My wifes Galaxie, My pain in the ass!!!

Please don't deleat this. I really need help on this one?
My wife has a 1967 Galaxie, It has a 390 and it only runs right when all the planets are aligned.
I try to do most of our mech. work but this 390 is just such a weird engine that I'm almost to freaked out about it to work on it, Almost.
first I had a problem with overheating,fought with that till I found out about the timing on a 390 can really affect that engine.
now it is a problem with stoping, not with the brakes but like the throttle is stuck open when you let off the peddle, also there is a huge vaccume leak as I can hear the tick, tick, tick.
The first thing I was gonna do is change out the stock carb and manifold with an edelbrock carb and preformer intake, but I cant find a damn vaccume diagram for this car.
or does some one with greater knowledge of the 390 exist in the Spokane or surounding area come to my house and drink free beer and point me in the right direction?

 

FE engines are cake. First off, the "tick tick tick" is probably an exhaust leak as FE's are notorious for them. If you truley think it's a vacume leak try spraying some staring fluid around the intake and all vacume ports. If it revs up in a certain spot when you spray...theres your leak.

As far as the throttle being stuck...does it just need a stronger return spring?

 

Hey sounds like you need the Ford FE Forum. Best bunch of FE guys around.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182/

Good luck with your build

 

I'm not quit shure on the whole not stoppong thing as she just let me know about it when we where putting the car up for the winter, but as she explaines it it almost sounds like it's not down shifting?????? or that the idle is set to high.
I have been told that I might not want to put an aluminum intake on a 390? do you know any reasons why I wouldn't?

 

I'm not a Later then 57 Ford guy by any means but those old 390's used to be pretty easy to get to run right when I worked on them.

With the carb, my guess is that either the linkage or throttle plate is sticking and probably a good cleanup is in order. To me those old Ford Motorcraft carbs are about the easiest and simplest things in the world to work on,

On the vacuum leak (s) I'd start by plugging off all of the vacuum lines off the manifold except the line to the vacuum advance and modulator on the trans and get the engine running right and then one by one hook the lines back up to see where the problem is.

Other wise it is the usual stuff.
Run a compression test to make sure that the compression is even.
Make sure that the cap, rotor, wires and plugs are good. This model of Ford hates moisture and condensation especially in the distributor cap.
And if the carb is actually shot, change it out like you wanted to.

Thing is I hate to make any changes on a rig until I know exactly what the original problem is as I like to make sure I am taking care of the problem.

 

alum. should be fine, just make sure it is same as the block--low,mid or high riser. i have always used the copper silicone with metal gaskets for the exhaust and then no leaks.

 

All I can say from my experience 390"s have been pretty damn good engines. Timing not being right will make one run hot and or not start worth a damn, but that goes for most stuff.

Rest of everything sounds like just typical older stuff till you get it figured out. Nothing to it, just be patient.

 

Is there a vacuum modulator on that trans?? If so, then find that vacuum line.. It probably runs from a vacuum port on the intake or carb and runs down to the side of the trans somewhere. It's probably all brittle around the exhaust manifold area. That piece of vacuum line needs replacing.

 

I've had some absolutely stormin' 352 and 390 Ford engines. Even with the stock intake and Autolite or FoMoCo 4 barrels, they had plenty of power.

Slappin' an aftermarket manifold and carb is a crutch, you'll be ahead of the game by sorting it out first in stock form.

I agree with the tick, tick exhaust leak noises. A simple gasket change fixes that one. Something is hanging up your gas pedal, look at it from the pedal inside the car too. Make sure you have a return spring on it.

Good luck!

Bob

 

Vacuum leaks don't tick...Fords, Chevys or Ramblers. Take a 3 foot piece of 3/8" fuel hose, hold one end up to your ear while you run the other end around the exhaust manifold to head joints. You will immediately know when you find the leaking gasket. It's a common problem on the 390 but it applies to all internal combustion engines. I'd recommend using heat on the head flanges so that the bolts will come out and not wring off. Use a good 6 point socket. Those Ford bolt heads like to round over. Take your time and you will save a lot of time.

Start at the carb by disconnecting the linkage to see if the problem is at the carb or in the linkage to the carb. The stuck throttle is probably as simple as lubrication. Try spraying the pivot points on the linkage as you work it. Look at the throttle return spring. I have nothing against an upgrade on your carb and intake but that's a lot of money just to cure a sticky gas pedal.

Retarded ignition is quite often the reason for over heating on all engines not just 390s. I know how one car can be such a PITA that you grow to hate it but it's not the cars fault. My buddy used to tell me that you just have to be smarter than the engine.

We all learned this stuff the same way. After you get her dialed in again the lessons that you learn will stay with you forever and they will apply to everything you play with along the way.

 

There shall not be a gasket on the exhaust manifolds, hence the leak. I bet the secondary shaft is stuck or close to get stuck on the carb, notorious probs on the Autolite 4100, which is a breeze to work on compared to a Holley. Or some previous owner has put stronger return spring on the secondaries.

