Tuning the Ford Six

It's the humble and longlasting 3.3L (200 CID) inline six that Ford made from 1965 to 1982 for their mid-size lines. I think the trucks got the bigger sixes.

The Ford Six forum is pretty well THE place for tweaking these little beasts.
http://fordsix.com/forum/

It's affiliated and sponsored by a well-known Ford parts manufacturer and reseller - Classic Inlines.
http://classicinlines.com/SmallSixSpecs.asp

Anyway, the tune up specs from Ford and Chilton's don't agree. Chilton and Ford both say the timing should be at 10 BTDC. Classic says 12 BTDC.

I've got the DuraSpark type electronic distributor. It's like the GM HEI system.
http://classicinlines.com/spark.asp

HandyAndy and I were email chatting last nite about the tuning. My Tach/Dwell meter is a cheapy, but its accurate. After getting the idle speed at 750 in Park, I attached Andy's Vacuum gauge to see where mine was - 17 Inches. Andy said that many guys on Ford Six are at 14 Inches.

Mine barely moves between 16 and 18, meaning the engine is in good shape:
http://www.efv8.org/site/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=43

or:
http://www.classictruckshop.com/clubs/earlyburbs/projects/vac/uum.htm

Now here's the rub!

I moved the distributor up toward the 14 BTDC mark. At 12 BTDC, like the Classic Inline site recommends, I got about 19 Inches of Vacuum, like those two sites show is the Normal range!

The engine breathed better, ran smoother and sounded a lot freer than the 10 BTDC setting. (Chilton's specs say 6 BTDC for California engines).

Then I flipped the Tach/Dwell to DWELL, and Andy pointed out that with the Electronic Ignition, Dwell isn't benficially controllable. He's right. The only way to tweak it is to change the gap on the plugs. But the engine is designed to run with the plug gap at .050" (bigger spark).

The same company that wrote that article above makes a line for V8 Fords, as well as GM HEI distributors, which lets you set the spark for even bigger plug gaps:
http://www.performancedistributors.com/fordssdui.htm

This is a quick article on setting the Dwell, on Points distributors:
http://autorepair.about.com/library/a/1h/bl483h.htm

So fiddling with the gap by a thousandth might bring the Dwell down to what a Points dwell should be at Idle, but I won't go there. I'll pull mine and check them and set them at the stock setting .050".

I'm gonna try it at 12 BTDC and get the vacuum up to 18 inches, and test the car.

Andy wondered if the Red connector (MotorCraft) controller might improve the results. The more common one is the Blue unit (what I have). It would be an interesting experiment.

Anyway, I'll see how Mileage and power prove out, and report later.


Here's a good generic trouble-shooting page for any car:
http://classicinlines.com/troubleshooting.asp

 

Not quite, I said I was getting that, and that it wasn't "normal". Everyone else reports the same as yours, so I think you're fine.
10°-12° of advance is great, although when I put the looser spring in the dizzy I had to back that off to about 8°.
The other thing that one can do is flip the cam around in the dizzy, depending on where it's already at. The idea is to have full advance of 36° in by around 3500-3600rpm.
When's it going to freaking warm up and dry up so we can go outside and play?!

 

Misunderstood you on the vacuum you? Ok.

You'll probably get it back to the 10-12 range with the new engine and the full advance too. You think we buy a dash installed Timing gauge? The old Model T's had the lever on the column? T'would be almost stock!

As for the weather, this is depressing:
http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/pages/mb-38_metric_e.html

 

Since the valve job, with my timing at 10*BTDC, I'm pulling just a squeak over 20" and I'm at 2,200 ft. altitude. This is absolutely, almost unheard of. This is at 700 rpm.

Prior to the valve job I couldn't get better than about 17.5".

Timing at 10* is what shows on my underhood emissions label. My car is not a California model.

My car doesn't like anything above 12*. It never pings but it hesitates real bad. It just runs very well with the timing at 10* with no hesitation.

At some point above the factory settings you'll lose performance.

 

I'm at just under 800 ft above sea level. Too cold to play bare-handed today. But would a higher (11 or 12 degrees) be ok? I'd like to get it closer to the 18 inch range. The engine sure liked it. Purred smooth.

I started it up this morning, but I needed to hold the pedal open a bit. I think my floats or choke settings might be off. The kit said level with the bowl for the floats and Index for the choke. OR maybe the idle mixture screw into the base.

 

phhhtt! I usually have to pump mine a half dozen times...
Sounds like she's running pretty good!
Hey did you do the diff?

 

Nope not yet. I've got to pick up some sealant. But I should probably pour the cheap gear oil in first and see if the front seal leaks. Thanks for the reminder.

 

I just stuck my nose out to check for junk mail. Its friggin' cccccccold! and windy!

 

Oh yeah me too! Windchill is like 0 or something...

 

Level with the bowl means level whilst holding the bowl upside down carefully not letting the little ball and weight get lost. The choke could be off a bit but remember to set the idle mixture while the engine is hot to the highest vacuum reading then turn in 1/4 turn. I found that setting the high idle set screw to be the hardest thing to do as the engine is getting warmer the longer it runs. :banghead3:

 

O? That's just balmy for your area. Shirtsleeve weather.

 

It's funny how after -50C that this gets to me. The mindset towards rapid temp changes is a good warning system, but frustrating when you have to get stuff done.

 

Frost Warnings!!!

Since they moved all the local weather scientists to Ottawa (1,500 miles east) they keep dumping bad news on us! The weekend forecasts are always bad and turn out much better, but this Frost Warning this early in the week is probably true or they're calling off some grumpy student at one of our universities on this Holiday Monday, and he's just p!ssed:

http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/pages/mb-38_metric_e.html

Oh, well, I'm glad I didn't plant the tomatoes yet.

 

Yippee, the frost is off the pumpkin!

I knew God loved me. Just the Eastern weather forecasters that don't!

We're at 33F (1C) right now - 7:30 AM. But, we're heading for 14C (57F) and sunny and no rain for the week! We're gonna be at 45F by noon, but hey, I can take it.

Ok, so I'll tweak the tuneup a little finer, and get onto taking the dash out and wiring in the Mustang dash. About 4 days, I figure.

I'll post the final tuneup sweet-spot details, after I'm done.

 

I can't wait.