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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Stumbly 36...carb??...or ign??

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Stumbly 36...carb??...or ign?? -- page: 1 2 3 4 5     avrotom 06-14-2015 @ 10:12 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 71 Joined: Apr 2011 At the risk of unduly extending this thread, I did not see any mention of the exhaust system. I have had plugged/restricted exhaust create strange symptoms, notwithstanding the faults and repairs you had to make on the fuel and ignition systems. Just a thought. TomO 06-08-2015 @ 6:46 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7250 Joined: Oct 2009 Here's the Merc Tom TomO 06-08-2015 @ 6:39 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7250 Joined: Oct 2009 I had my 53 Lincoln at Springfield, I will ne taking my Merc to Brainerd. Tom VT/JeffH 06-07-2015 @ 9:10 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 153 Joined: May 2010 Hi Grant, and all the other posters in this thread. Grant, I followed you in Springfield on the tour, and remember the fun times fondly. I was driving a '36 Phaeton and had my brother Steve, with me. I see you're all fixed, but I had something to add. One thing I didn't see suggested for the 'cylinder out' test is to use a long handled screwdriver to short the spark plug to the head. Of course don't let your finger touch the metal shaft! That takes out a cylinder without removing the plug wire or plug. (I realize your tests did a little better than this one, as you could observe the condition of the spark.) Just trying to help. Another point of failure I didn't see come up is the rubber hose between the firewall and the fuel pump. Sometimes they get pinholes that don't leak fuel but suck air. Props to the fellas that have helped. TomO I think I met for the first time in Springfield (Isn't that Merc gorgeous?), and I've known Ken for several years. Good people! Grant 06-02-2015 @ 6:03 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 535 Joined: Oct 2009 Thanks very much, Tom. I managed to find time today to get under the car and tighten all connections in the fuel line, as well as all vacuum connections for the Columbia rear end. The bubbles are gone from the see-through in-line filter. Acceleration is excellent again, and the engine is running beautifully. Looks like the distributor is probably okay. It's hard to understand why the ring clamps would have noticeably loosened off during seven months of winter storage, but that appears to be what happened. TomO 06-01-2015 @ 7:48 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7250 Joined: Oct 2009 Grant, The one thing that comes to mind that could cause your problem is bugs in the distributor. I had a similar problem with a 45 truck a few years ago. There was a spider web keeping the points from making good contact. I would clean the points and check that the condenser is making good contact with ground and the points. The bubbles that you are seeing in the filter is because of a vacuum leak in the connections of the filter. The electric pump is pushing gas through the filter and the mechanical pump is trying to suck gas from the tank. If you are still having problems, a new topic would be in order. This one is very long and hard to read. Tom This message was edited by TomO on 6-1-15 @ 9:01 AM Grant 05-29-2015 @ 2:00 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 535 Joined: Oct 2009 Henry's Revenge has struck again.......... In my last post on this thread, on 31 October 2014, after almost three months of trying to get our '36 running properly, I thought that the various problems had all been resolved and said: "Performance is vastly improved. The car has never run this well." Since getting it out of storage three weeks and approximately 100 miles ago, pretty much the same misbehavior from last year is happening all over again: 1. gutless from a standing start as soon as it warms up 2. not bad performance in 2nd, but really poor acceleration in 3rd 3. a sensation of "chugging" sometimes 4. black soot coming out of the tail pipes, more on the right than on the left Today I discovered that the three nuts which hold down the carburetor were somewhat loose, so I tightened them up and took the car for another drive. It is now running much worse, could barely make it up the hill just before our farm laneway, and had one big backfire about 100 yards before I made it home. In the garage, before shutting off the ignition, I opened both sides of the hood and took the air cleaner off before checking the operation of the accelerator linkage and the throttle linkage. There is no apparent binding in those metal components. Removing the air cleaner made no difference to the choppy idle and near-stalling. Curiously, there is one new symptom which has never appeared before. In the see-through plastic fuel filter which is mounted between the mechanical fuel pump and the metal line on the firewall, there are now lots of bubbles. Turning on the electric fuel pump switch fills up the see-through filter, and eliminates most of the bubbles ............ but the engine still runs poorly and acts like it wants to stall. There is no evidence of dirt or grunge or small foreign matter particles in either of the see-through plastic filters (the other one is mounted in the line which connects the mechanical fuel pump to the freshly rebuilt carb). So ...... what are the flathead gods up to this time? Why did this '36 perform so well before going into winter storage, and then revert back to its old totally unreliable state? Is there maybe some sort of pinholing in the steel gas line under the car somewhere? Before being put away for six months, the car had a full tank of gas with a can of Seafoam poured in first. ken ct. 10-31-2014 @ 3:51 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1513 Joined: Jan 2010 Bubba and I thank you for your good words. I would have sweared you said something about a cracked Columbia plate some where in your replies (which would cause a vacume leak) Maybe im wrong on that but glad its finally running right. ken isidor ken ct. Grant 10-31-2014 @ 3:32 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 535 Joined: Oct 2009 I have now managed to put about 60 miles on the '36. Performance is vastly improved. The car has never run this well. Acceleration is snappy and at 70 mph there is still lots of room between the accelerator pedal and the floor. For any fellow member needing a rebuild done on an early Ford distributor or carburetor, I have no hesitation in recommending Jim "Bubba" Linder or Ken Isidor. High quality workmanship, fast turn-around time, and very reasonable prices. TomO 10-13-2014 @ 2:47 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7250 Joined: Oct 2009 Thanks for the update. I am glad that it is finally running right. I hope to take my 40 Mercury to the 2015 CNM in Brainard, MN, next year. It is quite a hall for an old guy and I need to check out the Minnesota Air-force. If it is a damp spriing, they will be flying all day. Tom

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