I really need some help on my 37

Tom in SW VA

Tom in SW VA

Well-known member
I've done everything that I know to do on my 37 Ford V-8 which is really a 38 engine. I've followed every suggestions by my great friends here on Fordbarn and the car is running terribly. No power, rough idle. As you may recall, I installed a new Stromberg 97 and have had trouble ever since. My only option now is to send the Stromberg to the tester on here or send it back to the manufacturer. My worst fear is that something is terribly wrong with the engine.

I have NO one to help me in my area. I have contacted Early V-8 Ford chapters but to no avail. I need your suggestions and help. If you were me what would you do?

Today i tried to drive the the car and I had no power and barely made it back to the garage. This ain't no fun at all. Help!!!

PS - I live in SW Virginia in Richlands about 50 miles from Bristol, VA/TN. If anyone knows of anyone who would come and listen to the car, I would be very appreciative. I also have a trailer with a winch and will bring the car to you. I am willing to pay your price for help!!
 
Do you still have the carb that the new one replaced? If so put it back on and see if the condition changes. It sounds like the float may be stuck with the needle open or dirt and it is getting too much fuel or the float is too high.
Have you looked at the plugs to see if they are wet or sooty? Tried shorting out 1 plug at a time to see if the problem is with a specific cylinder or not? There are lots of folks here with tons of troubleshooting experience.
I always go back to the last thing I changed when facing similar circumstances, so as you suspect it is probably the carb.
Also, did you disturb the distributor caps or plug wires when working on the car?
 
I will replace the old carb and see what happens. I cleaned all the plugs today. They were black and sooty. I haven't done the plug pulling. I have checked all the plug wires. They are intact. Thanks so much. As you can tell, I am discouraged and need some help. I live in an isloated area.
 
What is the history of the engine? Did you rebuild it? What is the ignition system like? Did you trouble shoot the ignition? Is the timing set up properly, how does it idle? It may not be in the carb. Your timing could be off. You may have a bad condensor. I had a problem once with a bad condensor causing poor idle and no power on exceleration. I would make sure you have the timing set correctly. If you need help checking the timing let us know and we or I can give you directions.
 
While I certainly agree that the carb is suspicious, Seth is right about the condenser. They are cheap and easy to replace. It happened to me a couple of years ago! I've messed with old Fords for nearly 60 years and this was the first time I've had a bad condenser. Check it out! I was sure it was a fuel problem.
 
Tom in SW VA said:
I've done everything that I know to do on my 37 Ford V-8 which is really a 38 engine. I've followed every suggestions by my great friends here on Fordbarn and the car is running terribly. No power, rough idle. As you may recall, I installed a new Stromberg 97 and have had trouble ever since. My only option now is to send the Stromberg to the tester on here or send it back to the manufacturer. My worst fear is that something is terribly wrong with the engine.

I have NO one to help me in my area. I have contacted Early V-8 Ford chapters but to no avail. I need your suggestions and help. If you were me what would you do?

Today i tried to drive the the car and I had no power and barely made it back to the garage. This ain't no fun at all. Help!!!

PS - I live in SW Virginia in Richlands about 50 miles from Bristol, VA/TN. If anyone knows of anyone who would come and listen to the car, I would be very appreciative. I also have a trailer with a winch and will bring the car to you. I am willing to pay your price for help!!
Click to expand...

There is a very active chapter of the Early Ford V8 Club of America in Bristol. Join the club and get their directory. Many V-8ers in your area, and most are willing to help. And, when it come to working on old Fords, 50 miles "Ain't fur to go"
 
DD931 said:
While I certainly agree that the carb is suspicious, Seth is right about the condenser. They are cheap and easy to replace. It happened to me a couple of years ago! I've messed with old Fords for nearly 60 years and this was the first time I've had a bad condenser. Check it out! I was sure it was a fuel problem.
Click to expand...

Absoultly, me too. A 64 F350 / 272 went south just like that; same symptoms,
I was lookin for love in all the wrong places. BAD condenser out of the box!
And I'd swear it was carb problems.
 
Unless your carb is flooding terribly and running like it's on full choke all the time, You may find you have an ignition problem.

Over the years I have had bad running problems, and most of the time it has been HT related. Bad cap, bad rotor, bad wires. I don't run condensers on my flatheads, but have had bad condensers on my other car (an OT mini 1000) and that did cause similar symptoms.

Mart.
 
Why did you change the carburetor? What problems did you experience? What type of carburetor is the old Carb, Stromberg or Holley, is it marked in the casting and on the base? I believe it may be a very good idea to change back as others have suggested, to see if you can get the engine to run as it did before.
I believe you have been contacted by Uncle Max. He is part of the factory! He does their warranty work. If the engine runs better with the old Carb, send the new Stromberg to Max and he will fix the problem and return the Carb back to you. There is no better place to send your carburetor!
Do not assume because you changed the carburetor you now have other problems, go about this logically and you will find the answer.
 
Terry said:
Why did you change the carburetor? What problems did you experience? What type of carburetor is the old Carb, Stromberg or Holley, is it marked in the casting and on the base? I believe it may be a very good idea to change back as others have suggested, to see if you can get the engine to run as it did before.
I believe you have been contacted by Uncle Max. He is part of the factory! He does their warranty work. If the engine runs better with the old Carb, send the new Stromberg to Max and he will fix the problem and return the Carb back to you. There is no better place to send your carburetor!
Do not assume because you changed the carburetor you now have other problems, go about this logically and you will find the answer.
Click to expand...

