Hi I am Rob and am new to this board. I have a 1959 J-code and had a couple of questions.
I knew having a J-code bird was a pretty rare car, watching a Thunderbird documentary, I was floored when they said there were only 200 J-code 430ci Thunderbirds. if that is the case, WOW! Ive found a rare one. has anybody heard of this? it was on the history channel.
The guy I got the 'bird from told me that it had another carb it wasnt working well with it. He replaced it with a Holley 750 and said that it was to big for it. That made me scratch my head as I have had quite a few built small blocks with 750 carbs, I would figure that it would work on a big block. so he replaced it with an edelbrock 650 before he brought it to me. The car runs sweet and then out of the blue it will fight to start or stall in the middle of the road(that isnt fun happened three times). First time I thought maybe the fuel gauge was off got it started and filled up the tank. I reached in turned the key no gas pedal nothing instant start which is how it normally does.Went for a 30 mile cruise no problem.next time I went to drive it for a cruise with a bunch of guys, we met up at one place and sat around when it was time it had a hard time starting once I got it started we left the parking lot and it died in the middle of an intersection, funnily enough it was the same parking lot 2 different days the first one I died in the turn lane leaving me stranded in the turn lane. The second time I turned right and died in the intersection. When we go to the next place (after I got it started) we looked at it and saw that it had about 40 inches of rubber fuel line laying on the valve cover. we figured it was vapor locking fuel was getting hot. I ran new steel line to eliminate that issue. checked the choke and it was closing properly so ruled that out. last night we all went to a cruise in. and it seemed like every time you gave it too much gas too quickly it would die out but giving it steady gas it ran fine. Again at the cruise in we checked it out. One of my friends said fuel starvation under load means spark is bad. All new wires, easiest thing to do was replace the coil. drove about 5 houses left my street and died in the middle of the road at 11pm in the country is really not a fun. pushed it out of traffic and back on to my street until I could get it started and take it back to my garage. walked out this morning reached in and turned the key over and started right up no gas just an instant crank and start. Talking to another of my friends on the phone today an old school rodder. He has several MELs and said they had a known problem with the fuel pump and its location at the front of the engine, that I should put a good electric fuel pump, not to skimp on the $30 one get the good one and block off the plate on the block. which leads me to wonder where I can get the proper plate. has anybody ever had this happen to them?
Thanks Rob
I knew having a J-code bird was a pretty rare car, watching a Thunderbird documentary, I was floored when they said there were only 200 J-code 430ci Thunderbirds. if that is the case, WOW! Ive found a rare one. has anybody heard of this? it was on the history channel.
The guy I got the 'bird from told me that it had another carb it wasnt working well with it. He replaced it with a Holley 750 and said that it was to big for it. That made me scratch my head as I have had quite a few built small blocks with 750 carbs, I would figure that it would work on a big block. so he replaced it with an edelbrock 650 before he brought it to me. The car runs sweet and then out of the blue it will fight to start or stall in the middle of the road(that isnt fun happened three times). First time I thought maybe the fuel gauge was off got it started and filled up the tank. I reached in turned the key no gas pedal nothing instant start which is how it normally does.Went for a 30 mile cruise no problem.next time I went to drive it for a cruise with a bunch of guys, we met up at one place and sat around when it was time it had a hard time starting once I got it started we left the parking lot and it died in the middle of an intersection, funnily enough it was the same parking lot 2 different days the first one I died in the turn lane leaving me stranded in the turn lane. The second time I turned right and died in the intersection. When we go to the next place (after I got it started) we looked at it and saw that it had about 40 inches of rubber fuel line laying on the valve cover. we figured it was vapor locking fuel was getting hot. I ran new steel line to eliminate that issue. checked the choke and it was closing properly so ruled that out. last night we all went to a cruise in. and it seemed like every time you gave it too much gas too quickly it would die out but giving it steady gas it ran fine. Again at the cruise in we checked it out. One of my friends said fuel starvation under load means spark is bad. All new wires, easiest thing to do was replace the coil. drove about 5 houses left my street and died in the middle of the road at 11pm in the country is really not a fun. pushed it out of traffic and back on to my street until I could get it started and take it back to my garage. walked out this morning reached in and turned the key over and started right up no gas just an instant crank and start. Talking to another of my friends on the phone today an old school rodder. He has several MELs and said they had a known problem with the fuel pump and its location at the front of the engine, that I should put a good electric fuel pump, not to skimp on the $30 one get the good one and block off the plate on the block. which leads me to wonder where I can get the proper plate. has anybody ever had this happen to them?
Thanks Rob
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