Eddy Myrtle

No AC David. I think Gary is onto the probable cause. I can't imagine where else the burst of air could have come from. And the truck has backfired a few times, on start up and once after turning the ignition off. Is that from running too rich? I haven't touched the carb yet, probably should.

As for the brake booster, if it is indeed blown, should I not have noticed a difference when applying the brakes? Maybe not, as I think the rears are still not adjusted properly and of course the fronts are dragging anyway. On that, reading the documentation I saw that the wheel bearing adjustment could also be a cause of that. Now, I'm reasonably sure the wheels weren't dragging before I added the calipers, but I wouldn't stake my life on it, maybe worth looking into.

I'll do some troubleshooting and report back. Thanks for giving advice as usual!

You did notice a difference, at least in sound.  I've driven trucks that had that whoosh and the booster worked for years.  But they still had a vacuum leak.

As Jim said, there's a check valve, but it may not have stopped the sudden burst of pressure.  You should ensure it is working.  And fix the backfiring before replacing the booster.

Gary Lewis wrote

You did notice a difference, at least in sound.  I've driven trucks that had that whoosh and the booster worked for years.  But they still had a vacuum leak.

Good point Gary! And I'm hoping to drive mine at least for a short while with the whoosh...

I haven't tested the brake booster or the check valve yet. But I did take the truck to the engine builder to have a chat. He gave me tips on setting the timing and tuning the carb using a vacuum gauge. I bought a timing light but I couldn't see the timing mark, could have been the angle of the light or the mark was still off the gauge. Anyway, he also said running rich would prevent the rings from seating, but that the oil on the plugs weren't unusual initially.

So I bought a gauge and checked things over. Only got just over 15inHG with the distributor as far as I could adjust it... He said I should get 18+. So I stopped there and filed down the base of the dizzy yesterday. This morning I tried again and managed 20inHg right off the bat! I was able to increase it to 22, but I heard what I thought was pinging. More like a ticking, but I backed it off to just above 20 anyway. I then tried adjusting the carb, I got it leaner just a bit, but not an awful lot. The vacuum pressure wouldn't increase, so I just adjusted both sides leaner until the pressure and rpm dropped. I left the idle Rpm at 750ish.

I then took Eddy for a drive back out to the gas station. No stuttering/vibration at all. So I guess the timing had something to do with it in addition to a loose wire. It pulled smooth in 4th regardless of Rpm. I filled up with probably the last tank of ethanol free... 103 miles, 13.34G. Taking into account the odo error of 15%, that's 8.88Mpg... So I'm hoping the poor timing and rich mixture is largely to blame for that. To be fair my heavy right foot is probably the main culprit. I mean I was advised to drive it like I stole it. I'm pretty sure car thieves don't get great gas mileage... The engine builder said to just drive it normally, maybe shifting a little later since I can with the manual. So I will on this next tank. Of course there is still the brake issue, but at both the gas station and back home the hubs were significantly cooler than before and I could even touch the rotors without burning my fingers. Hopefully that issue is sorting itself out, I'll give it another 100 miles before I dig into that. I'm really hoping for 15Mpg driving sedately (60Mph max) on back roads once everything is sorted.

Rob, that sounds great!

Don't go too lean.
Penny's per fill-up aren't worth broken rings or a holed piston.

I usually go lean until I hear pinging and then richen 1/4 turn.

I'm just glad you're on the road, and enjoying the truck!  👍

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Rob, that sounds great!

Don't go too lean.
Penny's per fill-up aren't worth broken rings or a holed piston.

I usually go lean until I hear pinging and then richen 1/4 turn.

I'm just glad you're on the road, and enjoying the truck!  👍

The "pinging" you hear "and then richen 1/4 turn" don't go hand and hand?

The 1/4 turn would be the idle mixture setting but driving and hearing the pinging is not on the idle part of the carb, it is on the high speed or main jet side.

Go out for a good long drive to seat the rings, burn off some oil that might be on the plugs and then pull them to see what they look like. Now with todays gas it is hard to see if it is rich or lean so that's where the AFR meter comes in.
Maybe go 1 number higher on the main jet and see if the pinging stops and go from there.
Dave ----

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Rob, that sounds great!

Don't go too lean.
Penny's per fill-up aren't worth broken rings or a holed piston.

I usually go lean until I hear pinging and then richen 1/4 turn.

I'm just glad you're on the road, and enjoying the truck!  👍

Thanks Jim, me too.

I forgot to ask the engine guy about 'too lean', but I don't think it's there. I never heard pinging while adjusting the carb. When I went too lean, the engine just bogged down with Rpm and vacuum dropping significantly.

I'll take it back to him and see what he says. He said he was super busy otherwise he would help me, but we spoke for a good 40min and I only spent about 20min 'tuning' today, so...

I've not been very active on here, so I might have missed it, have you installed the cab bushings yet?

Hi Dave, I think there's some confusion between my post and Jim's reply. I haven't heard any pinging, not adjusting the carb anyway. The ticking sound I heard that I thought might be 'pinging' was when I adjusted the distributor and went too advanced I think. The vacuum increased, but I heard the ticking sound, so I backed it off. Anyway, it runs great now, so I'll see what the plugs look like in another 100 miles or so.