 

My 390 is always blowing exhaust gaskets on the passenger side, thats were that ticking noise is coming from.
sounds like a bad lifter but its the exhaust

 

Check that the motor mounts are good. Had a 390 in a pickup with bad mounts when the motor torqued over it would hold the throttel open. and a tick is usualy an exaust leak.

 

I too have had a problem with the passenger side exhaust on a 390 in a '56 Ford but mine was a cracked manifold however they are great old engines.

 

Never had a problem with the aluminum Performer intake on my '66 390. Did have the tick tick tick, which was an exhaust leak. Had to pull the manifolds and have them milled down to get rid of some pits that were preventing them from sealing properly. No issues after that. Check the return spring on the throttle, and that none of the linkage is binding for the stuck throttle feeling.

 

There are a number of people with Galaxies in the Washington state area that post on the Galaxie part of the Ford Muscle board. Some of them are in you area.

Scott...

 

If you're planning on changing the intake manifold, be sure to have an engine hoist handy. It will make your babies born naked trying to lift one by yourself.

 

the 390 is far from a weird engine. one of the easiest fords of that era to work on.

i agree with the previous posters and particularly with Octane, citing the ticking as exhaust leak noise typically at the extreme front and extreme rear of the manifolds. do not give in to the temptation of a quick fix by slapping thicker gaskets in there as a temporary fix. the heads and manifolds need to be milled flat. the manifolds have been known to crack as well.

the stock carb and manifold are fine if its the autolite 4100 4 barrel; one of the best all-around performing 4 barrels of all time for daily driven near stockers. just clean it up and rebuild it.

as for the throttle sticking, i'm surprised no one else mentioned this...there is a throttle linkage bellcrank at the back of the intake. disconnect both the carb and the pedal links and make sure that it works freely. the pivot shaft may be rusty or overly worn after 43 years and be binding. you may end up grinding the staked ends off the pivot shaft and replacing it with a 1/4-20 allen-head shoulder bolt, as i did with similar linkage on a 66 fairlane i once had. you can drill the pivoting parts for small, bronze door-hinge-pin bushings and use very thin nylon washers to put it all back together.

 

A real basic thing to check are also the spark plugs. We have a '73 390 that likes to work them loose every few months. When it happens, you will get a tick noise that is almost sound for sound like an exhaust leak.

I also second checking out the modulator valve and all the lines. You could have a vacuum leak there. easy fix.

 

A tick usually is exhaust, but i had ticking that i thought was lifters and it turned out to be bent rods. Motor was still running ok with the bent rods too. it was crazy!
pics of the rods are here.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=341325

 

I agree with the other guys about your carburetor.The original,be it 2 or 4 barrel,is the easiest carb out there to rebuild and get to run right.Save some money and headaches and keep the Autolite carb.

 

Thats no shit! the damn aluminum one still feels like it weighs 150 lbs bi itself.

 

does anyone know where I can find a vaccuum diagram for this car or one that is similar? that would really help.

 

I chased exhaust leaks on my fe's for a while tell a customer told me to run high temp rtv. asked all the good techs in my route and thats how all of them seal the manifolds. It works fantastic. haven't changed it in more than a year and a half!

 

390's leak from every orifice possible. my 63 galaxie with a 390 was a turd with the stock carb and never ran right. always playing with the carb. just when I would get it right the very next day it sucked again. old junk autolite carb.
bolted on a 750 dp carb and ran like a scalded dog. also Pertronix ignitor made it start and run much better.

 

Try this forum, a lot of help reg. the Autolites there

http://www.network54.com/Forum/88781/

 

As far as vacuum, just go as simple as possible. You need PCV, so the big fat hose goes under the carburetor to the big fat vacuum port. If you have power brakes, you need that too. Run that line into another manifold vacuum source, another fat tube. You need vacuum advance, so run it from the vacuum advance on the distributor through one of the little tree looking things sticking out of the intake and screwed into the water jacket somewhere. Get a mighty vac or use a vacuum gauge and a piece of hose. What you want is there to be no flow through the little tree thingie when it's cold. You want it to flow when the engine is hot. One line in, one line out. Plumb the rest of that vacuum line to the VENTURI side of the carb. Use the gauge again and look for a vacuum source with LOW vacuum at idle and HIGH vacuum at higher rpm. Stick the hose on that source.

Plug everything else, including all the extra ports in the tree.

There's your vacuum diagram.


PS, you will know you screwed up the vacuum for the advance if you idle great and cruise ok but your throttle response is absolute crap. Another easy way is, like you are supposed to, you set the timing with the vacuum off and watch the timing when you slip the vacuum line on. If it jumps more than a few degrees, you need to find the venturi source for the vacuum advance.

 

Diavolo, You are the man!!! thank you thank you!
Thanks to all you guys, I'm looking at this project totally different now.

 

I don't know when Ford got away from the floor-hinged accelerator like on my Falcon, but recently that hinge got sclerotic on mine, and now the throttle sticks unless I pull it back with my toe. I don't know of a solution yet, but it's something to check if the spring is good and the linkage is free.

-Dave