I am new here to this site so let me give you a brief introduction. In y sophmore year in high school I bought a 84 ford f150 2wd with a 300 and auto tranny from a sweet old lady for $100 I put a waterpump on it and bingo I got a reliable truck. I drove it for about a month and was involved in a wreck got hit on the front passenger side tire and bent the front part of the frame. I talked the insurance company out of totaling it and sold it to my grandpa who just last week gave it back to me because he cannot get it to pass emissions. It is failing with a high hydrocarbon count. I am thinkining I need to put a carb on it cat converter and a really good tune up. does anyone have any ideas on what else to try?


My future plans are a full rebuild of the i6 or swap in a 302 I know the i6 is a pulling machine and wouldn't mind keeping it if I can get some more power. If I do a rebuild can I get some dome pistons? I think I read I can use +30 400 pistons I know I can get forged rods and cam 4 barrel intake head headers and some other small stuff. I havn't made up my mind on to lower it or lift it.



I also have a 1950 f1 that I plan on restoring.

 

I had the same problem with my 84' F250 4x4 with I6 and
4-spd. One contributor to this problem could be the fact
that these trucks have the cat about 6 feet behind the
engine. This is a ways to go, so the engine really needs
to be good and warm before taking an emissions test. If
the engine is not up to full operating temp, the odds are
good that the cat also isn't up to operating temp.

Thinking about the carb is also good here. Checking the
carb to see that it is correctly tuned would be my 1st
thought and then a rebuild kit would be the next thing
to try. If you know that the carb is too far gone for these
things then it might be best to proceed directly to buying
and installing a remanufactured carb.

The throttle position (TPS) and O2 sensors are also things
that can contribute to high HC count. Not sure how these
would be checked, other than by a mechanic with the tools
to do the job. You could replace them and then have the
HC checked by your mechanic to see if it helped. Take the
emissions test printout with you so the mechanic knows
what the HC at idle and at speed was before the changes.

The cat is another thing that may be bad. These things
have a finite lifetime and will eventually lose their ability
to combust HC and CO. When this happens, a new cat is
needed.

Most jurisdictions will allow 1 free retest to see if tuning or
other work has succeeded at fixing the problem(s) detected
by the emissions test. After that, they charge another fee for
retesting. Where I live (WA state), there is a $150 max
amount that vehicle owners must spend to get their vehicles
to pass the emissions test. Once that has been done at an
approved garage, the state cannot require more money to
be spent on a vehicle and will issue a waiver. In some
cases, a good tune-up will do the trick and no mechanic
services are needed. The waiver is only good for 1 year,
though, so this problem of passing the emissions tests
will recur unless your vehicle reaches the max age at
which testing is required. This is 25 years in the state
of Washington, so my 1984 F250 has to be tested until
2009. After that, no emissions tests are required here.

As to my own vehicle, it failed the HC test at idle because
it spent so much time waiting in line at the emissions
testing station with the engine off (at their request) for
the idle test that it cooled down and was then in fast-idle
mode instead of the warm idle mode. Idling at 1000+ rpm
is NOT the way to pass the HC test! It did pass the HC test
at speed, which is measured at 2500 rpm. I had it checked
by my mechanic and he found that the O2 sensor was good
but the TPS was not so he replaced that. I had just done
a full tune-up on the engine, so there was nothing for him
to do there. He did check the carb adjustments and
recommended that it be replaced but I didn't want to get
into that at the time. It runs good, both fast and slow idle
speeds are on spec now that the TPS has been replaced,
and it gets 18 mpg... so just how bad could it be? My
thought is that I will thoroughly warm it up next time
and if it does not pass, I will have a carb kit and a new
cat installed. That will either cause it to pass the HC test
or cost enough that I can get another waiver. I think that
it will pass, as the other numbers they got on this test,
other than the idle HC test, were pretty darned good for a
22 year old truck.

Ed

 

Thanks for that info, I do 90% of my work myself my dad used to be a mechanic but before I start thowing parts I was trying t get an idea of what to try. I will probally get a new or reman carb.. It will be march before I get to go home and startputting parts on it but I do plan to start buying parts I only got 2 more years before I have no emissions and since this truck has been in my family for 8 years I will keep it.

 

I've had much better success cleaning and putting in a "kit" than buying a rebuilt carburetor. There are so many variations of OEM carburetors you never know if you are getting an exact replacement or a "generic" when you buy a rebuilt.

 

No problem. The people on this web site are real helpful
and no one seems to mind sharing their experience.

