Technical A Kid's First Project: 1957 Fairlane 500 Town Victoria.

Some old car manuals had a vacuum gauge diagnostic chart in them. My OG vacuum gauge came with one.. lost it. I'm sure you can look one up. They are a pretty good way to "see" what is going on inside the engine.

 

something else i noticed, it seemed that fuel was dripping down off the venturi... never seen anything like that when it was just running, not being given throttle.

 

Send a picture please If this is occuring inside the venturi fine it's trying to atomize the fuel where perhaps something is challenging the atomizing process . The vacuum guage yes you need and I recommend using an exhaust analyzer also checking for high CO reading in this situation as we want to be assured there are no internal carburator leaks . What carb unit do you have installed ? Sorry if I missed an earlier post on that

 

will do as soon as i can. its dripping off the venturi on the "drivers side"(?) of the engine

 

Ohh ! Yes when you get a chance it's important if this is an old leak or a new one since I assume we are troubleshooting a new symptom in search of a diagnosis concerning the possible sticky valve . I will check back with you it will be around 5 pm pacific or let me know when is good time for you

 

Well, the carb was supposedly rebuilt by the seller

 

That's good perhaps we can stop the leak or he may like to help here , can you ask him if he had any problems rebuilding it like an unusual gasket or screws that may be delicate to tighten and starting to strip out ?

 

i have a 1959 mercury holley 2300 carb

 

I have the valves adjusted properly following the shop manual, and now all of them are consistent. Its dark now, so i will do a compression test tomorrow.

 

so... the compression tester my dad has includes 3 attachments, one that cannot be removed that I've estimated to be ~18mm, one 14mm and one 10mm... I think I need to find a different compression tester as I don't want to ruin my threads with metric sizes.

 

All spark plugs, for some reason I don’t know, that I come across are always a metric size. (At least diameter, never checked pitch).
Have you taken out a plug and see how the adapter fit where the plug was?

 

havent tried it yet, i found it last night but it was too dark to go mess with it on the car, plus it was starting to rain.

 

also, so i dont mess my firing order up, i marked all the plug wires, not sure how great of an idea it actually is, but it will hopefully work.

 

The 14 should be your ticket just put a film of lube on it's threads preferably Anti-Sieze Compound if not that just a dab of motor oil if you need just get out the dipstick and use that and when you put the hose end down there wipe the area clean first then snuggle it in and twist it counter-clockwise like half a turn you will feel the first thread fall into place then proceed to turn it clockwise till it bottoms just snug and all systems go !
Google ' Alldata running compression test ' looks like a good explanation and processes you can do . Have fun !

 

Was raining today and I don't want to risk rain in my cylinders, so im going to wait til tomorrow.

 

That is a fine idea it's not like your stuck roadside , we will talk about the carburator later right now don't consider it an issue we need to keep it simple and it's good you familiarize yourself with the engine as you are a part of it when on the throttle so have a nice evening

 

I'm dyslexic so I do anything to help me not mix things up. I have a few cards of Brady markers with wrap-around numbers on them. I put them on my plug wires.

 

i used painters tape and a sharpie, the drivers side is especially easy to mix up.

 

Numbering the plug wires and having a diagram of the proper firing order are always good things. Helps prevent screwups.

 

before i first started it up i got the firing order almost 180 degrees backwards. i went off of top dead center of number 6 by accident. i guess i assumed the cap was wrong even though number 1 is marked, made a rookie mistake.

 

I went ahead and sprung for it since i had a leftover gift card from last christmas... a mexican blanket front seat.
The rear is in good enough condition it doesnt need it, but for now it will do.

 

About any vehicle I had, you’d see the remnants of masking tape numbered with the plug wires

 

So, tried to do a compression test, the gauge jumps to 140 or so and back down, doesnt want to stay in place like ive seen on youtube.

 

I have the same exact blanket on my front seat. I split it up the middle and have it held on with big safety pins. Better than what is under it. The top of the rear seat was sun baked bad. We cut out the bad fabric and stitched in a beach towel using clear fishing line as thread.

 

In carburetor related news, it runs now, but seems to flood out if it idles too long... if i can get those screws set right (i replaced them with the ones out of the old carb which were brand new looking) it might finally idle where its supposed to. Also both my temp and gas gauge stopped working... any tips?

 

Blue on yellow looking fine and a black stripe to match the wheel sets off too

 

The Holley's have to be set up just right . I didn't rebuild it and neither did you so I would start by resetting the float measurements and find out what kit he put in the car. See there is a variety of metering assembly gaskets and it has to be perfect and sometimes you have to soak those gaskets so they will return to their normal operating size or the holes in the gasket won't line up to the channels in the metering assembly . Those Holley's is your idle/low jets in the side of the metering assembly are wiggly then your metering assembly should be replaced . If they turn in with some resistance they are ok . These can leak if worn and yes does take a minute or two to flood so when you start it up idle it then put your finger on the idle jet gently like your petting a butterfly and 8f idle changes more than 30-50 rpm then your metering assembly or jets are worn and you can replace the jets and give it a go it may or may not it's a 50 50 till you try and see . If still does it then check your float specifications if it's ok then get another metering assembly ( gotta be exact for 2300 ) or start counting change .
You mentioned leakage from the carb in a earlier post please do post a picture of this and I'd like to see what material the metering assembly gasket is made of ( where it mounts to the carbs main body )

 

This carb doesnt leak fuel, the old carb did, but this is a different 1959 mecury carb, the old one is off of a '63 ford truck

 

Oh good then for now don't worry about the floats

 

Back in '74 I had a '57 Fairlane 500 2-dr Club Sedan.... It was the same color as your sedan, and stock as a rock.... 'cept loud pipes. Y-blocks make great sounds... So after following this thread for a while, I got to thinking. A friend has a '57 driver, and has lost interest in the critter. So I may have to snag it. It runs great, but I also have a zero miles 352 which is warmed over a tad. Thanks for the inspiration