Gary Lewis

You just send me documents, in pdf or Word, and I’ll set up the tabs and do all the website work. Thanks!

Bill - That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Instead of you writing a "book", how 'bout writing a page on tuning YF's? I can put it on the website on the current YFA page, but put the existing info on rebuilding in one tab and your "tuning" writeup in another tab.

Jonathan - It was the right carb for the application. But with the EGR blocked it isn't. Bill - What typically needs to be done to dial an EGR carb in when the EGR has been deleted?

Good point! That’s exactly what happened - plus they dropped at least two pages. I’ll take your suggestion on buying. On Monday, January 8, 2018, 85lebaront2 [via Bullnose Enthusiasts] <redacted_email_address> wrote:

How’s this: http://www.carburetion.com/CarbNumber.asp?Number=7388S

I use a method similar to Pete's. Once the paper has blown out, assuming you aren't going super fast when cranking, I then stick a straw or something soft in. Crank the engine further, slowly, and find the spot that has the most of the straw out. That will be TDC or close. But, the best way is with a piston stop. It is an adjustable bolt with a rounded head that screws into the spark plug hole. With trial and error you adjust it so that the piston stops close to TDC. Let's say 10 degrees, although how much doesn't really matter. You then turn the engine back the other way and gently come up against the stop again. Exactly 1/2 of that is true TDC. You can mark the balancer with a sharpie and if the mid-point is under the TDC mark the balancer hasn't slipped. You don't have to be super accurate as if it slips it usually slips a lot.

Yes, I've put 6 1/2" speakers in.

I've forgotten to update y'all when I add pages. But, I added one on radios and speakers today: Electrical/Radios. And, the speaker listings include sizes. Not what I thought they were.

I've now added a new page on radios and speakers: Electrical/Radios

Randy - I intend to create a web page for radios, but here's the snippet that applies to you:

They seem to have carried the gray theme at least through 1990 as Huck is all gray. Anyway, Rembrant, you are making good progress. Just getting the engine out is a big deal. A milestone.

Ok, I’ll contact them and set something up. Thanks.

Thanks. I'll be contacting Core Tuning in the not too-distant future to find out what I need from them. But, it just feels like there should be a book on it somewhere. Any suggested reading?

Bill - That's a very good point about the balancer slipping. It is not unusual at all with these old engines. It was either Dad's or Rusty's 351M that had the balancer's outer ring slipped and cocked slightly sideways. But they don't always give any external indications of having slipped, so need to be checked.

Having just posted about EGR and ignition timing on Jonathan's thread, I'm thinking through the consequences of removing the EGR when I EFI Big Blue. I had hoped to use Bill's ignition timing "map", if that is the right word, as a starting point. After all, he's running EEC-V on Darth's 460, which is essentially a stock 1990 460 converted to MAF & SEFI via an EEC-V. (I'm sure glad he's writing up all about Darth as I have a great reference. ) Big Blue will have 1990 heads and injection system, but the 1996 harness Mark/Dyn Blin found in CA. So, Darth's engine and Big Blue's will be quite comparable, with a few minor exceptions: Big Blue's block is an earlier block, so should have slightly higher compression with the EFI heads Big Blue's cam is an Edelbrock Performer, and while still quite mild isn't truly stock I don't intend to run EGR on Big Blue So, with those exceptions what changes will I need to make? Can I clone your ECU, Bill, and then just turn EGR and the auto tranny off? And then start modifying the ignition timing from there?

Here is some info I found with a bit of reading. (I don't have access to my Internal Combustion Engines textbook where I am.) Most of the sources were consistent, but this one is the most succinct with respect to detonation and pre-ignition. It comes from an article in Contact Magazine, which is a forum for experimental aircraft and powerplants: There is another discussion in the article about optimum ignition timing, and helps explain why we need ignition advance: So, if we need LPP at 14 degrees ATDC then we need to light off the controlled-burn well ahead of that. But, "well ahead" is a function of a number of things, including the load on the engine and the RPM of the engine. The load on the engine is determined by the vacuum, hence the use of vacuum advance. And the RPM factor is applied by use of the mechanical advance. As for EGR and "dilution", I think the intention of the comment was that exhaust gas "dilutes" the air/fuel mix. Not that it "leans" the mix by reducing the ratio of air to fuel, but that there is less air & fuel in the incoming charge - but the air/fuel ratio didn't change. However, I think the issue is really what EGR does to ignition timing. Here's a quote from Wikipedia: "Although EGR does measurably slow combustion, this can largely be compensated for by advancing spark timing." In other words, distributors on engines with EGR will have more advance built in than a comparable engine w/o EGR. So, if we block off the EGR then we are going to have too much advance - like Big Blue when I add EFI but delete the EGR.

