35 flatty running crappy STILL

40Ford!!

40Ford!!

Senior Member
35 flatty NO LONGER running crappy

Well, im hoping some of you will have some ideas for me on this issue. I am still experiencing problems with the engine after an intake swap. A little back story, i noticed a significant crack near the generator bolt and was told it needed to be replaced. So I picked up a 36 intake and was told it would swap fairly easy. The intake was very clean and in great shape. There was something that was different. The rear of the intake where the fuel pump stand goes was an inch shorted so I needed to shorten the oil stack by an inch and replace the fuel pump push rod to the shorter one. I also had the dist rebuilt and the guy advanced it ALL the way. he told me i no longer needed to run the dist. advanve tube so i plugged the hole on the intake. I put things back together and here is the problem. The engine idles great but when I give it more than 1/4 throttle it wants to die out. I was told it may not be getting enough fuel or the carb was dirty and causing the fuel flow problem. So I had the carb cleaned and it was dirty (damn Ethanol). I put the clean carb back on on SAME CONDITION! So I have no idea what is causing this problem. The fuel pump push rod is NOS 7.78 so it should be correct. I did have to change the old fuel pump as it was NOT pulling fuel. The new one corrected that problem. Any thoughts? It does not seem to be the carb now so I am wondering if it is the dist. Or maybe the push rod it just a bit off and not giving the pump enough fuel as the carb opens? Thanks.
 
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The distributor timing advance has a small plate with hash marks on it, it is on the side of the distributor. If the distributor is at full advance (IT SHOULD NOT BE check hash marks ) get someone who knows what they are doing with the distributor such as Jim Lindner at Bubbas Hot Rod Shop.
The vacuum brake adjustment is in the rear near the top of the distributor it is a hex bolt with a lock nut. The hex bolt should appear to be out a long way. This adjustment effects how fast the distributor reaches it's called for advance when changing speeds of the engine. YOU DO need the vacuum line from the distributor to the intake manifold! Without vacuum from the intake manifold to the vacuum brake the advance curve will be slowed down all the time. All the above will effect the way the engine accelerates.
 
One of the early aluminum intakes (I can't remember which) had problems with leakage of exhaust into the plenum due to thin aluminum walls in the cast passages. This may not affect yours. There are a few threads about this on the barn.

I wouldn't change the function of the OEM distributor. It is as good as it gets when functioning normally. Flatheads will overheat and give all sorts of problems when it doesn't work correctly.
 
put the vacuum tube back on the distributor and retard the timing a little at a time. the difference with the fuel pump push rod one is for an aluminum one and a cast iron one I think the aluminum one is shorter then the cast iron...Brendan
 
Looks to me like you described your problem very well!
Your distributor guy is all wrong for sure!
I would be very happy to set the distributor up on a machine and make it perfect.
There's no reason to run the advance all the way in either direction and I always suggest using the vacuum brake . Ford made a great distributor with this unit.
 
40,
I'm not real sure where your problem is but I'd be tempted to remove the
dist readjust the timing tab one graduation up from mid point and lock it down, it'll be in the ball park. Check the points for proper gap at high cam.....016 to .017. Before reinstalling the dist
remove the big 'nut' that retains the vacuum brake plunger and be sure the
plunger
works free but not sloppy. Reinstall the plunger, spring and retaining 'nut' apply a bit
of spring pressure to the plunger.
As Terry advised the vac tube needs to be in place and the vac brake
operational. The above is no big deal and will get you in the ball park distributor wise.
Do a test drive and hopefully all will be well....if not try a TEMPORARY jumper
around the underdash resister...that little bugger has caused many a fit.
We are assuming the condenser and coil are up to snuff.
This is shade tree stuff and can certainly be improved on but for now it's
close enough.
Charlie ny
 
I have an original 35 motor in my 35, and after redoing the car it ran ,but rough, rebuilt all the top parts, then sent my dist. helmet to bubbas, put it in and have not touched it since last spring. runs great. I tried to set it myself, got it close, but bubbas got it right on the money.
 
40Ford!! said:
Well, im hoping some of you will have some ideas for me on this issue. I am still experiencing problems with the engine after an intake swap. A little back story, i noticed a significant crack near the generator bolt and was told it needed to be replaced. So I picked up a 36 intake and was told it would swap fairly easy. The intake was very clean and in great shape. There was something that was different. The rear of the intake where the fuel pump stand goes was an inch shorted so I needed to shorten the oil stack by an inch and replace the fuel pump push rod to the shorter one. I also had the dist rebuilt and the guy advanced it ALL the way. he told me i no longer needed to run the dist. advanve tube so i plugged the hole on the intake. I put things back together and here is the problem. The engine idles great but when I give it more than 1/4 throttle it wants to die out. I was told it may not be getting enough fuel or the carb was dirty and causing the fuel flow problem. So I had the carb cleaned and it was dirty (damn Ethanol). I put the clean carb back on on SAME CONDITION! So I have no idea what is causing this problem. The fuel pump push rod is NOS 7.78 so it should be correct. I did have to change the old fuel pump as it was NOT pulling fuel. The new one corrected that problem. Any thoughts? It does not seem to be the carb now so I am wondering if it is the dist. Or maybe the push rod it just a bit off and not giving the pump enough fuel as the carb opens? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Keep getting advice from your dist friend and it will get worst,send it to Bubba, ken ct. lol.
 
Remove a plug lead while revving it ,the spark should be blue not yellow it should jump 1/4 to 3/8 ,Remove the fuel line from the carb with ing, off ,crank it over you should get a 3" spray of gas.
 
Would you think the dist advance not being right would stop it reving up ,I think not, it will surely still rev out but under duress,and get hot under load.but still rev up.
the flathead in our dragster had the timing so far out it,(5 after tdc) got hot enought to fry an egg but still reved up.

Lawrie
 
Llast night a friend came over and listened to my engine and immediately said "its your distributor" He said the popping he was hearing was a timing issue. Ok so I said well that's it.... everyone has been telling me it was distributor related so i took it off. Here is what I learned. I SCREWED UP THE INSTALLATION. Apparently I did NOT get the distributor seated properly. I noticed the cam adaptor piece ( the one that fits in the cam slot) was chewed up a bit and then one of the tabs (where one of the three mounting bolts goes through) fell off! I believe this was due to me tightening down the dist that was not seated and thus a small gap existed putting excessive pressure on the tab and CRACK! So I can only assume the entire problem I was experiencing was a dist that was not seated correctly. So now i also need a new dist housing as well. I will be calling Bubbas this morning. When I get the new on I will have an experienced flathead guy help me install it properly.
 

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Your getting more experienced as time goes on. Try the installation again yourself, make sure the distributor sits flat on the timing cover and the bolt holes align before tightening any of the bolts. You can use the broken distributor as a guinea pig. The tang on the back of the distributor can be installed 180 degrees out from the proper location if it is then the bolts will not align properly and the housing will not seat properly. The drive tang is slightly offset from center of the shaft. practice a couple of times and you'll have it for life. LOTS of guys have broken housings before, so your not the first.
 
I doubt if your motor would run at all if the dizy slot was half a turn out ,I think you have a ignition problem but its not that ,
 
When I installed my rebuilt distributor, I was jolly careful about lining up those pieces correctly. I had read all the horror stories right here on the FordBarn. I also read up about the install in the Ford Service Manuals that I had purchased. I read everything I could about the topic before I tried that distributor install. Good luck with the car.
 
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