I thought I would post this in case anyone had problems with their straight six running rough (in my case a 1955 first series 235).
My engine vibrated a lot but would start right up. It sucked a lot of gas, I knew this because the truck was not on the road yet and my gas tank was an "IV" bottle. I figured the carburetor must be overfilling and dumping too much gas into the intake.
I ordered a carburetor rebuild kit and replaced the accelerator pump, the float needle and seat, and one gasket. The truck seemed to run better and I figured I might as well set the timing. Well I could not get the light to trigger on the number one cylinder. I thought maybe the light was bad and then I realized that the number one cylinder wasn't firing. I removed the distributor cap and found it to be horribly worn on the inside. I had an old spare and put it on. The truck ran pretty darn good :-)
I thought for good measure that I should get a new cap. You can get them at Autozone for about $9.00. When I put the new cap on I was amazed at how smooth the engine was! (the rotor, points, and condenser were already new). It is really quiet too.
The moral of the story is if your engine is running rough check to make sure the float is shutting off the gas and that the float level is set correctly and by all means get a new distributor cap. It can make a huge difference :-)
Joe
