Hey folks, I'm back...

Well, today i went out to the ol pickemup to go to work... He fired up fine, pulled outta the driveway, and about 100 yards down the road, proceeded to suddenly run like crap. Missing on what sounds like several cylinders, didn't wanna idle or rev... it died, so i convinced it to fire back up long enough to get me back in the driveway. It's a '67 F100, i've put a "105" 390 into it with D2TE-AA heads, and a 4bbl intake/carb. (can get the #'s on request)

Here's what all I've done so far:

1. checked the spark plug wires, they're all connected, and about 8 months old.
2. removed the air cleaner, the carb has no gas on the outside, everything seems as it has for the past 8-9 months.
3. removed the dizzy cap, all the points and rotor are in perfect shape.. no corrosion, no erosion. The cap is clean and dry on the inside. (cap and rotor are about 8 months.. seeing a pattern?)
4. tried moving the dizzy to mess with timing, didn't have much effect.

I didn't pull the valve covers, but i didn't hear any noises from under them...
What it's doing exactly, is running extremely rough, missing on a few cylinders (both sides from the sound of it) and blowing black smoke. It'll idle, albeit verrry roughly and slowly, and if you open up the throttle some it revs up just a little, but the smoke gets much worse (of course). Judging by ear, the highest it'll rev is maybe 1500... and it's rocking the truck pretty good at that speed.
I've got a couple theories, and I'd very much appreciate any ideas.
I'm thinking maybe it stuck a few valves simultaneously (what're the chances?), maybe the timing chain jumped too far for the dizzy to make up, was thinking maybe it snapped a rocker shaft, but as i said, no loud noises under the valve covers. A buddy at work said that maybe the cam snapped and caught back onto itself.. i'm not too sure 'bout that one... wondering if maybe it flattened a few lobes for some reason...
I need to get this thing back up and running ASAP, since it's my only mode of transportation right now. like i said, i'll really appreciate any ideas/suggestions/whatever...

Thanks,

Laddman

 

A couple of ideas,
You said you checked the points in the dizzy. Do you mean the secondary contacts the spark goes thru' or the primary points (and condenser)? If points, as opposed to electronic ignition, check the point gap/dwell. If electronic, check the wiring connections. Poor spark will give you the symptoms you've got.
Also check the timing chain. Try to turn the engine over, back and forth, to see if there is a lot of play. Either grab the fan or use a socket on the crank pulley.
Is the choke opening at all? Could be a piece of crud got under the needle and seat and it's flooding.
Hope this helps.
Greg

 

Fuel Pump?

 

i would check the fuel pump and then the carb.

 

Frozen fuel line? Stuck choke? After that I'd look at ignition. 90% of poor runing Fords is caused by an ignition problem. I'd invest in a Pertronix Ignitor to replace the points, a Ford flat cap, long nose rotor and some 8mm plug wires. I have seen the cap, rotor and adapter advertised in JEGS for not much money. Add a hoter coil, core the distributor and you will be happy.
William in Atlanta

 

well, i went out today to look at the truck some more, and scratch the remark about no gas outside the carb... i guess maybe it just wasn't leaking fast yet, or the engine was warm enough to evaporate what was leaking out.. either way, the intake has lots of gas on top of it now. So I'm guessing at least part of my problem is the carb... as to the question about the points, i guess i was looking at the secondaries, the ones in the cap that the rotor contacts. We're gonna pull the carb and start lookin at it some, i'll let ya know what we find.

Laddman

 

Could have blown out the power valve. That would make it do exactly what you describe, running extremely rich with almost no power. What carb you got?

 

Laddman,
Sounds like the needle and seat picked up sumthin'. Tell-tale symptoms:
Started fine and ran good for a little bit.
When it started to run bad you had lots of black smoke, (too rich).
Now you've got gas on the intake, (carb flooding over).
If the power valve blew the gas would still be contained in the carb/intake.
Since you are going to be replacing the fuel filter anyway, (you are, aren't you?) try this:
Block off the fuel line to the carb and try to run the carb out of gas. After the engine dies when it runs out of gas, tap on the carb near the fuel inlet with a screwdriver handle. Then unblock the fuel line (hook it back up with a new filter) and let the inrush of fuel clear the needle and seat. Should fix it.
Of course you could take the carb apart and go thru' it.
Just my $.02
Greg

 

the truck is fixed... we towed it over to the shop (that lil' toyota almost couldn't do it), proceeded to check over the carb...
the first thing we ran into was that the auto-choke was stuck pretty good, so we freed that up, then went ahead and took the top off the carb to look at the floats and all, they were ok. everything else seemed fine, so we put the cover back on, adjusted the choke, went ahead and removed the dizzy cap, reset the point gap, put that back together, and adjusted the timing just a touch, and now he's running fine! and yes, i'm putting a new filter on. :-)

Thanks for all the ideas!

Laddman

 

Stuck Choke Eh! Worn points aye! Man I love this site!
William in Atlanta