the guy that was rebuilding the carb finally finished and put it back on about 30 minutes ago.

when we got it running the engine would still shake a lot so he advanced the timing a little bit. now it runs a lot better.....smoother idle.

he said if I could find a timing light, buy it.........can anyone tell me what this is? how much does it cost? where can I find one?

he said a Ford will always have a little bit of a miss in the motor, though. Chevy won't, if running top notch.

he told me to take it for a drive down the road. it ran better. in slight throttle you can feel a slight miss in it. when shifting the engine doesn't seem like it goes away anymore. a lot different sound to it.

I'm glad that Eddie is finally back on the road. now just get used to driving it again after 3 weeks.

 

Timing light reads the electrical pulse off of the #1 ignition wire-when the plug fires, so you can see where your timing is at-it flashes the "timing light" which is pointed at the harmonic balancer, showing the numbers stamped into the H.balancer. Usually a line of white paint, or chalk on 8 or 10 degrees, for reference.
Timing can be very crucial-and can make the difference between power, economy and longevity. Timing by ear, by a novice is asking for trouble. Detonation, pinging(broken rings, holes burnt in pistons) glowing exhaust manifolds and so on.
Seen freshly overhauled engines junked by so called mechanics, timing by ear.
Changing timing will affect your air fuel mixture, and idle speed-so not easily done. And thats provided everything is working right.

Back before electronic ignition, a decent mechanic could tune a stock engine to idle like glass. So nothing stopping any engine from a smooth idle-if stock and nothing worn out or missing.
Sure the chevy runs better, it probably has had most of the parts replaced, massaged and tuned for 3 days-vrs most old Fords with bad vac. leaks, oil changed every 5 years, and the living snot beat out of it. Ahh its just a Ford, they run crappy... HAhaha I have heard that many a time-and its always from some chevy owner who's vehicle is pristine.

 

well we took it for a drive. a couple of times when you stomp on it you can smell gas fumes. dad says he thinks the truck is running rich. it idles a little high. yes he did time it by ear. when you're taking off it lugs the motor differently, and the gas pedal is tougher to press down than before.

 

Nice to hear its back on the road again

 

Thanks for the props UT. Also I would have to agree about what you said about the guy saying "Fords will always have a slight miss." No offense to your dad's friend Dr. Dirt but someone who says a Ford will always have a slight miss doesn't have a handle on what they're doing, in my opinion.

The best way to tell if a motor is running rich is to read the plugs over time. Healthy plugs are fairly clean and have a slight tanning of the porcelain. Rich plugs are black and can have soot on them. A rich carb could be the source of the smell - it could be so rich that it is putting unburnt fuel out the tailpipe.

On a Carter carb, about the only two adjustments that control that are the accelerator pump lifting rod link set-screw and the float height. Here's some procedures from an old rebuild sheet I've scanned in. It doesn't have any copyright info on it, so I feel it's okay to post. Figure 1 - float height, Figure 2 - float drop, Figure 3 - metering rod set screw. The numbers in the table on the second page won't be correct for your truck I don't think, but the kit that your dad's friend used should have the correct one. These are just for reference.

http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~jlabundy/carter1.jpg
http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~jlabundy/carter2.jpg

As for a timing light - this is the only way to set timing in my opinion. Thunderjet4x4 gave a great explanation of its use; I'll just elaborate some. A lot of old-schoolers set it by ear and if they really know what they're doing then they can usually pull it off, but not someone who says "Fords will always have a miss." A timing light is used to set base timing. So you know that when the piston goes up to compress the air\fuel mixture, the spark plug fires, and the piston goes back down. What you really want is the spark to occur slightly before the piston reaches the very top of the stroke (this position is called "top dead center" or TDC). The time at which the spark occurs is measured in degrees of crankshaft rotation. If the timing spec is 10 degrees, that means that the coil will fire the plugs when the crankshaft is positioned 10 degrees before the cylinder reaches the very top. This whole idea is to compensate for the fact that there is a very small delay for the mixture to ignite completely.

The way this is set during a tune-up is by using the #1 cylinder as a reference. This is universal to all Ford motors (and many others as well). There are small notches on the harmonic balancer on the front of the crankshaft, which line up with a pointer on the motor's timing cover. The notch on the balancer, which the pointer points to, tells you where the crankshaft is positioned, relative to the #1 cylinder being at TDC. BTDC means "before top dead center" and ATDC means "after top dead center." Naturaly, most of the time you use BTDC. ATDC is usually used for dynamic timing diagnostics, when the motor is running.

Timing is set when the motor is running. You have to physically watch the position of the timing notch you want, relative to the timing pointer, when the #1 cylinder fires. This is of course impossible to do with the naked eye, so you use a timing light. A timing light is a strobe light. It is shaped like a pistol, and connects to the battery terminals for power, and then has a connection to the #1 spark plug. Many timing lights have an inductive coupling that just clamp around the plug wire to get the signal. When the motor is running and the #1 plug fires, the timing light flashes. You point the light at the harmonic balancer to illuminate the timing marks for that brief moment. Because of the strobe effect of the light as it flashes, it makes the marks seem as if they are standing still.

Timing is set by loosening the distributor and rotating the body clockwise\counterclockwise until the timing pointer lines up with the mark on the balancer. Because the notches and numbers are hard to read, even with the timing light, it is much easier to get under the truck before you start (motor OFF) and make 2 marks with white-out: one line on the pointer, and one line on the notch on the balancer. Then it's just a matter of lining up the 2 white lines. Then you tighten the distributor back up. Some motors require a special J-shaped distributor wrench to snake under the distributor because of AC compressors and such...but if you have a 300, it's much easier to get to. I should mention that on a 300, the pointer and marks are actually backwards from V8s. Most V8s have a timing pointer on the timing cover, and many numbers\marks on the balancer. On a 300, there is usually just one notch on the balancer, and the numbers are on the pointer.

Most stock motors have a vacuum advance on the distributor. In most cases, you need to plug this at the source to isolate base timing and prevent the advance from keeping the timing higher than it really is. Stock distributors also have centrifugal weights that change timing as RPM increases. This is why a lot of motors specify a "timing RPM" on the valve cover.

If you set timing yourself, be careful because you will be working directly above the fan as the motor is running. Steer way clear of any moving parts, especially if you don't have a fan shroud. Don't get the timing light wires caught in the fan either. Some motors with automatic transmissions call for the timing to be set while the vehicle is in drive, so if that's the case, you have to be careful about working in front of the truck when it's in gear (chock wheels, set brake). My point: be careful.

 

I agree with them , I had my 302 timed professionally and then set my air fuel mix and checked plugs after a few days of driving and never misses a beat . That is a ford beat . Timing is crucial . Make sure plugs and wires and cap and rotor are in good shape also . Also sounds to rich .

 

Spark Plug Tech - Test - Reading A Spark Plug - Circle Track

 

thanks for the info guys.

the guy was messing with the distributor some, but I don't know what he was doing.

"The best way to tell if a motor is running rich is to read the plugs over time. Healthy plugs are fairly clean and have a slight tanning of the porcelain. Rich plugs are black and can have soot on them. A rich carb could be the source of the smell - it could be so rich that it is putting unburnt fuel out the tailpipe.".............the truck was putting out black smoke before we got the carb rebuilt. I haven't checked since yet.

he did set the timing while the truck was running. safety first.......no problem, I understand!

I look at the stuff y'all gave me and see if I can set the truck to be running the best it has in a long time.