Gary Lewis

Glad it is now running smoothly at idle. But on the cutting out, can you describe it more thoroughly? Does it bog and then come back? Does it bog and stay bogged until the throttle is closed? My thought, beyond fuel pressure, is the throttle position sensor. I wonder if it is bad after a certain point? I think the testing procedure is in Documentation/Electrical/ELECTRONIC ENGINE CONTROL (EEC) and then the EEC-IV and Diagnostics tabs.

Congrat's!!!

I knew how easy it is to swap rods, but never realized that there are rods big enough to tame those .110 main jets for high altitudes. Had a thought - how 'bout tinning the rods? How much might that add to the diameter? I do have multiples of some of the smaller rods so could experiment. Bad parts of the QJet? Like the leaky well plugs? Speaking of QJets, John and I talked about them and TQuads. He is a real fan of both. But mainly he likes the Carter Competition Series carbs. Had a high perf 390 in a '68 F100 and put two of them on with a non-progressive linkage. But he took the innards from a Carter made for a Mercury and put it in these carbs. Said you could stomp it in any gear but 4th and it wouldn't bog, and you couldn't feel the secondaries open. (He sure reminded me of someone else that is now 75, had a high perf 390, etc, etc, etc.)

I used to use thread for spark plug wires on my models. But that was 60 years ago.

Sorry, I didn't get to it today. I could have probably gotten pics under the hood, but after the chiropractor appointment I couldn't imagine crawling under the dash.

I put the carb back together, but not before checking the float levels. They were high by ~1/16" so I set them where they should be. And of course that leaned the AFR so I had to adjust the idle mix and idle stop, and it'll change things on the road as well so I'll have to check that out.And, just to document things, I'm running .110" primary jets, #1455 rods (.074 x .042), and the orange springs which allow the piston to come up at 5" of vacuum.Then I did some calling around looking for the .077 x .052 and .078 x .054 rods Tried Mike's and found the largest rod they have in stock is a .075", which isn't big enough. Called Allstate Carb and they have a pair of .076 x .052 in stock so I bought them as they are slightly better than the .076 x .054 rods I have on hand and should give proper AFR at 5700' for cruise and 7500' for power.Then I called The Carburetor Shop and talked to John. Or maybe I should say I listened to John. He's like Bill in several ways. First, they are the same age. Second, he's forgotten more about carbs than I'll ever know. Unfortunately he didn't have the rods I want, and while he could make them since he has Carter's original engineering drawings as well as their lab lathe, that would be a very expensive proposition and not worth doing for a 4-day stay in Colorado.According to John, Carter rods don't necessarily work in an Edeljunk (his term) as Carter had 19 different rod profiles, meaning where the step is and how long the ramp of the step is. That got me to wondering, and sure enough there is a difference. Here's a shot of a Carter 16-691 (.076 x .055) rod vs an Edelbrock 1455 (.073 x .042) rod. You can see that the step on the Carter starts a little bit farther down, meaning that the rod has to come out of the jet farther before enrichening the mix.Also, John suggested that I not change rods but instead lower the float levels 1/16". But that's not something I want to do as it is a lot more involved than swapping rods. And, there is a much higher chance of error when doing so - like what I did today when I got the fast idle linkage on wrong. :nabble_smiley_cry:So I'm going to limit it to swapping rods. And for those that don't know what that entails, once you pull the air cleaner you use a 1/4" socket to loosen the screw in the pic on the left, swivel the cover out of the way and the piston pops up. Pull the piston out, pull the spring down that is circled in red on the right, and pull the rod out. Put the new one in, and reverse the above procedure. Including removing and reinstalling the air cleaner it might take 5 minutes.

I'm sorry that it didn't work out. That is a bummer! But I think you are right, the cam must be flat. However, I would check before I tore it down or even pulled the cam out. Getting the engine out is easier with the hood off, but people have done it w/o pulling it. However, the boom on the engine hoist will have to be really close to the engine or it'll hit the hood before the engine clears the crossmember. As for what to do, I think it is probably time for a new engine. However, I've come to the conclusion that it is better to buy at least a short block, if not a long block from someone that does this routinely. Having said that, I don't know of someone that builds the 300 "routinely". But, when I asked Scotty The Mad Porter about it a couple of years ago he said he does build them. On the head, I'm not sure that oversized valves are what you want for a low-RPM engine. Certainly you want good valves and seals, but larger valves are usually needed for engines are going to spin pretty high. And on the compression ratio, there is another variable - quench or squish. If you get the piston-to-head clearance down to less than .040" then that results in the air/fuel mix being swirled in the combustion chamber, which is supposed to reduce the tendency to detonate. So you need someone that knows what he is doing when you pick your engine builder.

