Faulty voltage regulator?

[peeeot]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

Since my carburetor is from 1964, should I be using the 1964 float level setting given by my rebuild kit, or should I be using the 1959 float setting? To put it generally, is the float setting specific to the carburetor or the vehicle?

[Alexander]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

I don't think it is that simple. Did the castings for the 4100 change significantly during the years? I will look at the 4100's I have, but I don't think they changed this area. A lot depends on how the motor is angled in the car.

This site shows how to adjust the 4100 on the car for a proper "wet" float setting.

http://aarc.epnet.com/application/9060/9060CH5_Carburetor_Assembly.htm

Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top

[peeeot]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

For the wet float setting, I would have to know what the fuel level in the bowl is supposed to be, and I have not been able to locate such a specification anywhere. That's why I have been asking about the fuel level in relation to the holes on the booster venturis. Is this supposed to mean that the float setting is equivalent to the appropriate fuel level (I mean, if the float is set 21/32" below the top of the carburetor main body, the fuel level at idle should also be 21/32" below the top of the main body)?

I don't think there are any significant casting differences, but I don't have specs to check. Every detail of my carburetor that I can see matches up with that of any other 4100. The one thing that might have changed, unless I'm way off base on how this works, is the vertical location of the booster venturis in the barrels (which would presuppose changes in the barrel castings and maybe even the throttle plates, things I can't check by a mere visual inspection). I can't see any other reason why the float level would be different between the two. But my rebuild kit gives different specs.

Something must be different. This web site

http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Kford.htm

lists a different carb kit part number for my carburetor (C4AF-R) than for the 1958-1959 4100s.

[Alexander]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

These Ford carburetors do not have an easy to adjust float level like a Holly that you can do from the outside of the carb.

What I would recommend you do is to adjust the float to the spec of year carburetor that you have. Place the carb on the car. On a warm engine running at idle, look at the primary and secondary venturis. If you see a lot of fuel dripping down, your float level is too high on at least one of the floats. Bend the tab on the float to get a slightly lower level and recheck. Remember the front and rear fuel chambers are connected, so one float can cause both fuel levels to be too high.

The early sixties 4100 I have on my '59 T-Bird worked fine right of the box, so factory float levels should get your very close to what you want.

Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top

[peeeot]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

Today I removed my carburetor and completely disassembled it. When I rebuilt it several months ago, our air compressor was on the fritz and I don't think it was operational at the time. So, because of that and some debris that collected in the primary fuel bowl when I first started the car up (congealed old fuel behind a fitting I hadn't been able to remove), I went at it with the compressed air and checked every passage.

I made two important discoveries. One, the smaller, inner brass tubes on the secondary booster venturi assembly were both completely blocked off with ancient, congealed gasoline. I spent at least an hour cleaning the stuff out, and was successful. Two, one of those same little tubes on the primary booster assembly was acting like it was restricted. The compressed air flowed through, but with probably less than half the velocity that it flowed through on the other side. No amount of cleaning, chemical or otherwise, that I did made any difference. Sticking a wire into the tube, I found that it would not go in as far on the obstructed side as the other. I spent a few hours trying to get it to flow better to no avail.

I put in a phone call to thecarburetorshop.com and spoke with a man for a while about carburetors, tuning, and which specs to use, etc. I used the settings for a 1964 352-equipped Galaxie listed on my rebuild kit, since that is most likely the car that my carburetor came off of (the only 1964 Ford offering listed with a 352).

When I hooked everything up and warmed the car up, there was both good and bad. The good was that the engine would at last rev up pretty smoothly. I opened the throttle very slowly as well as rapidly and the engine responded about how I'd expect at all times.

The bad was that my intake vacuum had dropped from a consistent 20+ inches down to a less-steady 18-19 inches (after a lot of time adjusting timing and mixture)and the exhaust was putting constantly (what IS that?!!?). Idle quality was down a bit in general, no matter what I did for it.

I observed some strange behavior regarding the timing. first, when accelerating the engine to nearly 2000 rpm, the spark advance (viewed with timing light) only moved a little ways past the marks, maybe to something like 15 degrees. I never saw it go higher than that, and it got up to that pretty slowly as the engine picked up revvs. What was strange was that after observing idle timing of approx. 6 degrees btdc and revving the engine, the timing at idle suddenly settled at more than 10 degrees btdc. Idle speed was the same. The distributor was secure. I re-adjusted the timing back to around 6 (vacuum was best there) and after that it seemed to stay put.

