Your last motor should have gone farther than 75K. The TFI ignition is crap. Rip it out and put in a dizzy with vacumn advance, old school. Got net problems and have to make this short. Cya.
My dad was having all sorts of trouble with it. Even had a fire started from a flame that erupted from the carb. He took it to a mechanic who said the block needed replacement. My dad, being only a self-taught backyard car guy, didn't know what else to do so he had a new block put in. Well, the problems continued with the new block. The real problem? Harmonic balancer was screwing up the crankshaft. Yeah, my dad pretty pissed when he found that out. I was only a little kid when all this happened.