I agree that throwing parts is usually a bad idea. I try to
avoid that in most cases. With an old truck, though, replacing
parts tends to be a good idea in many cases... even if it does
not cure the specific problem at hand. At least, the parts
replaced are unlikely to fail any time soon. There's some
value in that.

It's great that your Dad was a mechanic and passed along
some of his knowledge. I'm more of a "shade tree" mechanic
myself, whose best feature is knowing when to back off!

Good luck with your truck repairs in March. Keeping that
old truck sounds like a good plan. The value that an older
vehicle has far exceeds its cost these days. Not having a
lot of the unreliable computer junk on-board is a great
feature.

Ed

 

Yes, there is that. The Ford 300 I6 has 2 models of Carter
YFA 1-bbl. carbs used on it... 1 with the TPS and 1 without.
There are additional models but they were made for use in
the state of California. It's not as difficult with these to pin
down the right one as it is with a lot of other vehicles.

Another thought would be to look into updating the carb to
a more recent 2 or 4 bbl. design. With the right carb and
an adapter plate a good setup could be installed that
replaces the really old Carter carb. A new throttle linkage
might also be required but there may be kits available
that include this. The Holly 390 cfm 4-bbl. carb and
Offenhauser manifold is a popular swap for the Ford 300
I6. Haven't tried it myself but guys who have say that it
works real well, especially if used in conjunction with later
model fuel injected exhaust manifolds.

Ed

 

yea the way I look at it I may as well put on new parts while I have the cash. I was thinking about the dp intake, hedman header, high flow cat a flowmaster, I want to use a edelbrock carb but not sure if it will wor with the intake. I found a mallory distributor and would run msd wires and rapid fire plugs. Also an egr valve and fix the a/c I think it needs to be recharged. With the 4 barrel intake and carb will it still be able to pass emissions?

 

Ask around for an Inspection joint that will pass you (if you catch my drift...) You might have to get out of the Houston area to do it, but a place can probably be found... Just my opinion.

 

Ref: 1983 Car & truck Emission Facts Book Summary. To make my point about getting the right replacement carburetor here is a list of Carter 1 bbl. P/Ns for '83 Ford 300 ci truck motors. E3TE-9510-AMA, -APA,-YA,-YFA,-ASA,-AGA,-AHA,-AJA,-BNA,-GA,-BDA,-ZA,-AFA,-ANA,-ALA,-FA,-FB,-BKA. I ASSUME THERE IS SOMETHING UNIQUE ABOUT EACH SUFFIX otherwise why not have just one base part number?

 

Could be. There are at least 3 models that were used in
California alone.

On the other hand, a guy can always LOOK at the carb he
has and see what model number it has on it. I need to do
this for mine to make sure which one it is so that I get the
right rebuild kit. I'd like my carb to run a little better but
don't want to put much into it if I am going to upgrade it
to a newer 2 or 4 bbl. carb in a couple of years.

Ed

 

easyest way to pass. find some one ya know that lives outa town where they dont do emissions testing and use there adress and forget about it.when i lived in leggett tstrait up 59 by livingston) had 2 of my budys trucks titled to my adress just have to go to corrigan once a year for inspection/plate renewal

 

Huh? I thought the emmision testing was mandated by the state...?

 

It is. But not all areas in a state have the same testing
requirements. Where I live, Clark county has a population
of over 300,000 and has mandated state emissions testing.
15 miles to the north of us is Cowlitz county, which has
about 1/4 of our population and no emissions testing
requirements.

In spite of the suggestion to skip the emissions tests via
claiming a different address, it would not be difficult at all
to verify an address via property tax, driver's license, or
utility records. I suspect that anyone caught doing this
will be in a world of hurt that FAR outweighs any potential
advantage, but that's just my opinion.

Ed

 

Yea I would rather get it done right the be paying fines. I have family in splendora and livingston. I allways thought you had to get it inspected in the city it's registered and get it registered in the city thats on your insurance. Anyway I will be doing it the right way as far as the carb goes I will be getting a 4 barrel intake and carb along with the hooker super comp header.

 

Yep, same here.

As far as the 4-bbl. carb / intake goes, does anyone here
have experience with this combo and emissions testing?
I saw some info on this setup once before and it was
listed in a catalog as "not for highway use". I wondered
at the time if this was because it does not meet the
emissions tests. I would think that it would if it was
properly tuned and if no anti-pollution equipment was
removed to install it but who knows for sure.

Ed