Oh I doubt your head gaskets are in wrong, or it would ovrheat a lot more than you're describing...although I could be wrong.

I don't use a vacuum adavnce, so my intial timing is quite high at 20 deg BTDC. When I first started fidning a good timign point, I started at 10 deg BTDC and the engine ran very hot at idle. As teh rpms went up, the timing became closer to what it should be and everything was alright.

So, with your stock system, if the book says 10 deg, then that's where it should be....presumeably with the vacuum line disconnected. With the vacuum connected, it should be be more advanced. So, if your vacuum advance is not working, seized up, or the vacuum hose is cracked or broken, your timing at idle and low rpms might be a little late and possibly cause overheating.

Probably a cooling system thing, but I thought I'd throw out the timing thing as its easy to check.

 

Thanks Argess,
I will try your suggestions tromorrow. Appreciate the help.
Rich

 

If you use ported vacuum like you are suppose to, vacuum advance will not effect idle timing. It will also not effect max mechanical advance which should NEVER be more than 38° (I suspect you have no clue as to what your total max mechanical advance is). Vacuum advance does not effect the mechanical and is only effect at part throttle settings. Vacuum advance when properly used is a mpg enhancer and that is all. You obviously don't understand ignition timing at all. Oh and if you engine over heats with 10° initial timing you have screwed something up very badly.

 

It's so tempting........

However, I'll simplify my thoughts:

Late igntion timing can cause overheating when the cooling system is marginal to begin with, so his timing should be checked.

Anything that keeps the igntion timing from advancing, such as a stuck vacuum advance, broken vacuum hose, stuck mech advance, etc. may cause excess heat to be developed.

Now I'm certainly no expert on Ford distributors and the wide variety of advance systems they've used over the years, but it seems to me Ford even installed a temp switch for the vacuum adance. It's purpose was to advance the timing if it sensed coolant temperatures were getting high. Maybe you could elebaorate on that system in case it's failing for the OP?

 

Actually the temp portion of the vacuum advance was an attempt by Ford to cure the marginal cooling of most 460's. All it does is use a temp switch that switches from ported vacuum to manifold vacuum it the engine reaches 210°. The only place this is effective is at idle because above idle the ported vacuum is the same as manifold vacuum and it was never the primary purpose of vacuum advance. It was designed as a mileage enhancer way back in the 1950's.

 

I did not read all replys, so if this answer was given, I apologize. I'm assuming as you stated, you have a working fan and shroud. Not that this is your problem, but something to think about. I've ran FE's with both head gaskets reversed, they overheat, at a low idle periods of time, but mostly at highway speeds in the summer, under load, etc. I repaired a couple of FE overheating issues where just one head gasket was reversed. I replaced the water pump, radiator, Tstat, flushed the cooling system, etc. before I figured it out. That was a tough one. I came across a block that a circle track racer filled the water chambers with cement, then a truck owner bought it and just re-ringed the pistons, he didnt notice the cement It overheated within 10 minutes or so..

I believe you can pull the water pump and stick your finger up from the water port up into the head. If you can feel the water port opening up into the head, you are OK. If your finger hit's the gasket, and you feel a small hole in the head gasket, the gasket is reversed.

 

Yes, that works. I've done that check before. Good you mentioned it as it saves a lot of work otherwise.

 

I thought the gasket holes went to the rear?

 

They do.

 

You know that since I put the new head gaskets in,new fuel pump,new mech.temp and oil gauges I watch them more now, and i noticed yesterday morning,that when I started it up the temp was at 110 and oil pressure was @40 psi and by the time i got a mile or so down the road the temp spiked to
220-230 then settled @195, and the oil reading was 20 psi and stayed there, by the time I went 25 miles the temp was 239-240 and throwing water all over and the O.P. was varying around 15-20 psi. dip stick said full. what the h-ll is goin on with this engine??? Any ideas, anyone?
Tia
Rich
p.s. The truck seems to be running better then ever.

