Carburetor Popping

Unfortunately, to pull my new “Tall” valve covers, I have to go through pulling motor mounts and generator and dropping the engine to get the cover off. I’m probably in denial, but I am going to eliminate fuel pressure and/or carb issues first. Truth is, it probably is valve related. When I did the compression test, there was a slight sucking sound coming from the carb when I tested #3.

I am afraid your are right. I was looking in another forum and read that the small block Ford stock valve springs frequently do not get along with even a mild cam and tend to bind. I’m going to go through the fuel system(lines, filter, etc.) tonight. If that doesn’t help, I may try pulling the plug wire in the suspect cylinder and see what that does. What the heck, it works for the Nascar guys. Can you tell that I’m not looking forward to pulling the valve covers again? As a game plan D or E or whatever I am up to, I scheduled Thursday off to and get this thing running properly before we leave for Atlanta on Friday. If I have to adjust the valves (again), I have to drop it to get the cover off, raise it to start the engine and adjust the valves, drop it again to put the valve cover back on and raise it again with a prayer. Is this hobby fun or what?

The bad news is that it is definitely a valve. The good news is that the old Nascar trick calms it down to the point where it runs well enough to get it on the trailer to go to Chateau Elan. I have already given up on the Ebay carb. As soon as the valve issues are resolved, I will be shopping for a new carb. Thanks for all the input. I know I was in denial. Trying to get all these performance parts to work together has been a challenge for this old shade tree wannabe mechanic.

Yes. It is a 7 cylinder. For the past 15 years, it was a 0 cylinder so we can still call it progress. Years ago, coming back from the first United in D.C, Doug Pruitt in his 302 Mk1A and I in my stock MKII decided to “test” our acceleration on Rt 17 in Virginia. Doug whipped me bad but I was shocked when Keith Porter came from behind to pass my MKII. At that time, his car was a 100K mile stock 260 with an F4B as the only modification. When I got home and did a compression test on the MKII, I found a burnt valve. Gotta love those small block Fords.

My current train of thought is that the problem may be related to the old Rhodes lifters. When I had the engine out, I did nothing with the lifters. Because the engine sounds and runs different every time it is started, and the lifters are the only valve components (Except the cam) that have not been replaced, I’m guessing that they may be the culprits. I took the car to the machine shop that sold me all the parts and it wouldn’t pop thru the carb even at high RPMs. The head engine builder in charge reved the crap out of it (I was waiting for it to blow up) and except for some valves that were clattering, it ran fairly well. His diagnosis, “Beats the heck out of me”. I will be taking it apart again this week to look at the rockers, springs, and push rods and if there is no obvious damage, plan on just yanking off the intake and buying a set of stock lifters. Am I taking a chance on wiping the cam by installing new lifters?

The bottom line was 5 bent push rods. Apparently it was caused by a combination of me not getting the polly locks tight enough and the really screwed up Rhodes lifters. It is back together now with stock lifters and appears to be operating OK. The last time around, it got worse every time I started it. I’ve cranked it about ten times and it has run the same every time. Hopefully, this is the end. Lessons learned the hard way are the ones that stay with you forever. Don’t trust old parts that have been sitting for years. Check everything. And yes Jim, I checked for coil bind and that is not an issue. Thanks for the input.

There are still a few little things to do. Both tops, an interior, front and rear suspensions and a few hundred little things. The Merlot Mica paint will have to wait another year to visit a United.

I bought another Holley 600. After a few issues, the carb problems appear to be resolved. The car has been thru many ups and downs since then. All in all, it runs like a scalded dog. The latest problem was with cooling. The more miles I have put on it (About 1,000 since I put it on the road in September), the worse it got. Runs over 200 even at speed and goes into serious overheating after sitting thru just a couple of traffic lights. It used to cool down once it got moving. Now, it doesn’t. I finally pulled the radiator and took it to a radiator shop. This was a radiator that Keith had built for the car many years ago. In addition to the usual gunk you would expect in a radiator that has been sitting for 15 years without being drained, they found that 18 of the 81 tubes were totally blocked by solder that shouldn’t have been there. The new core is supposed to be here Wednesday. Hopefully, the new core, electric pusher fan, and blocked horn holes will allow me to drive it like a real car. I’m still searching for a better belt driven fan.