Recent content by GREENBIRD56

Be sure the ballast resistor is only lowering the voltage to the coil - and not the voltage to the electronic control unit, that takes 13.5 volts (full battery voltage) to operate correctly. The units that mount inside the distributor itself have to have a complete ground - right back to the...

There is evidence that carb spacers can have considerable effect on performance - aside from the thermal break aspects. On a streeter - best keep the manifold carb bores separated side to side - its OK to slot them front to rear (that maintains the OEM "cross H" flow distribution between...

Sounds like you are cooking the fuel? Do you have a dual exhaust heat riser valve in place on the passenger side exhaust manifold? If so make sure it is open - maybe wire it open for a test. A sticky riser valve can cook a carb. Use the truck intake gaskets - and insert a piece of stainless...

That is a fuel pressure regulator - and it would be a miracle if the diaphragm was still intact! Even if it is a barn find "survivor" - the crummy alcohol fuel we get would eat it right up........

A "pressurized" cooling system is the result of - building pressure with little or no vent. So you need to test the cap - not the T-stat. The earlier photo posted on this thread shows a radiator tank - mostly empty - with lots of room for expansion. And that is the way these systems were...

I'm going to assume at this point the car has been running before. It has the necessary road grime to imply it has been run - not freshly assembled and parked. The mechanical tachometer cable appears twice in the available pictures - but seems to just droop over the kickdown linkage behind the...

Incidentally - this is a nice looking little car - and in better body shape than many I've seen. Don't get too overwhelmed by "originality" - this vehicle is nearly 60 years old and a lot of things happen in that period of time. You are allowed so few changes to a car for it to be judged...

Looking at the pictures - that's a '56 style distributor with two vacuum lines. And if the tachometer works - it probably has the drive cable too. This is all most likely "top end" stuff from the original car. It would take a VERY knowledgeable mechanic to make a 239 work with that distributor...

If the car has a working tachometer - then the distributor has to have been out of a 55 /56/57 'bird. A 239 is a "tang drive" motor - or it would have to have had a later oil pump stuck in there........ If the distributor is from the 55 / 56 models, then it would be a Load-O-Matic and the...

Welcome aboard, always glad to see another '56.... does your outfit still have the "Load-O-Matic" (full vacuum control) distributor on it? They are rather prone to giving up and making the engine run very "retarded" - which is usually hot. Which then adds to the percolation difficulties. You can...

The manifolds with the two small holes under the threaded port - they are usually drilled, one into each plenum of the "cross H" dual plane manifold (to help stop pulsing). I'm surprised there isn't a plug or fitting about half way down the back wall of the manifold behind the carb base.

Worth a try if its cheap - the trigger units for all of these are relatively simple and the controllers are usually based on a common GM "four pin module". The fancy studded cap - comes from an International Harvester V8 about '76 and so on. The "real" GM HEI 4 pin controllers read the coil...

Y's will run nicely with the valve covers off - and not make big mess. Should be able to see some oil coming out of the tube on one end of each shaft. If you've got a tick, test with a gloved finger which will dampen the noise and tell you which rockers might need adjustment.

I don't have any idea about your compression ratio or expected state of tune so ......for a four barrel stocker. Try 10 - 12 degrees initial crank advance, limit the distributor mechanical advance to 12 to 13 degrees (additional 24 to 26 at the crank) for a total of 34 to 38. That is with no...

The Ford distributor vacuum pot adjustment screws (down inside the vacuum port) must vary in their total travel???? May be but I have set many down as far as 5º-7º or so. It turns CCW to reduce travel - opposite the intuitive "screw it in" tendency we all have. I've got one hanging around that...