Who can work on my 260 engine in the DC Metro Area?

[tigernewbie]

Hi. I have a 1966 Tiger, VIN B382001355 with the original 260 engine and am having a few problems. I swapped the cast iron four barrel intake manifold and Holley 1850 (600 cfm) carburetor for an Edelbrock F4B and a Holley 1848 (465 cfm) carburetor. The car was running great before I did this and, (argh!), now I can’t get it to idle at less than 2000 RPMs. I think I have myself a significant vacuum leak. Since I really don’t know much about Ford engines, and my free time is limited, I’m thinking of just bringing it to a mechanic to fix. So I called a local Ford dealer to see if they could help. They said they don’t work on older engines at all and suggested I google a classic car place. Thanks a lot. I’m in the Tysons Corner area and am wondering if anyone has any idea of a good mechanic who would be able to work on my car for me. Any information would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Ron & Linda Jones]

There is a little one man back alley shop in Laurel, MD that works on these LBC’s. The owner’s name is Clay and from talking w/him, he is "into them". I haven’t had any major work done by him but he rebuilt the incomplete Weber 32/36 carb, I "won" on fleabay. He had to use parts from 2 other carbs to complete mine and the price was reasonable. He’s also been very generous w/free information, nice guy. I think the place is R.A.C.Engines. If you are interested, I’m sure I have his card & # around here.
Ron

[tigernewbie]

Thanks, Ron. Laurel isn’t too far, but with the car running like this, I’d be a bit stressed driving it around the beltway. Maybe I will call him to see if he might have any ideas. I wonder if the manifold itself might cause a vacuum leak. But it has both water and air passages, and oil, so I would think that if an air passage were leaking, then so would water and/or oil passages. I have no leaks of any kind, though. No only is the idle high, but when I throttle up, the RPMs increase and stay high,making it a bit of a scary drive. I imagine there must be someone in Tysons Corner that works on old Ford cars. Does anyone have any info re? Thanks.

[Ron & Linda Jones]

quote TigerNewbie:

Thanks, Ron. Laurel isn’t too far, but with the car running like this, I’d be a bit stressed driving it around the beltway. Maybe I will call him to see if he might have any ideas. …snip… Does anyone have any info re? Thanks.

Yeah, driving around the beltway, w/out of control rpm’s, would be hairy. Ya might give him a call, he may be able to recommend someone, in your area. His # is 301-776-4272. Should be someone in your area, good luck.
Ron

[anonymous]

Try putting the old carb back on and see if it makes a difference.

I had a Holley on my 260 and played with it for two years, never getting it to run right.

I finally replaced it with an Edelbrock, adjusted the idle screws and went on a 400 mile trip. That was in 1995 and I haven’t touched the carb since. It probably could use a rebuild, though, which is very simple on an Edelbrock compared to a Holley.

There are two types of people in the world — those who love Holleys and those who hate them. Guess where I fall.

Just my $0.02

Fred Baum

[Eric and Bonnie and Bonnie Gibeaut]

A quick test for a vacuum leak around the intake manifold area is to spray WD-40 along the gasket surfaces while the car is running. If the engine speeds up you found the problem! Good luck, Eric

[gtsmrt]

Hi,

That is a very common question. Unless you are a descent home mechanic, sending your pride and joy to just anyone is such a hard thing to do. Anyone remember the valet parking scene in the movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 🙂 . I agree with Eric (65sunbeam), if it is only a manifold leak I would do it myself and you find out where you went wrong. You may need a new gasket set, but that’s nothing. Did the manifold to head faces match well when you installed it?

Good luck,

Regards, Robin.

[tigernewbie]

Well, that was incredibly dumb! I pulled off the manifold to reinstall it in the hope of avoiding another vacuum leak. There was an open 1/2" vacuum port in the runner near the firewall. I guess that would cause some funky running! I have plugged it and will reinstall the manifold tomorrow. I’m hoping this will resolve the problem.

[gtsmrt]

You are not the only one who has forgotten to install a manifold plug 😳 . I did a similar thing on my Alpine. The main thing is that we learnt a lesson (never to be done ever again). I would think that once your manifold is back on, things will come together 🙂 .

Regards, Robin.

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