My Annabelle died tonight going to the in-laws. She's been having a problem keeping running at low idle. Was running rough too.Thought that it was going to blow the motor doing 55mph in 3rd. So I got some Sea foam and put some in the gas tank and some in the oil. Smooothed out most of the roughness and it didn't sound like it was going to explode all over the highway either.
Going down the road tonight at 45 - 50 mph it was fine. Got on the county highway and was doing 55 and she "coughed," no valve train noise and no exhaust note for about a second or two. Let off the gas, pushed in the clutch, and it all came back. two miles down the road, same thing. Then about a mile later we had to turn onto another road and when we did she came really close to dieing. she coughed and sputtered for about 30 seconds and came back to life. went the three more miles down the road to my wife's parent's house and Annabelle keeled over. Wouldn't start again. We hung out for about 45 mins. When we tried to leave she started, but was still spitting and sputtering. That's when I decided to load her onto the trailer and drive the, argggg!!!!, C-h-e-v-y home.
I'm torn. Should I try to save this old Y-block and replace the coil, plugs dis. cap, wires, rotor, points, condenser? Could it be vapor lock? Would header heat tape help with that? Or should I get a crate motor and drop in it? This one the wife (aka: family accountant) won't like. Thanks for letting me grumble and any advice.
Keith
Air Assault!

 

I guess i don't know enough about your combination to offer expert advice, but a couple things I can share;

Header wrap will typically do more harm than good. It's highly unlikely your engine is blown up, so doing an engine swap to fix a carb or ignition issue is pretty drastic. Vapor lock is actually a fairly rare condition.

Just guessing, I'm thinking you likely have a fuel delivery or carb problem. I would start there looking for a clogged fuel line or a float/needle and seat problem or junk in the carb.

My 2c.

 

I kind of agree with 52 on this, I dont think she has died completely. You could possibly get her running again unless you get in there and find lots of broken parts but I dont think thats the case here. The fuel delivery system and maybe the ignition sound like the culprit. Now if you want to go with a crate motor thats your call but I have to say so far the cheapest turnkey crate motor I've found Ford Turnkey Crate Engines for Ford 302 and Ford 351W is here and is $3300 bucks plus shipping with a 1 yr warranty and dont think its cheaper by going to autozone or one of those places because if you dont have the parts to finish off a longblock it'll run you over $4000 and yes thats what I did but at least the autozone motor has a 3 yr unlimited mile warranty so I guess I have that going for me. There may be some place I dont know about who has crate motors cheaper but I havent found it yet.

 

junk yard rebuildable engine 200. rebuild kit 500. thats pistons gaskets bearings etc boring at machine shop and installing rods to pistons,magnaflux all parts,cleaning,grinding valves,etc 700.00 then you know what you have. but fixing what you have, pluged filter, mice in wiring,fuelpump, carb, if times are tight that would be cheeper. you can buy the other engine from the yard and rebuild slowly engine stands are cheep some one would loan ya one to get it out of there way. and buy the way get complete engine alt steering pump.carb. wow i dont yammer this much lol

 

My money's on a fuel problem, from the symtoms you have stated.

 

throw an electric pump on it , i had too as my factory fuel pump kept vapor locking on the flatty . now we have no issues when it's together and being driven . also check the consarned coil !!!! if it's bad it will lead you on a wild goose chase of all other systems then maybe you'll find it . mine went bad and i kept fiddling with the electric pump , points on and on then i figured it out by accident and put a new accel unit on her and walla away we roared !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! really unlikely it's blown up as it doesnt sound like you beat on her . if you want a rebuildable core i got a 292 sitting here doing nothing . the guy who stu got it from tightened all the rocker arms down as far as he could , bent the pushrods , messed up a couple of lifters and flat spotted the cam , i think amongst other things i found upon dissasembly ...... what some people do too things as they think they know what there doing instead of finding out first ...........

 

Well, you can start at the begining!

The engine needs three things to run: Fuel; compression; and a spark delivered at the right time.

I'd run a compression check to test the wear on the engine.

Next I'd check for spark at the plugs.

Then I'd check fuel flow to the carb.

Which ever one is not happening right, I'd pursue that avenue for corrective action.

But it does sound like fuel to me too. Bad ignition would just quit suddenly (unless the coil is going bad then it will act like it's running out of gas when it warms up).

And if your engine were worn you'd be getting secondary indications with that - missing and oil burning.

Got a fuel filter - might want to check it. Not got a fuel filter - need one!

 

Dang 55 f350, wish I woulda known that earlier. Thats what my truck had in her originally, I coulda fixed that up but thats my luck a day late and a dollar short... Its ok I cant wait to her her new heartbeat, I might get to later this week..... I hope anyway...

 

Try the cheapest and easiest thing first. Switch out the fuel filter. Filters will clog up and act just like you described then let it sit and it will fire right up,.... until you hit highway speeds again. I found this out twice, the hard way. If there is no difference in how it runs then move on to the carb and see if you can figure it out. Good luck.

 

Thanks folks! I replaced the fuel filters two days after I got her because she died on the way home for the first time. One mounted to the fuel pump and the other in btween the pump and carb.
I was thinking of replacing the coil and other ignition parts. I will follow the advice of you folks with these ideas.
The PO says the old 292 was rebuilt about 4 years ago and he hardly drove her. It has a new or rebuilt Holly 2 barrel (2004) so i hope that is not the problem.
I will keep you updated on how it goes. Maybe somebody with a similar problem will come across this thread and it will be able to help them, much like many other threads have helped me!
Happy Independence Day, ya'll!!!
Air Assault!

 

It could also just be a loose wire in the ignition circuit, especially since it died once on a turn. "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras" You have a rebuilt engine, carb and other parts, it's not likely anything major.

 

Air Assault right back at ya!

 

Quite possibly the ignition switch, 'as previously discussed'. Might be loose wires in it or maybe the key cylindar is really touchy especially if there is a lot of stuff hangining on your key ring.

 

well if you dumped sea foam in my guess would be it flushed all the crap outta the fuel system and gunked it up somewhere . I would go ahead and pull the carb and rebuild it. A kit is like 40 bucks and it takes an hour to do. When i put sea foam in my 64 it washed so much varnish out of the lines that it actually stuck the butterflys in the carb so tight i had to put a wrench on them to break it loose.