Wow that is a lot of work with the dash and trunk. I know the snowball effect for sure. So innocently we take apart one or two things, then before you know it’s down to a shell!! Haha. That trunk work is difficult getting everything cleaned up. I had the body shop so the jams and paint the exterior, I did the engine compartment, trunk and bottom of the car myself with rattle cans. Here’s a couple photos of my dads cyclone I did. Keep up the good work. Can’t wait to see some more progress!
Nice work there on that Cyclone. Wish my trunk pan area looked as good. Maybe sometime down the road a mini tub and new pan might be in the works, I don't know. I was learning to weld mig and really hate some of the welds I did.I would like to re-do it one day. Steady chipping away while we have this nice weather. I typically try to spend an hour or two on it before heading to work. Hands are pretty tore up from getting in the small and hard to get areas. Wiped everything down really good with Acetone after blowing the sanding dust off. Here are some more progress pics, hope to rattle can it over the weekend before work. Thanks for the words of encouragement, much appreciated.
That’s so me serious detail, I didn’t clean the underside of my package tray like that. Unless you have a mirror or are laying in your back on top of the gas tank, you can’t see it! I applaud your dedication!!
Thank you sir, did a little spraying today before heading out to work. Hope to get the rest finished up tomorrow. A couple of pics, still got to do the trunk pan floor....
Thank you sir. I ended up sanding the top of the gas tank, then smoothed it over with some scotch brite. Decided to shoot some clear over it. Pulled the door seals because they were new but ended up tearing at the bottom. Guess we ended up adding just a tad too much fiberglass so I took a wire wheel to both doors and the groove is now there. Been looking for a donor car to pull a few things from. Could use a better grill and rear bumper. Need to buy some new door seals and test fit. Gonna repaint the door jams and I hope to redo the dash and all panels before I put any wiring back. I do not want any overspray on the wires what so ever. Going back to the original color blue. If all goes well with income tax I’m gonna redo the outside with the original Wimbledon white. I like that it has a slight yellowish hue to it. But first need to tackle the interior and new engine...
Got it running yesterday guys but still experiencing idling issues. It ran and idled for over 30 - 45 minutes yesterday in intervals and again today for about 20 minutes off and on. I'm stumped as to what to do next. I'm hoping maybe a Falcon lover might chine in here to help me out with some advice. TFFN got shut down so I'm really at an end now. Carb has been cleaned out after the car took in water into the tank during a flood over 4 years ago. Tank had a drain plug so I emptied it out and of course, pulled the carpet and everything else that got wet and waited a few months for it to dry out and to fix my home. Fast forward about 3-4 months later I ended up filling the tank up with new gas and drove it but later that day it started popping and backfiring so I parked it. Ended up pulling the tank and found trash in it still after draining. Replaced the tank, cleaned the main fuel line out with compressed air, the fuel line from the pump to the carb and added a new fuel filter. Got it to start and drove to the gas station, filled it up. It drove fine for about 15 - 30 minutes riding around 35 - 40 mph. Thought I had it licked but the issue came back. Also sometimes when it won't start I de-advance the timing and it will turn on and then I re-advance it but it will eventually cut off after idling anywhere between 5 - 20 minutes. Edelbrock carb has been taken apart twice and cleaned. Accelerator pump replaced. Jets taken out and orifices blown out, I've tried different springs as well. Idle mixture screw passages have been blown out several times with compressed air. It seems that the left side does not do anything when adjusting but the right side does. When blowing these passages out air and gas is able to come out the port on the opposite side sides of each port inside the carb. I'm stumped as to what it is? I would hate to fork out another $400 on a new carb and it does not resolve the issue. I'm beginning to think that it might be it due to the trash that was in the tank. Made a new video for you guys so ya'll can see what it's doing. If you look closely you will notice the oil pressure switch has a small leak but the motor has plenty of oil. I know about it and will get to that next as soon as I can figure out why it won't run/idle right. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give as much information as possible. Still fighting this battle off and on. Thanks, Mark
Well have not heard back from anyone on here but I did remove and clean all the Booster bodies from my Edelbrock. Got a wire from my wire brush and went through each one. None of the passages had anything except for one small orifice and it was very little. Put it back together and it fired up but it still is doing the same thing and occasionally it will backfire once through the exhaust. Do you guys think that maybe something is going on with the timing chain? Sometimes it will idle fine for 5-15 minutes at a time and then suddenly die. Might be a little hard to start but it usually will and then if I try to give it gas occasionally just to see how it responds it does fine sometimes while other times it does not, bogs out and cuts off with the occasional backfire.