I changed the new carb for the old carb this evening and the car will not start. The battery is low, so I will see what happens when it is fully charged. I will change the condenser and see what happens. I have cleaned the plugs and checked all connections. The old carb was a Stromberg 97 like the new $500 one. I though my problem was fuel, I don't think it is. I have no expertise about the disturbor or timing. Please keep the ideas coming. Where do I get a condenser? I am heard that NAPA has one that will fit.
 
NAPA FA49 for the 37-41 coil condenser.
Did you prime the Carb with fuel before installing? OUTDOORS, With the Carb removed you can turn it nearly on it's side and fill the float bowl with gas through the inlet fitting. If the fuel will not go in, the inlet valve may be stuck closed (gently poke a rod in the hole to get it off it's seat, it will not move much only about 1/32". If the fuel goes in then with the Carb upright operate the throttle on the side of the Carb with the choke plate open and you should be able to see two streams of fuel squirting out of the two discharge nozzles. Then adjust the two idle fuel mixture adjustment screws (BY HAND) screw the brass screw all the way to it's seat and then screw it out 3/4 of one turn, repeat the second adjustment and fill the float bowl with fuel again, this time reinstall the Carb to the engine and you should be able to start the car, if your problem was fuel. The car may only run for 15 Sec if additional fuel is not delivered to the Carb by the fuel pump and the fuel delivery system such as flex fuel line, metal fuel line, fuel pick up tube in gas tank, empty gas tank etc. etc.
Does your fuel pump have a glass filter bowl??
 
Seriously wrong with a flathead would mean heart surgery which does not sound like what you have. If it has oil pressure, hold coolant then what ever problems you have are minor. It sounds like ign problems to me but without being there, hard to say with the info so far. What written info do you have, owners manual, service bulletins and so on? You need these to understand your systems. If you have an original 30s thru 50s flex fuel line, it is almost sure bad, no matter what it looks like, even the new ones from then are no good because the additives in modern gas eat them up from the inside as well as the fuel pump diaphrams. If someone has put points in your distributor without setting it on a machine, it will not perform right. If the car has set for any entended period of time, usually the points get white stuff on them and do not work right. Caution, if you pull the distributor, it fits only one way with the drive tang and if it is not turned correctly when putting it back on, the distributor housing will break. All this may sound very confusing but the Ford system is one of the most simple ever made for a V8 if you understand it!
 
Terry said:
NAPA FA49 for the 37-41 coil condenser.
Did you prime the Carb with fuel before installing? OUTDOORS, With the Carb removed you can turn it nearly on it's side and fill the float bowl with gas through the inlet fitting. If the fuel will not go in, the inlet valve may be stuck closed (gently poke a rod in the hole to get it off it's seat, it will not move much only about 1/32". If the fuel goes in then with the Carb upright operate the throttle on the side of the Carb with the choke plate open and you should be able to see two streams of fuel squirting out of the two discharge nozzles. Then adjust the two idle fuel mixture adjustment screws (BY HAND) screw the brass screw all the way to it's seat and then screw it out 3/4 of one turn, repeat the second adjustment and fill the float bowl with fuel again, this time reinstall the Carb to the engine and you should be able to start the car, if your problem was fuel. The car may only run for 15 Sec if additional fuel is not delivered to the Carb by the fuel pump and the fuel delivery system such as flex fuel line, metal fuel line, fuel pick up tube in gas tank, empty gas tank etc. etc.
Does your fuel pump have a glass filter bowl??
Click to expand...

Terry: Here in the latest: I replaced the new carb with the old one and I did not prime it. However, there is a strong smell of gasoline when I have tried to start it. I have the glass bowl type fuel pump and it shows gasoline in the bowl. In the meantime, I have discovered that I have the conversion kit on the distributor with the regular type of coil strapped to the engine. If I replace the condenser, which has been suggested, where do I get one for this kit? I am presently charging the battery which I ran down trying to start the car yesterday.

I replaced the copper fuel line from the carb to fuel pump, but have done no inspection of the fuel lines.

I have run the car continuely which I purchased about three or four years ago.

Thanks so very much for your help and for all who have distributed. I REALLY appreciate it. We will conquer this dilemma!! :)
 
jimTN said:
Seriously wrong with a flathead would mean heart surgery which does not sound like what you have. If it has oil pressure, hold coolant then what ever problems you have are minor. It sounds like ign problems to me but without being there, hard to say with the info so far. What written info do you have, owners manual, service bulletins and so on? You need these to understand your systems. If you have an original 30s thru 50s flex fuel line, it is almost sure bad, no matter what it looks like, even the new ones from then are no good because the additives in modern gas eat them up from the inside as well as the fuel pump diaphrams. If someone has put points in your distributor without setting it on a machine, it will not perform right. If the car has set for any entended period of time, usually the points get white stuff on them and do not work right. Caution, if you pull the distributor, it fits only one way with the drive tang and if it is not turned correctly when putting it back on, the distributor housing will break. All this may sound very confusing but the Ford system is one of the most simple ever made for a V8 if you understand it!
Click to expand...

Jim: I replaced the new carb with the old one and I did not prime it. However, there is a strong smell of gasoline when I have tried to start it. I have the glass bowl type fuel pump and it shows gasoline in the bowl. In the meantime, I have discovered that I have the conversion kit on the distributor with the regular type of coil strapped to the engine. If I replace the condenser, which has been suggested, where do I get one for this kit? I am presently charging the battery which I ran down trying to start the car yesterday.

I replaced the copper fuel line from the carb to fuel pump, but have done any inspection of the fuel lines although I see no signs of fuel leaks.
I have run the car continuely which I purchased about three or four years ago and it has never sit for any prolonged period.

How far is Powell, TN from SW Virginia (near Bristol)?

Thanks so much for your help and keep the help. I REALLY appreciate it!!!
 
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