Howdy All,
For a while I have been thinking about upping the carb on my 85 F150 with a 300 I-6. While everything is stock on it, the engine runs a little rough and I've been told that the stock Motorcraft carb wasn't too great by design, and an aftermarket may improve performance. If I can find something decently priced that can replace the stock carb, I feel better about doing that rather than rebuilding the old one (unless that IS the best option). Not looking for a fancy replacement, just something simple that will work better than the stock.

What would be a good aftermarket carb for this engine?


The numbers on the carb on the motor are:
F5TE JA
A 5 29


The engine is controlled by a computer at the moment, but how hard would be be to make it all vaccum for an aftermarket?



Thanks everyone.

 

I am running a Motorcraft 2150 2bbl off a 302 on an offy 4bbl manifold. I am pretty happy

 

It's not performance I'm looking for, its just smooth runnin. I think I'll just rebuilt what I got.

 

Carter 1 brl with electric choke is doing fine on my 66 F100, 300 I-6.
Saves gas better than stock Ford 1 brl too.

 

I have a 85 e150 that had a CarterYFA 1-bbl feedback carburetor. Are you sure you have a Motorcraft? My feed back carb was controlled from the computor along with the timing. Does your carb have wires going to the feedback solenoid mounted on the carb? Someone might have already updated your carb. This 85 motor was the test mule for the EFI motor. It has 6? sensors that have to give feed back to the computor. In a fit of rage after a complete motor rebuild my motor blew the same black and blue smoke after I replaced the stock in/ex manifold dist/computor. I nixed the computor and all the sensors, installed a dizzy with vacumn advance, EFI maniifolds, Clifford intake, Holley 390.......
I am happy with what I now have, but my wallet sure is a lot lighter.
If you are on the cheap, get a good old vacumn driven dist assy and nix the computor, or make sure all the sensors are working as they should.
Another thing to watch out for on a rough running I6 is the manifold gaskets. This is one long motor and the manifolds are the weak link. The in/ex ports are close together and can leak into each other causing the motor to run poorly. Also cracked manifolds can leak the wrong gasses into wrong ports. The EFI manifolds are a great cheap upgrade from the old one piece log, but the intake will cost you. The stock intake is made to work with the old exhaust as it bolts together. Not sure if a stock old log can be modified to work with the EFI exhaust. Time is money so I went with aftermarket intake manifold.
Hope this helps. Good luck. Hope you find a cheap fix. I did not. $$$

 

Make sure all the systems...ignition, EGR, etc., are all working properly before you tear in to the carb. The carb gets the blame for all sorts of problems when 90% of the time it is not the carb.

 

I am getting to something in this thread, I almost going to tear down my Cater 1 brl for the following raeson:

When engine is hot it hardly starts, it start and dies, it will after several attempts with the help of more pressure on the gas pedal. I got an exhaust leak where both manifolds mate. Could it be the carb or the leak in the exh?. just put new ciol in there.

 

How much of a gas savings are we talking about here? Are these carbs controlled by computer or vacuum?

Yes, the carb is controlled by the computer, as is the distributor. A replacement motor was dropped in it before I got it, and it was all done by Ford.

I'm fairly sure that you can see the wires in this picture, zip tied with the white tie around other bundles:


I could defenately see this right here being an issue. I know for a fact the exaust manifold leaks. Could this also contribute to a bad smelling exaust?

Before my father took the EMISSIONS light bulb out, it was lit. Shop said it was fine, and I dont have the bulb, or any kind of tester light to pull the codes myself.

I will make it to the store this weekend to find either a bulb or current tester to get to the bottom of computer mumbo jumbo. I do know how to pull the codes out of it.



Thanks for the input everyone

 

Hey Bud -

Maybe you've seen this posted by someone else. My 85 was running really crappy. Lots of gas, smelled real bad, performance was bad. I had the head done(need an engine hoist to lift it back on), replaced the dist and ign system witha a Duraspark(rebuilt dist $50 - rest from bone yard $10) and found a NEW manual choke carb on internet. It ran BETTER than new ! Plus I got close to 18MPG on the highway ! Best $300 and some sweat I ever spent. It extended the life well beyond the truck. Everything is falling off now but it still runs like a swiss watch.

Duff

 

mwielgosz:
15 MPG.
My carb is not controlled by computer, it is installed on straight six, 300, no EFI, no themactor exhaust, no vacuum.
The carb has an electric choke, with a single wire connected to the postive terminal of the coil.
The carb is said tom be for 1984 Ford F150, 6 cyl engine.