 

Can you elaborate on "throwing water all over"? Was it leaking somewhere, or just the rad cap releasing pressure?

On initial start-up, engine temps can climb a bit over running temps, and then drop back to normal depending on the brand of thermostat. This can be normal. It can also indicate a thermostat that is installed backwards or air in the system. These last two reasons would need to be rectified. This only addresses your intial warm-up temp spike, not the problems that happen later in your driving cycle.

Old rad hoses (lower one) have been known to collapse at rpms higher than idle due to water pump suction. That's why many rad hoses have a spring-like coil of wire installed inside them.

And I'm sure someone else knows more about this, but I seem to remember that some FE water pumps have a sheet metal plate on the backside of the water pump impellor that can rust away and prevent sufficient water flow through the system.

Next time the engine is warmeds up enough the thermostat should be open, carefully remove the rad cap (even if it's on a puke tank) and take a look. You should see coolant swirling around. If it's not, then you have a flow problem. If there's a lot of air bubbles in it, you may be having cyl pressure get past one of your gaskets and be over-pressurizing the system, or just a lot of air in the system.

 

Thanks for the info, yea the rad cap and the o.f hose, what's normal OP Psi.? nope, thermo is in rite,copper part toward engine, how do you know there's air in the sys? what gaskets would be leaking an cause the over-pressurizing.prob? Sorry to ask so many dumb questions. but, I've owned a lot of trucks in my life,most FORDS and I've never had these kind of probs on any of them and I bought the 69 because I didn't want all the smog crap and computer crap on the engine and it's the kind of engine I grew up with and figured I could work on. To bad I trusted the lying old S.O.B. that I bought it from, I should just go and throttle his butt.
Tia
Rich

 

A leaking cyl head gasket can allow cylinder pressure (i.e. exhaust) into the cooling system. This can pressurize the system forcing coolant out the rad cap until there isn't enough left to adequately cool the engine. Sometimes these leaks only show up when en engine is hot, but any rad shop should have a pressure tester they hook up in place of your rad cap. The pressurize your cooling system and make sure the pressure holds and doesn't drop off.

When I fill a dry engine with coolant, I try to remove something high up to help air bleed out. In my case, it's the temp sender unit located on the intake manifold. This shouldn't affect you as you've driven the engine long enough any trapped air bubbles in the cyl heads should have cleared on their own by now. So that doesn't help you at all.

Next time the engine is fully warmed up, besides looking into the rad, check the bottom rad hose. Be careful of the fan, but rev the engine a little while looking at the hose. See if it starts to suck in (collapse) as the rpms come up. You don't have to rev it high...maybe 1500 to 2000 rpm for a second or two. Maybe keep the rad cap on while doing this lower hose check.

 

[quote=Argess;9174487]A leaking cyl head gasket can allow cylinder pressure (i.e. exhaust) into the cooling system. This can pressurize the system forcing coolant out the rad cap until there isn't enough left to adequately cool the engine. Sometimes these leaks only show up when en engine is hot, but any rad shop should have a pressure tester they hook up in place of your rad cap. The pressurize your cooling system and make sure the pressure holds and doesn't drop off.
I had that very same experience on my tractor. It would push water out the overflow into my homemade bottle. The radiator was foamy and so I put air pressure on each cylinder and #2 cyl put air right into coolant as I could see bubbles each time prressure was applied. I never got water in oil or oil in water. Replaced head gasket and fixed the problem. The air pressure test was applied to cylinder with it on compression stroke.

 

That's a good idea. I made an airline connection for doing leak-down tests by welding a fitting to a sparklug shell (porcelain knock out). I coudl use that next time I think I have a head gasket leak. Maybe the OP could make one too (if he has an air-compressor and a welder). It would certainly show up leaks, although there's only a pinhole in the thermostat if its closed, so maybe after the engine is warmed up a bit.

This thread is getting fairly long, but I think someone did mention "fanbelt" and I'm sure the OP has checked it. However I have had fan belts slip even though the tension was correct. They get glazed, or the pulleys get glazed or something.