Good to know. Thanks. So, a sealed box, even if plastic, should do it. But, if it were aluminum all the better as it would dissipate the heat. I've looked and there are lots of such boxes available, so that shouldn't be a problem. Cool!

Ray - Interesting! How warm does the ECU get? Does it need to be thermally sinked, or can it be put in a weather-tight case? As for the Ranger wiring, that's a good spreadsheet. Or, maybe I should say "pdf". Could you email it to me in spreadsheet format? I'd like to use it. I appreciate the input and all the time it is taking to help me. Once I really get going on this there will be many, many more questions. But, please keep the creative juices flowing.

Gary, granted I am running a JUNKyard carburetor which may be defective, but I was not able to measure any vacuum on the carburetor ports at idle. Ahh! So yours is different than David's. Connect your gauge and find out what range of vacuum you get.

Actually, they are good questions. On the timing marks, they sell tapes that stick on and add more degrees to the marks on the damper. But I've gone the cheap way and divided the circumference by 180 to find the distance between every 2 degree marks. Then lay them out on the damper with a light-colored Sharpie. But you check the centrifugal/mechanical advance w/o the vacuum connected or you won't know which is doing what. So disconnect and plug the vacuum line and then slowly rev the engine up, noting the total advance at each, say, 500 RPM. Or 200 RPM if you want. But before you build a chart remember to subtract the initial advance you have dialed in.

Bill - How much centrifugal/mechanical can a 300 six take? And when should it be all in, and how fast should it come in? Ditto the vacuum? The problem here is that the Carter doesn't have true ported vacuum, and still gives ~5" at idle and only something like a max of ~12". So, in order to get a vacuum advance that is responsive to the load we changed David's to manifold. Last, what process should one use in order to get the initial, centrifugal, and vacuum set up properly?

I agree you should give it a few tanks of highway runs to establish a baseline. That's very important. Then we can work from there and know if we've helped or hurt. The centrifugal advance is probably all-in by 3000 RPM, which you can check with your timing light. With the vacuum disconnected you can map RPM vs advance over the initial advance. But changing it on a Ford dizzy isn't all that easy as things are buried. The curve is determined by two springs that allow weights to swing out and advance the rotor vs the shaft. There will be a light spring and a heavy spring, and you can change out the heavy for a lighter one to bring things in earlier. And you want all the timing you can get w/o pinging at WOT at any RPM. Once the initial and the centrifugal are set you start dialing in more vacuum advance by turning an allen wrench inserted into the vacuum port on the canister clockwise. Each turn moves the window of advance up in the vacuum range, and frequently it is 1" per turn. Keep turning until you get some pinging at light throttle in a tall gear and then back off so you never have any pinging. As for AFR, that's something we can determine by installing my wide-band AFR meter.

David - What about you creating a "project" about your truck, what's been done, and the results? I had to do a lot of reading to get to what I think the status is. But, if you had a project you could lock it so there aren't any comments and post the status right up front, and update it as things change. You could have links in it to other threads, both here and on FTE, but it would consolidate a lot of info and work. Thoughts?

Ok, according to this post in David's Gas Mileage thread he's running manifold vacuum. And, in the other thread, in the above link, he was having rough running while coasting, so turned the idle mix 1/2 turn - I think. And, he's running the vacuum advance pretty much all the way to the right, meaning all the advance he can get at high vacuum. So, given that I think you could go to manifold vacuum. And if it doesn't run well then maybe you have too much advance? If so, you might try backing off of the initial just to prove it. If that proves it, put the initial back and then turn the vacuum screw a couple of turns counter-clockwise to back off of some of the vacuum advance. Just keep records.

So to set it up to run manifold vacuum you set the timing much further back (less advanced) using the light, then let the vacuum advance it? Maybe, or maybe not. To answer that we'd need to know what your carb vacuum does. Maybe it is the same as David's, but maybe not as both of you are running non-stock carbs. Here's some reading on the subject, which I will also do to refresh my memory: David's Ported or Manifold Vacuum - Personal Observation David's Gas Mileage Recipe - 4.9L/300 (I think he did it on this forum as well?)