Yes, I think it is! Go ahead and tee it up. I'm headed to the shop to put a carb back together...

Maybe we need to have something that people can print to include with their trucks so the new owner can easily get back here?

You see, right there that PlastiDip step is what I mean. The be-all and end-all!

I'm learning that this is THE place to look for an answer first. Then decide which way to go with a part or repair. And this very thread should be a pretty good resource for anyone reviving a truck. Jonathan has done a heck of a job on the things he's done so far. I'd be all like "good enough - let's drive!" with no brakes and a plastic fuel jug. We strive to be THE place, but there are others that are good resources as well. And you are right, this thread is the be-all and end-all on how to do lots of things.

Not sure there's anything to be done on the glue stain. On the crinkle, assuming it is too much material and won't lay down, in theory you can cut it with a razor blade, take out a bit of material, and glue it back down with the ends butting. But if I did it I'd have a bigger mess.

This isn't off-topic. No problemo. I used to build models, long long ago. But didn't realize there are decent ones of Bullnose trucks. I like it!

Oh, ok. I'll see if I can take some pics tomorrow.

Well done! But yes, it always takes longer than expected. Still, you results are excellent. A week with the Bronco? Cool! I do hope you'll share your experiences with us.

Cool! How many years have you been working on this?

You've looked at the wiring diagrams in the EVTMs? Like this one from the 1985 EVTM?

I'll bet you can't WAIT to fire it up! Good luck!

Nice stuff!

I missed that one completely. Just goes to show there is so much on here. Just ask, I usually know where the bodies are buried.

Looking good! Excellent job on the master cylinder. And the brake backing plate is good as well. On the cowl seal, why pay $30 when you can do two for half that? See our page at Documentation/Underhood/Cowl Seal.

Boy, ain't that the truth! Oops, wasn't supposed to post yet! The spreadsheet below holds promise. The row in green looks like what I want, although the row above it would be better than what I'm running and I have those rods. Anyway, I'm going to go looking for the 16-237 Carter rod. Will be such an easy change - pull the air cleaner, loosen two screws, slide the tabs out of the way, and remove the rods and pistons. Change the rods and reverse the above procedure. And, for the record, here's a chart I found on a Mopar site which shows the Carter rods and jets. This is a MUCH bigger set than Edelbrock is selling, which is why I couldn't use their calibration chart since it doesn't show combinations using these rods. Bill says he has a number of rods and jets so will check to see what he has. Perhaps he has the ones I'm looking for. In any event, his idea of just changing the rods and not the jets will make things SO much easier! Thanks, Bill!! EDIT: Mike's Carburetor Parts supplied this pdf, which is the same as the pic I shared, but MUCH better:

Boy, ain't that the truth! Oops, wasn't supposed to post yet! The spreadsheet below holds promise. The row in green looks like what I want, although the row above it would be better than what I'm running and I have those rods. Anyway, I'm going to go looking for the 16-237 Carter rod. Will be such an easy change - pull the air cleaner, loosen two screws, slide the tabs out of the way, and remove the rods and pistons. Change the rods and reverse the above procedure.

Ok, talked to Bill. Having made ramps out of the slots the only choice to get the jet out is to remove the carb, wash it to make sure there's no gas ANYWHERE, heat the area right below the jet with a torch, and use a screw extractor to pull the jet.However, Bill had a better idea: go with bigger metering rods! So I'm going to look at the Eddy chart and see if there's a combo there that will work. But, the Eddy chart is assuming you are using their rods, which are a subset of the Carter rods. So there are probably jet/rod combos that won't show on the chart, and that may be what I need.Anyway, I'll be back...

That is good progress. And I think your break-in plans are good. I've always heard that 20 minutes is critical, so I aim for 30 just like you are. I think you'll be fine.