You seem to feel that it is fuel supply related issue, have you given any thought to ignition issues? A bad coil will heat up and cause problems. If you have a Pertronix the module or coil could cause problems. Jim
Jim, Thanks for your input. I have changed the coil a couple of times while chasing this issue over the last couple of years. I get frustrated and walk away from it and come back to it months later. Not anymore though, I'm determined to get it right. It has a points distributor, I bought one from O'Riley's a while back while my stock one got re-worked from Bubba on here. I initially thought that maybe the OEM distributor might had been causing the problem because it was old and worn so I sent it out and got the aftermarket one from the Auto parts so I could attempt to drive it. I think you might be on to something, I pulled my 1 & 5 plugs and both were fouled and wet with gas....
Update : I added an additional ground from the neg battery post to the body. Going to check my voltage on the coil next and see what it reads. It was put on there a year ago, along with the new plug wires and distributor but you never know. Has maybe 3-4 hours run time on it total. I thought the original wiring harness might have had a short or cracked wire somewhere so I replaced that as well. I don't know if anyone has watched my video but if you pay close attention to the motor it shakes ever so slightly at idle, like a miss. The reason I was focusing on the carb was due to the soot that entered into it from the tank due to the flood. But I have cleaned about all that I can in the carb, the only thing I have not replaced is the fuel pump. Got one of those new too sitting on the shelf but I do not know if that would cause it. The plugs were fouled when I pulled them on Friday but I have since replaced. Reset my timing and made sure I am on TDC and re-stabbed the distributor multiple times to ensure I am spot on with the rotor. I have blown out the idle mixture screw orifices with compressed air more times than I can count. I know the left hand side was not affecting idle at all while the right does somewhat. I might try squirting some carb cleaner and compressed air again tonight after work. If not looks like a new carb is in the works I guess? On a side note I have learned quite a bit about taking the AFB/Edelbrock carbs apart, cleaning and replacement of parts. -Mark
Update : Did some more troubleshooting today before work, connected a plug wire to the coil and on the other end of the wire I connected a spark plug tester. With the key on I bumped the engine over with my remote start to see if the tester would light up and no dice. I connected my multimeter positive (red) lead to the + side of the coil and the other (- black) to several grounded areas. Coil read 12.53 volts. Just because I had another new coil in the box repeated the exact same process and got the exact same results. My spark plug tester bulb might be out but I got the same reading on the volts. So not sure where to go from here. Getting tired of sinking money into parts and ending up with the same results. Think I 'm just gonna yank the engine and tear it down to fish for possible reasons as to why it keeps doing this. -Mark
Hey guys, Finished installing a rear axle in my C10 today and decided to do a little more troubleshooting, it's backfiring now more often through the exhaust on both sides and seems to be alternating between the two. Each time I pulled the distributor cap and checked the rotor and it was always pointing to the number 6 wire. Harmonic balancer is spot on TDC. This is after re-stabbing the distributor and making sure it was dead on the number 1 plug and then removing my #1 spark plug and making sure that it was all the way up. I am hoping it's not related to the cam shaft gear that spins the distributor or something. Guess I might drain the oil and drop the pan to have a look at things from underneath unless there is another way to fish it out from the top, any suggestions...? -Mark
Mark, I lost you when you mentioned that you wanted to fish out the gear. What gear are you referring to? Possible problem: Is the gear on the distributor turning on the shaft? (Roll pin sheared) The timing chain jumped on the cam gear? I’m sure you have inspected the distributor gear when you removed/installed the distributor, the reason I mention that is that I had an issue with a non compatible gear on the distributor get destroyed by the gear on the cam. Jim
Jim, Yes I was referring to the actual shaft. I tore it down last night, timing chain marks are lined up. So it's not the chain. I'm not sure what it might be but I need to push it out in daylight to get a better look. I might try tomorrow if it doesn't rain but we have had a lot of over cast days this week. Gear on the distributor is fine like you mentioned. I will give it a good look over and let you know. Thanks for all your help and suggestions. -Mark
Well got out to the garage last night after dinner and took some pics. I double checked the gear on the distributor and it's good. No broken teeth and the shear pin is there and in tact. I did notice a lot of slop in it when turning it back and forth. It's a aftermarket brand from the auto parts store, I think it's a Spectre? Timing chain has a little give in it, I would guess about a inch of wiggle maybe a little less. From what I can see the cam gear is fine, there was no metal shavings or grit in the oil or oil pan when I drained it. Got all the gasket surfaces cleaned up and ready. Since I have tore it down that far I am going to add a double roller timing chain. Something about the pistons has me a little puzzled, if you look closely at these pics the edge of the bottoms of these 3 pistons look a little jagged and rough? I am beginning to think the original issue was with the distributor. -Mark
Dude, holy crap! Did you originally say it was running rough? Fractured piston skirts may just cause that.
