1982 Bronco XLT

I think the trouble with that is you're obscuring a myriad of places it could be leaking.

Well #1.. I tried putting the bottom part of the air cleaner on and it didn't work. #2 when it was on I didn't know where it was coming from without basically climbing in the engine bay.

I have not gone back a few pages but I get you are trying to find a vacuum leak and cant seal the carb.
Someone said plastic wrap and then the filter base to hold it in place and you now cant see where the smoke is coming from right?

Well I am guessing this is the 5.0 motor and IIRC there is an EGR plate under the carb and IIRC they like to "burn" a hold thru them and cause a vacuum leak.
I think any way you look at it the leak is around or under the carb is pull it & the EGR plate and give a look see its only a few carb / EGR plate gaskets.

Heck with the carb off you could make a wood block off plate to bolt where the carb / plate was, hole in the center for the smoke hose and fill the motor with smoke to check for any other leaks.
Just my .02
Dave ----

I said put a piece of plastic wrap and then stuff the choke horn and secondaries with rags.

Plastic in an effort to keep any smoke from diffusing through the cloth.

Removing the carb and EGR plate involves removing a bunch of lines (and possible leaks) that then have to be plugged.
We already saw how a hole in the choke of a Edelbrock can be open when it shouldn't be.

Well rags / paper towels and then a fast food plastic lid, it is smaller and can almost see thru it, to hold them in place.

Over the years I have been able to find all my vacuum leaks with carb cleaner with the straw to aim it.
Dave ----

I've got a 24oz coffee can that is almost a perfect fit for my 750 4160....

I just held down some rags firmly while someone else did the smoke. There was some from the front of the engine and I took the distributor cap off and some smoke was coming from there. Would that effect the idle since its not on manifold?

Where were you blowing the smoke in?
If the intake and you were getting smoke out the dist. and front of the motor you got something big going on that is not good in my book.
Dave ----

I was blowing through the PCV on the carb. I was assuming it was going through the timed vacuum port?

If it is through the timed port, which is possible, then your vacuum advance diaphragm is blown.  Which is something that you need to fix.

Pull the vacuum hose at the carb, leaving the other end attached to the vacuum advance, and pull a vacuum on it with your mouth.  I'll bet it leaks, badly.

You can see right away if the vacuum advance pulls the pickup around inside the distributor.

I'd imagine one good backfire would pop it like a grenade would pop your eardrums.

Weberman wrote

I was blowing through the PCV on the carb. I was assuming it was going through the timed vacuum port?

LOL ok think we need to make sure what you are calling things.
PCV is in the valve cover with a hose going to the base of the carb or a large port on the intake manifold.

The hose on the dist. to nipple on the carb should be a timed port. If you removed the hose from the carb and blew the smoke in it this would have filled the vacuum advance can of the dist. and if smoke came out the dist. then the can leaks and needs to be replaced as Gary said below.

Gary Lewis wrote

If it is through the timed port, which is possible, then your vacuum advance diaphragm is blown.  Which is something that you need to fix.

Pull the vacuum hose at the carb, leaving the other end attached to the vacuum advance, and pull a vacuum on it with your mouth.  I'll bet it leaks, badly.

Gary I think he still needs to fill the intake with smoke still.
He could pull the PVC hose off the valve and blow the smoke into it to fill the intake track to check for vacuum leaks.
Dave ----

FuzzFace2 wrote

He could pull the PVC hose off the valve and blow the smoke into it to fill the intake track to check for vacuum leaks.

But this is what he says he's done.

Remember, if he has the carb mouth choked off with rags the timed port may be above the throttle plate, but it's still sealed below the blockage.

It did backfire a couple times when I thought I stabbed it in the right place but found I was way off timing(when I originally thought the carb needed cleaning because it wouldn't start but it fell back in the same spot, but turns out it didn't).


I had some more hose so what I did was just cut a section and unplugged the PCV line at the carb and put that one on. I was talking about the smoke going through the timed port line to the distributor and that is why it was smoking.

Ordered a whole distributor anyways as the plugged is messed up on it. O'Reillys wanted $105 and the same thing on RockAuto for $40 shipped. They said it would be a couple days anyways so really what would be the difference if I couldn't find out today.

Its going to make a huge difference if your timing actually advances as it should!  

Do you have a timing light?
When you set the timing does it immediately advance when it comes off idle?

Weberman wrote

It did backfire a couple times when I thought I stabbed it in the right place but found I was way off timing(when I originally thought the carb needed cleaning because it wouldn't start but it fell back in the same spot, but turns out it didn't).


I had some more hose so what I did was just cut a section and unplugged the PCV line at the carb and put that one on. I was talking about the smoke going through the timed port line to the distributor and that is why it was smoking.

Ordered a whole distributor anyways as the plugged is messed up on it. O'Reillys wanted $105 and the same thing on RockAuto for $40 shipped. They said it would be a couple days anyways so really what would be the difference if I couldn't find out today.

Ok I was thinking you were trying to put the smoke thru the timed port.
Now you can plug off the hose to the dist. and give it more smoke.
Dave ----

I don't think I did an off idle to see if it climbed immediately.. I revved it up pretty good and it moved but I don't know about just a bit above...maybe it'll actually spin the tires now. It takes off decent but just seemed like the brakes were on above 15mph and seemed to struggle.

There's no substantial vacuum if the throttle is open and the engine isn't loaded.

But you should see the timing advance as the plate passes into the transfer ports.

Ford plumbed my truck (most of their vehicles) to manifold vacuum.
You can see the timing jump when you reconnect it to set the curb idle speed.

Someday this thing will start and run..
Got fresh gas and new distributor in and it started and ran great. Still high idle but ran stronger than it has in awhile. Was gonna take it for a drive so I put the distributor line back on the carb and then was taking the vacuum gauge off to plug it and it immediately died, not change the idle like it usually does to where I have time to plug it. Then it won't start but it would puff every now and then from the carb. I then took the cap off and was gonna see if the rotor was making contact with the terminals. Then I looked down in it and noticed there was no tab. Looked at the distributor and say a tab laying there. So I'm guessing it was puffing since it wasn't keeping time since the rotor could spin at whatever it wanted. Put the rotor from the old dist in(it was new anyways) and it hits now but no start. I'm letting it cool down and see

No tab?

The rotor button that makes contact with the coil wire, or the finger that touches each terminal?

Not sure what you mean when you say ' the rotor could point anywhere'
The shaft is a D, the rotor only goes on one way....