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I found the source for the vacuum readings fluttering rapidly from 13-17 psi. It turns out that one of my idle passages on one side was completely clogged so the engine was only running on every other cylinder in effect. Unbalanced carbueration. I rebuilt the carb this weekend and I have a really nice running engine now. Vacuum at idle is 20.5 now and only has a small variation. The idle is fantastic in gear now and the power is incredible. It'll idle at 500 rpm or less I think smoothly. I love the sound of that kickdown and the secondaries coming in when running from 55-70 mph. I have the power steering working now and a completely new set of tie rods and idler arm so the steering is really nice now. A big accomplishment! Thanks to the many suggestions and advice from the folks here at Squarebirds.
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Jim, it sounds like you did quite a bit of work, and it paid off big time. That tickles me to no end. However we can help you, please let us know. - DaveMember, Sons of the American Revolution
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"We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
--Lee Iacocca
From: Royal Oak, Michigan -
Always good when ...
a plan starts to come together. Sounds like your making real progress. MikeComment
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Yes, I love the "good stories" on this site too!! Isn't it a great feeling to put in all that hard work and money, then getting to drive your investment & see it paying off?
Enjoy....
-Jon in TX.sigpic
The 1960 Ford Thunderbird. The WORLD'S most wanted car....
VTCI Member#6287.Comment
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Green with envy - post your mailing address and I'll send you my carb
- seriously though - great to hear you have a smooth running Tbird. I can imagine it has more power going from a 4 cyl to an 8 cyl. Hopefully I'll have that same feeling this spring.
Eric
registry 5347Comment
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I learned many things along the way by taking the engine apart and really looking at the parts. The last lesson learned is that the modern Ford V8 and most others have a dual plane intake manifold so there are basically two intake manifolds. One is fed from the left carb barrels and one is fed from the right carb barrels. Each intake manifold feeds a set of 4 cylinders and due to the firing order they fire (and gulp air from) every other cylinder so there is a balance. If you take your intake manifold vacuum fitting off, sure enough there are two ports inside the hole - one for each plane of the manifold. If only one side of the carb is not working properly, it will only affect every other cylinder. Also the other enlightenment is that the secondaries have idle passages also in order to keep the secondary fuel bowl refreshed. It was all worth it due to everything I learned along the way.Comment
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