Hi guys,

I am brand spankin new here, and am relatively new to Fords. I have spent my life as a Chevy guy, and just recently have been getting into Fords. I am pleasantly surprised by them!

I recently bought a 1986 4x4 F-250 XLT Lariat with a 351 for for a pretty price, and have a few sporatic questions. First, with regards to the interior, is there any trick to keeping the visors from drooping down? The passenger side is hanging down and keeps dropping down there.

Next, the engine seemed sluggish. I know it is a smog engine and do not expect much performance, but was wondering where to start. I checked the distributor, and found the vacuum advance is not working. Is there any place to buy just the advance? Everyone wants to sell a distributor with it, or sell me a $45 adjustable one. I just want one to get the truck running better.

I think I can see the engine through the miles of vacuum hose. I contorted my arm past the smog pumps, and the alternator and I think I saw the initial timing of about 2 degrees. I know my timing issues are mainly responsible for the sluggishness, and I will start tuning it tomorrow, after a junkyard run, I was just wondering if there is anywhere else I can look.

Thank you in advance for the help and am looking forward to working on this one!

Nick

 

It's a privilage to be the first to welcome you to FTE and thank you for joining us in the '80-'86 forum! Enjoy the forums and don't forget to fill in the "location" field of your profile.

 

The Fords are just like the Chevys. They generally had the same smog stuff on them, and they generally work the same way, such as thermal switches, EGR valves, etc. The same procedures to get more power out of the Chevys also work for the Fords, except the Fords have that pesky non-adjustable valvetrain, so you have to be careful about adding camshafts and modifying the heads. A lot of the chevys came with a quadrajet 4bbl, but most of the 351w's had a 2bbl, but not all. A small Holley 4bbl will really wake it up, and the one good thing about the Ford, you do not have to pull the distributor to change the intake manifold.

 

Thanks guys, It has a factory 4 barrel, but I do not know much about it besides it looks like a Holley. I have to smog it, so I can not go too wild, (like taking off the smog stuff, plugging vacuum lines and such, but it seems to be a good base, I went around tonight checking for vacuum leaks and found none. I am going to try to tackle the timing issue and make my choke work tomorrow.

Thanks,

Nick

 

You must have the HO engine. It does have a Holley carb on it, but it's a special one they made for Ford for that engine. So you rebuild it you have to get a kit made for that certain carb, a generic holley kit won't work. I have also heard it has a expensive 2 stage power valve that is usually not included in the rebuild kits.

When messing with the vacuum advance, make sure you have vacuum on the line when testing it. I believe they may have had a thermal vacuum switch on the line going to the advance, and you probably know how that vacuum stuff likes to fail.

 

Thanks, when the Holley goes, I will probably replace it with a more user friendly one. This might be dumb, but how would a Q-jet work on a ford engine, I know I would need the adapter, but is anyone running one?

As for the vacuum advance, I bought a rebuilt distributor. It was $43, where a vacuum advance by itself was at least $45. Pick Your Part has distributors for $30, but add the gas, bridge toll, admission and time, and you are near or over $43, along with the fact it is rebuilt with a warranty (It is Cardone, so I may likely be using the warranty). I will be sinking that in tomorrow. Any tips for that? I have done a lot in Chevy's, but was not sure if there is anything I should know about the Fords.

Thanks,

Nick

 

The only thing is that those Holley's can be a real pain on those trucks in regard to dialing them in properly. I have never been able to get mine right and have decided to get a different holley carb and intake. (I dont have to do smog). Welcome to the forum.

 

I am brand spankin new here, and am relatively new to Fords. I have spent my life as a Chevy guy, and just recently have been getting into Fords. I am pleasantly surprised by them!

I recently bought a 1986 4x4 F-250 XLT Lariat with a 351 for for a pretty price, and have a few sporatic questions. First, with regards to the interior, is there any trick to keeping the visors from drooping down? The passenger side is hanging down and keeps dropping down there.

Next, the engine seemed sluggish. I know it is a smog engine and do not expect much performance, but was wondering where to start. I checked the distributor, and found the vacuum advance is not working. Is there any place to buy just the advance? Everyone wants to sell a distributor with it, or sell me a $45 adjustable one. I just want one to get the truck running better.

Note that it is difficult to sell you just a vacuum advance that will work properly, if you don't know where your mechanical advance is set.



I think I can see the engine through the miles of vacuum hose. I contorted my arm past the smog pumps, and the alternator and I think I saw the initial timing of about 2 degrees. I know my timing issues are mainly responsible for the sluggishness, and I will start tuning it tomorrow, after a junkyard run, I was just wondering if there is anywhere else I can look.

Thank you in advance for the help and am looking forward to working on this one!

Note that it is difficult to sell you just a vacuum advance that will work properly, if you don't know where your mechanical advance is set.

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