She's runnin but not good

Just to be on the safe side, It will be best to remove the idle jet (long jet in upper housing) clean jet and make sure that the passage is clear all the way from the jet opening to the opening above the butterfly. After re reading your first post you state that the gav is out more than normal. If it will only run with the Gav opened way up after warm up, I'll have to agree with James Rogers, You probably still have a small vacume leak somewhere. Just another thought while I'm at it . If the idle screw at the throttle is adjusted in too far (as in fast idle) the carb won't be running on the idle circuit and the air adjust screw will make no change in the idle rate. Several things to check but you are well on the way. Good luck.
 
I have the idle screw adjusted out pretty far. I kept turning it out until the engine slowed down enough to idle nicely. Is that the wrong thing to do? I have the gav turned 3/4 out. Seems to run pretty good to me even with these issues. I'll fine tune things more this weekend and see what happens.


My points had the Ford script stamped in them. Could these have been the originals or was there an aftermarket points set that had/has the ford stamped in it?
 
Last edited:
By idle screw, do you mean "idle mixture screw" or do you mean "idle speed screw"? The mixure screw has a spring under the screw head and when you turn it out you are letting more air into the fuel in the idle circuit. This makes it leaner. I'd try about one turn out and close the GAV some, as see how that works.
 
Man, now she is running weird. It started up just fine today then out of nowhere, stalled. Had a hard time getting it running again, when it did run, loud backfires through tailpipe. Took the carb off and took it completely apart. Blew out all the passseges and put it back together. Gas looked pretty dirty inside of carb. Put it back on and fired right up. Ran good then out of nowhere, stalled again. Now I am having a hard time keeping it running. Really lost now.
 
Ok, got her running again. The air mixture screw at the top front of the carb still does nothing. I can turn it all in or all out and no changes in idle. I have the GAV about a 1/2 turn CCW from closed. It runs pretty good but with the timing lever all the way up, it pops a bit out the carb when the throttle is hit. If I advance it, and hit the gas, NO pops. Wish some of you guys lived close so you could show me what's going on with it.
 
Vanspeed said:
Ok, got her running again. The air mixture screw at the top front of the carb still does nothing. I can turn it all in or all out and no changes in idle. I have the GAV about a 1/2 turn CCW from closed. It runs pretty good but with the timing lever all the way up, it pops a bit out the carb when the throttle is hit. If I advance it, and hit the gas, NO pops. Wish some of you guys lived close so you could show me what's going on with it.
Click to expand...

Do the pops happen after it warms up or when it is cold? If cold, I think this is a common situation-I know on my huckster this is true. Setting the GAV a little more out until it warms up does away with this (at least on my rig)
 
It pops when it is warm. This is only the second A engine I have worked on and my first one was running great when I got it. I do not think there is a vacuum leak anywhere as I have new gaskets on it after I put the new intake manifold on. I just ran it out of gas so I am putting a screen filter in the gas valve and going to clean out the carb again.
 
Vanspeed,

Does the intake manifold you have on now have the plug for taking vacuum gauge readings?

Also, have you compared the length of the Idle Air Adjust Screw with another that works (some repop screws are too short causing the spring to collapse before it seats).
 
I did compare the screw to some others I have and it is the same as them. It does have the port for vacuum but I have a plug in it. I left the iginition on all night so now the battery is dead and I do not have a charger. Looks like nothing else is going to get done today...
 
You want to buy or borrow a battery charger and get the battery recharged as soon as possible. A 3 to 6 amp charger would be great for the job.
 
If the idle jet and passage from the jet to the opening above the throttle butterfly is clear and the idle speed screw on the throttle lever on the carb is adjusted for a low enough idle for the idle circuit to activate and if the idle air adjust screw still has no effect, there could be a blockage in the secondary well. The secondary well in located in the lower carb housing. The idle jet draws fuel from the secondary well. The well can be hard to remove. I remember years ago, I broke a lower carb housing in half while tring to remove a secondary well with an ease out and a big adjustable wrench. If the idle jets and passages are clear and the throttle idle adjust screw is properly adjusted, the air adjust screw on top of the carb should effect the idle. The popping could be caused by fuel starvation or clockwise backlash in the distributor shaft when the cam screw is tightened when setting the timing.
 
Secondary well is not stuck in the carb, I take it out everytime I clean it. I just looked at the plugs and they are black, very black. No black smoke out of taillpipe.
 
Still guessing but what plugs are you running and are they new? I've had spark plugs that were bad that caused a lot of popping. the plugs that usually did this were motor craft TT10 and champion w16Y but it could happen with any plug. Thats just the kind that I use to use. I now use champion W18 and never a problem..
 
I also put in champion W18 an it improve the way it ran quite a lot. I use to have popping when I started when cold. Now with the W18's have no problem with this.
 
After putting in the gas filter I noticed the tank was pretty dirty inside. It seems to me that the gas valve was getting crapped up. Now I have a nice flow of gas out the line. I do not know anybody with a charger so I am taking the battery up to where I bought it and see if they can charge it up for me. I bought the plugs brand new from Snyders, they are the autolite plugs they sell. They were gapped at 030.
 
The way I understand it, the Champion W18 are a hotter plug that the Autolight. In my rig, they seem to work much better than the autolight. Of course, the price of them is "much better" (from the sellers standpoint) than the others. But they are suppose to be as close to the original plugs as you can get withoug buying the $30+ ones.

But it does sound like you may have found your problem with the dirty gas.

Good luck.
 
After looking up plugs it does seem like the autolight plugs are a colder plug. I am used to having a coffee and cream color, not sooty black.
 
Vanspeed said:
After putting in the gas filter I noticed the tank was pretty dirty inside. It seems to me that the gas valve was getting crapped up. Now I have a nice flow of gas out the line. I do not know anybody with a charger so I am taking the battery up to where I bought it and see if they can charge it up for me. I bought the plugs brand new from Snyders, they are the autolite plugs they sell. They were gapped at 030.
Click to expand...

Check garage sales and swap meets for a battery charger. I often see a nice one for about $5.
 
Got the charged up battery back in. I still cannot get this thing to run without the gav one full turn open. Idle screw on top of carb still does nothing. Plugs are black and sooty. I can get it to run smooth but there is still something wrong. I give up.
 
Don't give up. Get a coffee and check it out later.

Also, as helpful as everyone is, and right from the heart, sometimes the "too many chefs..." cliche' applies. I suspect a small degree (no pun intended) of a timing/ignition issue, aggravated by a carb issue, also probably small. Got another carb? Of course you do. Couple bolts, couple rods, and a fuel line. Might take an hour to shag the one off your coop. Get the carb out of the equasion 1st. You'll know if it behaves the same with a different carb where to look, right? As easy as the A bone ignition is to dial in, it's just as easy to get outta whack just enough to make you scratch a raw spot in yer head! Mine runs good with the spark all the way up, but a bit lumpy all the way down. Never had that with a good runnin A. I'll address it later and I suspect a couple degrees off. Sorry van, best cheerleadin I got...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top