Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance On the road. Woohoo!

It's been a long time, last inspection sticker was from 2011.

Back on the road as of today.

Engine runs, but not great. Idle and off idle cruising is ok. Lands on it's face at higher throttle openings. Feels promising at first but then just fades out quick at 1/2 throttle. No power up top or even mid range. Have put off tuning the single barrel to this engine, as I am going to use a dual bbl carb on it that I already have. Also found a spare intake/exhaust manifold set for $60 that I plan on modifying for the 2bbl. Rather put effort in tuning that.

This year's goal officially reached

Many thanks to members of this board for advice and education provided to an inline newbie like me.

Congrats! If you're in Northern VA let me know if you want a hand getting it going better. Sounds like a carb rebuild is in order. I have my original 1bbl that was rebuilt recently if you want to try it on the engine.

Way to go! The road is where they belong.

Check for a dirty fuel filter limiting fuel flow in high demand situations. Many times this is the problem, and it is often over looked.

I live in Front Royal, VA.

I just pretty much parked the car for now, I think it was running pig rich. I'll take one more look at the carb but then I'm going to start working on the 2bbl. I won't waste much more time on this carb. I may drive it a couple of times before winter hits just for fun.

Fuel filter is new, and the carb inlet screen is clean. Electric pump, which admittedly is old. I need to find time when I can go on a lonely road and maintain same speed for a while, and then cut the engine from speed and coast to the side of the road to read the plugs. Problem is, by the time I get home from work its dark and on the weekends I have my kids to entertain (and not leave unsupervised, haha)

Its ok though. Now I know the basics are good and I can tinker with other stuff over the winter.

Jan

Congrats! Some fine tuning and that engine will purr.

I lowered the fuel level and metering rod in order to lean the mixture out, as I just found the plugs were sooty again. Just took it to town, a 15 minute round trip. It now runs smoother. Doesn't stumble anymore and keeps on going no matter how much throttle I give it. Not much power though.... But at least it runs ok.
Took it to 80mph going uphill, same stretch of road it struggled to reach 60 last time.

So happy I can finally drive it, as crappy as it runs and looks its' still a labor of love... and blood, sweat & cusswords.

Next thing you know you'll be in the turbo forum....


Don't say I didn't warn you. I know because I'm heading there soon myself!

You're not far off, I wanted to do a turbo build originally

Now I have a lead on a junkyard 292, maybe thats my turbo build....

That car reminds me so much of mine. Keep going.

Did you pull off the gas tank and clean it? Jay 6155

I did pull the tank, it was shiny like NEW from inside! OUtside was covered in some undercoating or something, and zero rust underneath... shiny like stainless steel...?? Flawless tank. Now I still need to figure out why the gas gauge is not working. I had it out, forgot to attach the wire, dropped the tank again to attach the wire, and still no work. Gauge is pegged full.

Some cars also have a plug inside the trunk. If it has one it could be unplugged there. Jay6155

thanks I'll trace the wire

Took another half hour drive to town today, I let the kids sit in the front bench seat. They were excited. Engine behaves well, pretty smooth and responds fairly good down low, just doesn't have a lot of power. It likes to build heat at red lights, 210F while cruising but creeps up to 230F when just sitting at relatively short red lights. Doesn't seem to get past 230, and drops immediately if I give it gas. Like the new water pump isn't pumping enough at idle. I can't seem to get this under control. Its a flow issue, turning on electric radiator fan has no effect.

That and the lack of power could be timing.

It's the position of your thermostat. It's next to the exhaust header and when there's no air going over it it's reading high.

Mine does the same thing.

....or could just be that it's a 250, not an LS...

230...

My 230 got hot at idle, worse when the timing wasn't advanced much. Of course, I had bigger problems...

I gave it a little more advance, runs fine, not sure if my imagination or if it runs a hair cooler while cruising, but still builds heat the same way at idle. Saw 195 at cruising speeds around 60, the usual 210 when driving uphill at 55-60, and even 90 I am certain its a flow issue at idle. Third thermostat, no difference. I think it's a 180F thermostat again. Second new water pump, this one had a wider gap between impeller blades and body, so i adjusted it closer to match the old pump - to reduce losses at slow speeds.

I had a Ford that did that..I fixed it with a 1" smaller
diameter water pump pulley from the junk yard...

Well there's your problem!

(kidding!)

Seriously, though, where's your temp sensor? In the head or off the thermostat housing?



In this pic you can see mine in the head. It's on the driver's side right at the #2 piston. It's the brass plug looking thing with a wire coming out of it.

If it's there it'll read high at idle because the exhaust manifold butts up to it. When you're driving air flows around it cooling it down.

I've replaced my radiator (3 core), thermostat, and water pump and mine still creeps up because the sensor is about 1/4" from the header flange. I know it's a false reading.


Yours could also be a bad radiator. You can try flushing it but I doubt you'll get the gunk out.

same spot on mine. Radiator is new, 3-row.

The rest of the story: The Ford had aftermarket A/C installed.
The original water pump pulley interfered with on of the compressor bracket bolts. The kit came with a 1" larger pulley to make clearance between the pulley and the bolt head.

Not knowing this, I installed a huge factory radiatior, fan and fan shroud from a 460 application...The engine still ran
hot when stopped for traffic lights ect. in the summer..

I discovered an original pulley in a wrecking yard and
I noticed it looked smaller..Bought it and installed it.
I made clearance by cutting the bolt head down, and installed
it with no washer and lock tite...The engine then ran at 195*
parked and running with the trans in D for an hour.. The outside temp was 101*..

So, the poor cooling was caused by poor circulation..The
big pulley just made the pump turn too slow...

I spent over $800 in the 1980's on that overheat problem before
I discovered it was caused by poor aftermarket design..

Mine creeps up like that too. I've learned to ignore it.

Melon: Mine is the original pulley on the water pump. I think it's where the temp sensor is located in my (and 70Nova's) case. False reading.

There's a couple of thermostat housings on Ebay with the port in them from later 250's but they're pricey. My housing has the boss for the port but wasn't drilled and tapped. I can tap it and put it there if I wanted.

Another option is a thermostat spacer with a port like this: http://pitstopusa.com/i-5069394-joes-thermostat-spacer-1-2-npt-ports-gauge-port.html

I'm not a huge fan of that one, though. Just my preference.

I've just opted to ignore it.

I have a threaded thermostat housing, but I have a switch there that turns the electric radiator fan on. For now though, the switch is bad and I am using a manual bypass switch on the dash if I need it. Running the electric fan does not hep at idle, at all. So the radiator is not flowing enough to make a difference.

I raised the metering rod in the carb (1bbl) a little higher today and now I can do one sided burnouts on wet pavement, LOL.

Drove it to work today, 60 mile round trip. Raised the metering rod at work and maybe felt a small improvement on the way home. Broke traction on wet pavement a few times without trying, leaving red lights Sad. Anyhoo, I just ordered a 1" x 5" x 6" aluminum plate off ebay, I'll see if I can make a carb adapter out of it. Its big enough to make two.