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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / 1937 Ford Engine Help.

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Posted By Discussion Topic: 1937 Ford Engine Help. -- page: 1 2 3     doning 06-05-2011 @ 4:36 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 158 Joined: Nov 2009 After a 8 year restoration I finally got my 1937 Ford fordor 85 HP car out on the road. My dad and I drove it about 9 miles without any issues. The car on a 73 degree day was running around 160. We stopped at a friends house, left the car at idle for about 3 minutes to say hi and the temp climbed to about 195. We left his house heading home and then everything changed. The car had no power, skipped, bucked and received one back fire. We barely made it home. I removed the spark plugs and they were black! The valves were even black. I cleaned the plugs and then let the car sit until it was cool. I restarted it and it was like a brand new car again until about 3 minutes later it was right back to scr*w*ng up. Anyone have any ideas? Also, should be concerned about my oil pressure? I'm running 10W-30. When hot I'm at 21 lbs. At idle is about 9. I'm running standard size bearings and a new Dennis Carpenter 50 lb. pump. I'm a little disappointed with the oil pressure and I hope this is sufficent. What do you think? Thanks in advanced! Don supereal 06-05-2011 @ 5:13 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 The problem you describe is a classical coil failure. Incomplete combustion will make the plugs black. You don't mention whether you had the ignition checked and possibly rebuilt. If you are using an original coil, it is more than likely it is the source of the problem. If the fuel system, particularly the carb and fuel pump have not been replaced or rebuilt with alcohol resist parts, that is also in order. Your oil pressure is typical. This message was edited by supereal on 6-5-11 @ 5:14 PM doning 06-05-2011 @ 5:21 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 158 Joined: Nov 2009 Supereal: The carb was purchsed from Charle in NY and seems to work well. I have the mixture screws out at 1 1/2 turns. The distributor is original to the car and was rebuilt and inspected by a well-know V8 man in Marion NY. I have a spare reproduction coil that I can try. ford38v8 06-05-2011 @ 5:33 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2762 Joined: Oct 2009 Don, On any given day anymore, you'll find your exact problem described here on the Forum. Methinks you are running rich due to a faulty power valve. The backfire may have busted the diaphragm,or Ethanol may have turned it to mush, or both. The diaphragm in your fuel pump may also have been damaged by ethanol, a dirty word here in Ford Country. All those problems described can be traced to ethanol. Your oil is fine, as long as it isn't synthetic until the engine is properly broken in. Change oil after the first 500 miles, and again after 700 miles further. Your rings will have seated by then, and you may see a slight increase in oil pressure a a result. Your running temperature may at that time also improve, and your wife will be even more beautiful than she is already. Alan kubes40 06-05-2011 @ 6:35 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 3401 Joined: Oct 2009 I'm siding with Supereal on this one. It sounds quite likely as if the coil is failing. Cooling down and it runs like a charm again? That tells me the carburetor is operating correctly. Start it up and it runs good until warm again? That tells me the coil is getting hot and failing. Start with the coil You'll be happy you did. Don't be too confident the reproduction coil will be any good. Still, put it on there and see if the problem either goes away (great!) or changes significantly. If it does one or the other, you have the problem solved. Oil pressure as you've been advised is fine. Mike ford38v8 06-05-2011 @ 7:27 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2762 Joined: Oct 2009 Mike and Super, yes, that's a good diagnosis, which I also considered, but I considered fuel the more likely cause as the engine hadn't run but 3 minutes from a cold start. The chance of total coil failure at that juncture is a bit less, I think, than fuel delivery being behind the engine failure. The big problem with absentee diagnosis is the preciseness of the original report of failure. Not saying Don's description of the problem is less than accurate, but misunderstood facts happen first hand, let alone at the distance between two computer keyboards. We'll have to wait for the answer to this one. Alan trjford8 06-05-2011 @ 8:34 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 4215 Joined: Oct 2009 I agree with Bob and Kube. The coil is failing when it warms up. Al you might want to re-read the original post. The poster said they drove car for 9 miles and they let it idle for 3 minutes while at a friends house. They then started home and the symptoms started showing up. It ran a lot longer than 3 minutes before the problem occurred. Classic sign of a bad coil. Charlie in New York has an excellent reputation on rebuilding carbs. I'm sure he uses the best power valves available. If he didn't you would hear a lot about the failure of his carb work. This message was edited by trjford8 on 6-5-11 @ 8:46 PM ken ct. 06-06-2011 @ 12:55 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1513 Joined: Jan 2010 Charlie does excellent work,i know him well,but your idle mix screws are out too far,should only be 3/4 to 1 turn out. You are too rich. another rebuilder ken ct. doning 06-06-2011 @ 2:36 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 158 Joined: Nov 2009 Guy's, some of you have me confused. If it was a blown power valve or bad fuel pump why would the car run like new again after the engine has cooled down? Wouldn't it act the same hot or cold? After the engine cooled down I restarted it and it took the gas very well like a race car. But after about 3 minutes into it the engine started hestitating and skipping and I was fighting with it just to get it in the garage. 37RAGTOPMAN 06-06-2011 @ 4:47 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1961 Joined: Oct 2009 doning let it heat up and till its runs badly,then put a ice pack on the coil, till the coil is cool, start it up and see how it runs, if it runs good the coil is defective, and send it to Skip to have rebuilt, if it is after market coil try getting a original coil to send to him, I have a 37 and have lived though this, hope you take my advice 37RAGTOPMAN And while you are at it, get one of his radiator overflow valves, this will make it run cooler and you will not loose any coolant. the best $28.00 you can spend on your car,

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