The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Hey Carbking!

I'm needing a little assistance on an odd ball carb I'm dealing with. Any way we can chat about it some? It's a Holley on a 53 Ford F800 with the 317 Lincoln engine. I can't get it to do much of anything above an idle. It coughs and back fires and won't rev smoothly. I'm about ready to pitch the whole thing and go with something else (but don't know what). Feel free to e-mail me if you would,
Thanks,
Scott

Scott - always (well, during normal business hours) happy to discuss carburetor issues. Give me a call at 573-392-7378 (9-4 Mon-Wed central time).

And while Holley is not my favorite brand of carburetor, anytime you are dealing with an older Ford product ALWAYS check the total ignition system at least 3 times before you throw rocks at the carb (even a Holley).

Jon.

Ditto on the ignition system, particularly the distributor. Ford products during those years used a "vacu-matic" advance system that used venturi vacuum measured in inches of water for spark advance. (no centrifugal advance) It required a special water manometer on the Sun distributor tester to check one out, and our family shop had the only one in Nashville for a while, including the Ford dealers! A small leak at the vacuum diaphragm would result in NO spark advance.

Another problem involves the distributoirs' bad habit of wearing out the upper bushing in the housing, making it impossible to maintain a steady point gap or dwell setting. Either one of these problems, vacuum advance of dwell variation, will cause the symptoms you're experiencing.
Jerry

I agree on the timing thing. One other thing some of those old bigtruck carbs had a gov. under them that if deffective wouldn,t let it acel. above idle. Have you cleaned out the carb yet. There could be a bunch of crud or water blocking the main jets.

I've cleaned the carb and have opened it up a half a dozen times and it does have the governor. Part of my problem is, I'm not too sure how it all works together. There's an adjustment screw on the back side of the housing, below the fuel bowl, that appears to be a power valve. When I try to back the screw out I hear an increase in the vacuum inside the carb. Doesn't sound right.
The truck will rev, the governor is mechanically connected internally, it just runs poorly and won't run smooth at any other RPM other than idle.

Jon,
I tried to call a couple of times and got a busy signal. With the weather we are having, I'm not sure if I can get through or whether your phones are actually busy. We have a noisy shop today (concrete work) so I can only call when it's break time. I'll keep trying though. Basically what I want to know is, do you have any literature on these carb set-ups or offer any rebuilt or rebuild services for them? Do you happen to know what carb may bolt up in it's place and, which if any, distributors will fit this engine.
Scott

It was busy, we average 75~100 calls a day. Sometimes I have a low battery light on my left ear at the end of day. Tends to be less busy from 9~10.

Jon.

I may have found some of the problem. Seems the right side of the engine has the problem. I filed the points and regapped them and advanced the timing. That helped a bunch but still has some misfiring going on on the right side. The idle mixture screw is only a half turn out when the smoothest idle happens. I'm gonna get a new cap and rotor tomorrow to see if I can eliminate the half a cylinder miss, then maybe I can richen up the right side a little more. Still wish I knew how to adjust that power valve properly,
Scott

Hi Scott,
"How high's the water mama?? Two foot high and risin'"
I'z just watchin' the weather channel and see you guys are getting your share of rain water this year. Your pretty high above the creek so I suppose your ok, right?
How did you end up with a Ford??? Thought you knew better!
Stay dry,
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Hey Denny,
Actually the water is 32' and rising. Last record was set in 1929 and that was just a hair under 20'. We (Cedar Rapids) lost 3 of 4 water wells so no water usage other than drinking. Power is out to 16K people and ALL of down town is under water. Some bridges have even been washed away. My internet at home is down right now and it's been raining heavily, so not much mechanical work going on right now. If you want to see how bad it really is, go to KCRG.com and watch some of our local news. That doesn't even do it justice.

As far as me personally, no problems. We're high and dry. Shop and the house is dry inside. We're on a private well so no need to conserve for us. We'll probably have co-workers and family come over to shower and do some light laundry to help them get by. Any way, I need to get back to work. I'll get on as soon as possible,
Scott

I needed something better to plow snow with so I got this. Actually I got two of them, the 53 is the "good" one and the 56 I got is the parts truck. It's been too wet to haul the 56 home so it still sits at the PO's place. They're both F-800's with 4WD with graders and dump beds. How could I NOT buy them?

Jon,
Thank's for the link, I'll get back to it as soon as things settle down a bit,
Scott