Yes sir it was running rough. It started one night while driving it , started to miss and backfire. I limped it home and after draining the tank and finding trash in the gas tank I attributed the roughness of the engine running like crap to that not thinking it was anything else. After replacing the tank cleaning the carb really well several times and replacing fuel pump, distributor, fuel filter and anything else I could think of I finally gave in and tore it down this past Wednesday night. -Mark
Looks like the piston skirt gets awfully close to the crankshaft. There is also a big gouge on the bottom of one the bores .
I was wondering if the piston skirts were cleared a little to clear the weights on the crank. That would explain the non precision cuts unless the skirts are cracked but I did not find any metal in the oil pan. I'm thinking of pulling all the plugs and rotating the engine by hand to try and look for or listen to any areas that might be scrapping or hitting but I'm not sure if I will be able to set it back on TDC? -Mark
Started to disconnect the remainder of the items on the engine. Gonna yank it out, time for a bigger and better set up. I have a 351W that I can go with but I will need to shave the shock towers. Or a 289 that would slide in there? What do you guys think? -Mark
Mark, If you decide to use the 351W cutting the towers is not necessary unless you want the extra room. If you are using the stock style upper control arms there isn’t much to cut without causing issues with the arm pivot area. That is one reason I converted to a strut style front suspension, it eliminates the upper control arms. I was able to section the shock towers and gain a ton of room. (My engine is a Boss 302/Cleveland heads) So you are giving up on the existing engine and going with a totally new block? Jim
Jim, Well I just don't know if the condition of the existing skirts is the problem. If I have to take the 260 out to fix it I might as well replace with something a little larger I figure. I'm not sure if you looked at the pictures I posted on here but the piston skirts seemed to have been either clearance for the weights on the crank or came like that? The bottom edges looked to be chewed up. And if I am going to have to take the engine out and tear it down to fix it, my thinking is to go with something else for now. I have a 351W I can put in there or 289. Only reason I mentioned the 351 is because it has been rebuilt and is ready to go. On the other hand the 289 has been broken down and just needs to be checked at the machine shop and if all is well, there are some parts that I can rob off the 260 and bolt to the 289 which is kind of the way I am leaning right now after thinking about it last night. Is the 302 Boss just as wide as the 351? Might add a 302 crank with the shorter rods to the 289...? -Mark
Boss 302 would be narrower than a 351 Cleveland became of the shorter deck height. Are you sure that’s a 260 in there? I know from experience that hipo 289 aftermarket pistons (Speed Pro/ Sealed power) pistons won’t work without modification in a 302 with the shorter 302 rods because the 289 pistons have longer skirts to clear the crank counterweights of the 302 crank. Pin location is the same on 302 and 260/289 pistons, if I recall. What you may have is a stroked 260: a 260 block with 302 rods and hacked up stock 302 pistons to clear the bigger counterweight of the 302 crank. Depending on what 302 crank was used, balance would be off from both the crank and hacked pistons.
Yes Boss 302’s are Windsor blocks with 351 style heads, the 351 Cleveland is a completely different animal. Still the Boss engine is a tight fit in a unmodified Comet/Falcon engine compartment, I ran the Boss in my Comet for years with out the modifications, it is so much easier to work on nowwith the sectioned shock towers.
Finn, You just might be on to something, my Dad rebuilt this engine over 25 years ago and he does not remember the details. All he tells me is that it was built to 302 specs. Engine ran well up until it got flooded a few years back. I could get it to idle but it just seemed not to run as smooth as before and has been hard to start ever since. -Mark
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