After I was done running the car, I pulled some of the plugs. One of them, #8, ALWAYS looks wet, and this had not changed. It doesn't look wet with oil; it just looks wet, and dark. I don't know what that's all about. Every other plug I pulled looked like any plug that's been burning really rich. I've done everything I know to do (short of just lowering the float past spec) to lean out the mixture but I always get rich-looking plugs.

I have to say I'm feeling pretty disappointed. My brother's '66 mustang, which has at least 100k more miles on its 200ci 6-cyl, runs smoother and more consistently than my T-Bird. I have been all over the inside of that mustang's motor and cut a LOT of corners when working on it (my brother's finances were very limited), and it was filthy inside, and had clearly never recieved any major service, but it is more responsive to tuning than my 'bird. He hasn't replaced half of the ignition components I have, either.

I'm still thinking I need to just break down and get a new carburetor, but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't make the car any more consistent in its responses to tuning.

what is wrong with my car? x(

[peeeot]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

Today I lowered the float level about 1/16 inch. At first this improved the idle quality, but ultimately I still had some bizarre behavior:

Even though float level is all I changed, my timing (according to the light) changed from 6 degrees btdc (where I left it last time the car was running) to 1 degree btdc between the last time I ran it (yesterday) and today. I'm baffled.

I had the engine idling pretty well at 700 rpm, with 18 inches of vacuum. I turned the car off. 3-5 minutes later, I started it again. It then idled at 600 rpm, very poorly, with 16.5 inches vacuum. I changed nothing.

With the throttle held steady and the engine spinning 1500 rpm or more, I can see fuel spraying out of the little holes in the booster venturis. Is that normal?

[Alexander]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

I think your harmonic balancer is worn. This happens with time. The rubber that is sandwiched between the two metal rings dries out and no longer keeps the two pieces in sync. There is slippage, so your timing by the light is inaccurate. It is best to set your timing by rpm and vacuum.

If your harmonic balancer is shifting so much, you may ant to think about replacing it or rebuilding it. The repros do not look anything like the original, but there are shops that put new rubber in the balancer.

I once saw a harmonic balancer come apart on a Squarebird at a national show, so these pieces do have a limited lifespan.

Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top

[peeeot]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

You're probably right, but when I've been setting the timing, I have been on one side of the car holding the distributor and turning it with my eyes planted on a vacuum gauge while my father has been on the other side with the timing light and the tachometer. Every time we've done this, the engine has idled the best from every standpoint when adjusted to around 6 degrees, as it appears on the balancer.

I can understand how the balancer would shift, giving a different reading, but why would the distributor position need to be readjusted in this manner? I know I have the hold-down boat secured well enough.

If it's really loose enough to shift so much, I'm going to see if I can rotate the balancer by hand.

[Alexander]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

Are you running points? The cam lobe on the distributor can be worn causing erratic point action and thus affect your timing. A conversion to a Pertronix or Mallory Unilite pointless system can solve this.

Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top

[peeeot]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

I tried moving the outside part of the balancer by hand, but couldn't.

I am running points, but the distributor is new.

[peeeot]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

I played around with the car some more this weekend. I'm pleased to report that there was no more bizarre timing behavior.

I tried lowering the float level several times, about 1/16" at a time, and each time something improved. Ultimately, I lowered both floats approximately 3/16 inch. Here is what changed:

When I opened the throttle enough to bring the primary fuel system into action, I saw a mist of fuel coming out of the booster venturis instead of a spray like before.

I was able to tune the car up to a pretty stable 19 inches of vacuum.

When I pulled the spark plugs, they didn't look normal, but they finally didn't look really rich.

Idle quality was not fantastic, and I was still getting the putt sound, though I think less frequently.

The engine ran pretty smoothly in every rpm range I tried except for the range just before the primary fuel system started operating, I think around 1100 rpm.

At this point the float level is way below spec, but my spark plugs don't look as rich and I don't see fuel spraying out of the venturis. The best idle I've achieved was at a much higher float setting.

The jets I have are 48 primary and 60 secondary. They might say 48F.

Any ideas as to what I need to do to iron things out?

[peeeot]

RE: Faulty voltage regulator?

Ugh.

Well, I'm pretty sure I've found the source of my troubles. A compression test revealed a reading of 150 psi on all cylinders. After adding 30 weight oil to one of the cylinders, that reading jumped up to the 180 psi spec.

I don't know how I managed it, but apparently I put in the wrong rings. It explains the excessive blowby and, I think, why I'm having such a hard time getting it running the way I'd like. It still accelerates with oomph, but.....

I sure feel dumb.