HELP! Vacuum and Carb mess...
 

Hello, new to the site. Just picked up an '86 F150 last month and started digging into it to get it running through the winter. It appears to have been heavily hillbilly engineered. It's a straight six, carb'd with the usual carter. Has a TFI-IV distr. And before I pulled both the carb and distr. it only had two vacuum lines connected, the rest were either loose, or plugged with RTV and bolts, or golf tees... Oh yeah baby...

So, I now have the Carb and Distr. rebuilt, and am left with a big mess of vacuum lines that I have no idea where they go. I know I will have a couple left over, as the charcoal canister is no longer there, and the pipe to the choke stove is rusted off. But the rest I would like to have connected properly.

Here's a couple pics for ya'all

As I got it, you can already see lines not connected, no wonder it idled over 3k...
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...209101940c.jpg

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...209101940a.jpg

How do you like the battery tray?
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...1227101043.jpg

And post rebuild, ain't it pretty
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...r0991/carb.jpg

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...1214101419.jpg

Any help is GREATLY appreciated, T.I.A.

Welcome to the site. :)

Can you fill in the rest of your profile so we can see where you're at? Click User CP in the
upper LH corner, go through the stuff in the LH column.

About your question, this is one of the most difficult ones in this forum. Looks like you have
the feedback carb.

I won't be able to help you with this but there are others here who can maybe lend a hand.

First off, can you post a picture of your Vacuum Hose Routing label? it should be on your
radiator support under the hood, here's mine for reference:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=236280&.jpg

I can snap a pick of it next time I'm in the garage. It's there, but I have no idea what any of the acronyms mean, as in what physical component they relate to.

Edit; Sorry, I linked the thread, not just the one post.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...05&postcount=1



Chris,
I think this post should be in the sticky too.

Ok, I added it in the General heading, directly underneath the Dictionary of
Automotive Terms entry.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ml#post7434431

Get some new battery cables. Those clamp on ends are garbage.

Thanks. :)
Hopefully it will be easier for people to find this kind of basic information even if they don't know exactly what to search for.

Cables are in progress, got one in, the rest tomorrow. Link helps, but have to say I'm used to working on VW, so the names help some, but I still have to link the name to the physical device. Here's a couple fresh pics, forgot the emissions plate, will get it tomorrow.

New battery tray ($10 at pick & pull), and working on new 2ga. battery cables, finish tomorrow. (I know 2 ga. is overkill, but better safe than sorry, and that's what's laying around garage.)
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0124.jpg


Nice and clean carb on old dirty engine...
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0123.jpg

Ok, so what is this? Found it just hanging off the back of the engine when I changed the valve cover gasket (unhooked vacuum of course)
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0122.jpg

The carb and Dizzy look great. :-X22
Unfortunately I'm not intimately familiar with the electronically controlled I-6.
Tomorrow I'll meet with my friend who owns a 1977 Granada. He will know.

Thanks, I'm happy with the cosmetic appearance of both, not worried about the Dist. but the carb was WAY out of adjustment from spec. yet still ran decent, and I went and set it to spec anyways, so I am really hoping it fires right up once I get all this vacuum mess figured out.

What you are dealing with is the infamous feedback fuel system. The carb and dist are computer controlled. When this system is all hooked up and working correctly, it's great. When it's been butchered up and half of it is unhooked, it's a nightmare and will never run very well.
You have 2 options.
If you live in an area where there is emmission testing, you need to fully repair the current system to return it to a functioning state.
If you live in an area without any form of emmission testing, you can swap the carb and dist from an 83 or older non-computer controlled engine. Along with the carb and dist, you'll also need an engine wiring harness and ignition module from the same type of truck. Luckily, the truck wiring harness has the needed plugs to attach the non-computer engine harness and ignition module. Just be aware that this type of conversion is unlikely to ever pass an emmission test that is any more than a simple tailpipe sniffer test, even though it was the standard setup used until 83 on non-california trucks with the 300 I6.

All I want to do for now is get it back to factory condition, with the exception of the choke stove and the charcoal can. Now maybe next year I will be ready for new intake and exhaust manifolds, carb and distributor. But for this winter this thing just has to drive from point A to point B, don't want to dump a ton of money into it (wife would kill me), and it's too freakin' cold out to be doing too much.

Got a pic of the emissions label, but you can't make out any of the writing, I'll go back out with the good camera tonight and get a good one.

New battery cables ran, all except output from solenoid to starter. will run that either tonight or tomorrow. Still have to FIND the timing mark, probably buried under a half inch of grease, grit, oil and general crap.

Found the top middle pulley wobbles when I grab it, so not too happy about that... Now yet another thing to take apart and figure out what's wrong.

Thanks again for the help so far.

Sounds like you're making great progress so far.
IMO, That feedback carb will continue to be a thorn in your side.

Alright, so found a little time today to make a little progress. Got the carb back in and bolted down. Working on the vac. lines now. So, I found a pic here in another post of the same sticker I have, but clearer than I could ever get, it's the first pic.

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a.../emissions.jpg

This one shows the air cleaner (compliments of mattthegreat) is this correct?
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...r0991/Vac1.jpg

So I just need to figure out what some of the components are. I have the green tube run to the EGR, The red to the Vac tree and air cleaner. But I don't know what the ACV is, or what it looks like to be sure. As for the MAP, I saw in a post that they referred to the 2x3 box on the fender by the starter solenoid as the MAP, is this correct? Next question, what is the P/D MTR? It's a 4spd manual, and the acronym list said it was a park/drive thingamajig.

As for the PCV, from the diagram, it looks like it runs into the charcoal can purge valve, but is that it? Since I have no charcoal can then it would be pointless, however I know better, so it needs to run into the carb somehow.

Thanks again. I've spent way too much time on compact and sporty German cars...

It's kind of funny, or maybe ironic or whatever... By day I am a Mechanical Engineering technician and deal with prints, schematics, and mechanical design all day every day building prototype and one off radar systems that cost $10 million apiece, yet I have absolutely no idea what these diagrams are trying to say. I mean what is the convention for what a dashed line means? What about the lines that go into small circles? What about the whole freakin' mess of them? And why can't they just list ALL vacuum, not just emissions?