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Original Message
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| Lots of new on 390...still some problems |
| By Darel - 10/02/2002 10:17:28 AM; IP 198.81.17.157 |
I have a '61 T-Bird with a '66 390 on it. I finally got around to giving it a good tuneup and adding some other parts, b/c the choke on my carb was broken and basically it just needed everything. Here's a list of everything I put on it:
- Holley 4106 carb (new, elec. choke, vac sec.)
- Pertronix Ignitor II
- Pertronix Flamethrower II coil
- Accel 8mm spiral-core plug wires
- Autolite Platinum plugs (gapped to .045)
- Ford Racing "big cap" distributor cap conversion
After doing all that, I still have a hard start problem. In the past after doing all this to an old engine it would easily fire off on the first or second crank, but my T-Bird requires a great deal of pumping to catch, and then sputters for a few seconds before all cylinders begin to fire. Do I maybe need to close up that spark gap?
In addition to the hard start problem, my transmission slips. I believe this is actually due to my kickdown linkage and not a true tranny problem, since it feels like it hangs up between gears, but quickly letting off the gas and getting right back on it will correct it. How should I adjust this linkage?
Also, I have a small exhaust leak out of my driver's exh. manifold. No big deal, but it putt-putts under load. The odd thing is that sometimes when I let off the gas I can hear an odd, muffled putt-putt (not like I would expect from a hung-up linkage) coming from the leak. Again, is my tranny hanging up in gear or what? I have made sure not to run plug wires 7 & 8 next to one another to prevent crossfire, yet maybe it seems like this is what's happening.
In addition to all this, the car really seems down on power. I would think after all these add-ons and replacing all that old crap I would notice an increase in power, but now it seems weaker and these other problems I mentioned have popped up. Similarly, the new carb did not get rid of the hesitation problem I had before. Do I need to bump up to the 50cc pump?
Some other notes: I had to turn the fast idle on the new carb way down from the factory setting. I got it to idle correctly, and it pulls 17 in. of vacuum at idle. It is very smooth and quiet, and I used the vac gauge to adjust the mixture screws. I don't really think this is the problem but it could be. My timing is set at 10deg., there is no pinging even on cheap gas. It seemed to run best at about 15 deg (I don't know since the scale doesn't go that high) but since my book only recommends 2-10 deg BTDC I set it at the max. Maybe I need to correlate my timing with the new ignition and wider plug gap?
Sorry this post is so long, but I'd like to get all these problems squared away once and for all. Thank you very much for any help you can provide.
Darel Matthews
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