I see you have AC now, I bet you're enjoying that. I'm super envious!

I'm glad things are going well.  And, your vacuum at idle is good.  However, I've never heard pinging at idle.  And I doubt that's what you heard.  But it sounds as if the engine is starting to run well.  Congrat's!  

Sac79 wrote

Hi Dave, I think there's some confusion between my post and Jim's reply. I haven't heard any pinging, not adjusting the carb anyway. The ticking sound I heard that I thought might be 'pinging' was when I adjusted the distributor and went too advanced I think. The vacuum increased, but I heard the ticking sound, so I backed it off. Anyway, it runs great now, so I'll see what the plugs look like in another 100 miles or so.

I see you have AC now, I bet you're enjoying that. I'm super envious!

Well it don't take much to confuse me
The ticking when you went to far with the dist. could have been pinging I have never gone that far before to say I have ever heard it but if you backed it off and it stopped I would say you are good.
I would check it with a light when you can just to make sure, would hate to hurt that new motor.

Talking of new motor how many miles are on it?
Some low RPM to full throttle pulls will help seat the rings just keep the RPM from going to high is all.\
A few heavy loads in the bed will help also.
I would say till you get a 1000 miles or more the rings will not be seated.

Yes have AC now and just in time as the front fan stopped working in my Durango.
With AC and the over drive its a nice truck to drive. I took back roads to 7pm / from 12am work last night and in OD at 45 MPH the motor was turning about 1250 RPM, 55 MPH is about 1500 RPM.
The 300 just likes to pull at that low RPM where a v8 I don't think would be happy.

Time to load up the trash in the "garbage truck" as Jim calls it for its weekly dump run
Dave ----

The confusion comes from how I worded my post.

I will lean out the idle until I find the truck pings under cruise.
If I hear that telltale rattle -and I know my timing is right- then I fatten up the idle mixture.


Honestly, adjusting for highest vacuum or idle speed is probably best.

Thanks Gary, yes I'm very happy with how the engine is running now. Now I just need to sort out the minor coolant leak and the leaking oil pan gasket... And hope for the brakes to sort out themselves. Looks like you are close with BB too, I'm looking forward to seeing(or reading about) you run it!

Dave, I've got about 140 miles on it now. I've already hauled a yard of dirt and 4 yards of mulch. So it's had some loads and I've been driving it enthusiastically in between. At least in 3rd, now I can give it a few pulls in 4th too. The engine builder also mentioned a 1000miles as the extreme for the rings to seat. So I'm not too concerned yet.

OD and AC sounds great, enjoy it. I might consider a 5 speed swap one day. But for now I'll just take it easy on the back roads. Although I did go on the interstate and Eddy was not complaining at 70-75, but that no doubt contributed to the sub 9MPG...

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Honestly, adjusting for highest vacuum or idle speed is probably best.

That's what my engine builder said. Apparently it's an 'old school' way of tuning...

Yesterday the wife and I went for a little scenic drive in Eddy, out to a covered bridge about 40miles from us.



It was a really enjoyable drive. Eddy behaved exceptionally well. I was taking it real easy, 55Mph max (mostly 45-50) all along back roads. The drive was smooth and comfortable. We were able to only use the vent windows and rear window with overcast and mild weather. Yesterday was an exception though, I probably won't plan any long drives until the fall...

Anyway, I filled up on the way home and voila, 14.7 MPG!!

Earlier in the week I went over to the engine builder again to 'update' him on my tuning progress. He got the hint and next time he'll tune the carb for me, or at least check my work.

The starter has been slow to turn over intermittently since the first startup. Yesterday it happened every crank. It would hesitate then fire up. The engine builder suggested it could be that the timing is too advanced. I doubted it since it's been doing it since the start when the timing was way retarded. I thought it had something to do with the starter getting hot. I put header wrap on the Y-pipe down by the starter, no difference and it's happened on cold startup since. So, I guess it could just be the starter failing? I'll try to check the timing again with a light to confirm where it is.

I also have some minor leaks, but I'll leave that for another post when I start to address them.

The dragging brakes appear to have solved itself, cool hubs after the 80mile trip.

Only other issue is the driver's side camber which is still a little off. It's got that 1/4 to 1/2 deg adjustment left. I just haven't been able to adjust it without popping the ball joints out.

All in all, very happy!

Noice!

Beautiful country there, Rob  👍


Have you considered the retard function has failed ?
Gary mentioned a bunch of times that the Motorcraft module would labor and kick back intermittently.

Retard function?

DSII modules have two input wires.
Power in run & power in start.

In start the ignition timing is retarded by a millisecond.
This amounts to ~4* and allows the starter to turn over easier.

Red and white wires.

I use an Echlin TP-40 module because ive tested that they retard in 'start'

But Big Blue seemed to have an intermittent slow start/kickback condition.
Gary showed on his oscilloscope what was happening.

Yep.  You can check the function of your module by pulling the red/light blue wire off the start relay with the truck running and put 12v on it.  If that function is working the timing will retard, which you can check with a timing light or just notice that the RPM will drop.

HEI...

Thanks though, and you Gary.