What Next? 1973 Ford Contry Sedan

The high idle speed is likely around 1600-2000 RPM. Babe's 2-barrel fairly screams, and I just haven't got around to adjusting it. And until I get power to the choke t-stat, I've been firing it choke open. I don't know how you do it, but I pump the pedal fully 5-6 times depending on outside temperature, then I crank it and attempt to get the speed up and stay around high idle. As it attempts to die, I rev the engine; is that where it pops, is when you rev the engine? That would sound like the accelerator pump isn't putting out enough to keep it from leaning out when cold. If I recall, you put the pump pull rod on the top hole, I've also done that. So to get more volume per shot, start straightening the bend in that pull rod, a little at a time. See if that helps.

 

I stated it backwards yesterday--The choke system was set such that,at 50 degrees Fahrenheit or so,the plate would be closed. Once the engine started,the plate would start to open. I reset it today as more of a summer setting. Either setting made no difference to the spit back problem. The accelerator pump setting that cured the spitback of a warm engine is: bottom hole,shortened rod,and inside hole on the accelerator pump lever itself. Maybe it should be top hole,I don't know. I can rev the engine in neutral,but it spits back under load in Drive when you make any but the lightest demands on it.
Boy,that Colony Park looks deluxe!

 

I'm working on Babe this week; if I think of it, I'll snap a pic of the settings I have. Basically, the more throw of the plunger lever, the more fuel that's squirted.

 

OK,there are four holes on the overtravel lever,numbered 1 thru 4 bottom to top. I wanted #1 hole,but the clip won't fit that setting,so I went with #2. That's what I've been using. Today I tried #4 hole,and there was a flat spot on trying to accelerate. The manual shows 4 holes on the pump lever,A & B,inboard and outboard. My lever just has two holes,A & B. B is further to the centerline of the vehicle,and that's what I am using,along with the shortened rod. When I tested #4 hole on the overtravel lever,I still had the shortened rod and the "B" hole on the pump.
Changing idle mixture made no difference,choke setting made no difference to the spitback problem. Mike at Mike's Carburetor Parts thinks I'll ruin my engine if I go to bigger jets,and Mike in CT thinks it needs bigger jets and that's fine,but I'd be $300.00 to open with him. The reason Mike's Carb guy thinks what he thinks is because my spark plugs are a nice light tan. And meanwhile,the car is barely driveable when it's not up to normal operating temperature.

 

If you don't set the choke, how long do you warm it up? Also, does your engine have a heat stove on the (passenger?) exhaust manifold and a tube up to the underside of the snorkel? Does the snorkel have a vacuum-operated door that closes the normal air path and opens the heat stove path?

 

Well,it should be ready to drive immediately,and I had a neighbor who said the fumes from the exhaust were too much,so I've gotten in the habit of not leaving it running in the yard unless necessary. The choke has a heat stove in the intake manifold (all parts of it renewed) and the wire from the alternator to the black cap withe the coil inside,along with the two adjustments on the linkage. All of that works fine. There were two systems to control the snorkel hot/cold effect,and mine has the vacuum valve in the air cleaner (useless/disconnected) to control the flapper in the snorkel. The metal flex hose from the tin cover on the right side exhaust manifold is intact. I'm not sure if the actuator for the flapper would hold vacuum. If I could get the flapper to close at cold engine start,how would that help driveability if the choke itself made no difference?
Anyway,there would be some choke effect on startup now,just not full on as it was recently.

 

It pulls hot air in to help combustion and prevent carb icing. Remember, though, that the choke butterfly is supposed to pull open once the engine catches; if it doesn't, the engine runs too rich after startup. The carb should have a pulloff behind the choke assembly, plugged into the manifold vacuum at the back of the carb base.

 

Right. The pull off works as it should. I never thought about it much.
Now,an earlier Ford setup would have nothing into or out of the air cleaner,like my old '65 1/2 GT Hipo Mustang. That Autolite 4-barrel I doubt even had a choke pull off,just a thermostatic coil and a heat stove,which would pull off the choke gradually.
All of the later add-ons were mainly about reducing emissions,weren't they?
And if the flapper in the duct were working as intended,would it affect the spitback problem?
First:vacuum off the main pipe at the back of the intake manifold goes to the valve in the air cleaner,which attempts to control the flapper by means of the diaphragm above it. I can reconnect that system and test it. I wonder if the flapper would even close at ambient temp in June?

 

Okay,so I went from the main pipe to the control valve in the air cleaner to the flapper control diaphragm,reconnected all that,and that fixed the spitback/driveability issue. I guess I got a little overzealous in disabling all the plumbing! Your idea,STH,was the right one. Thanks! The vacuum motor that controls the flapper works fine--who knew? Saved me a ton of money chasing carb issues.

 

That's good to hear. Now, you should use a tacho to find out what your high idle speed is at, and verify your curb idle is correct.

 

In spite of some people say,the 400 can be a pretty good engine,even with all that weight to pull around. Subjectively,it beats the 150 hp 5.0 in the old Crown Vic wagons--those were more agile but slower. Torque wins the day!
I can recheck the idle speeds per the manual,but if I want to check timing again,I have to get a new timing light--I dropped the old one and it died.

 

Before I got this car,someone had converted the AC to R134a. I had attempted to recharge it with the bottle and gauge from Auto Zone,but it only got barely cool,and didn't even stay at that level. Last month,I finally found someone who could get the air conditioner working--it was evacuated and recharged! It worked very well for quite a few miles,but then on a trip to northern Vermont,it started cutting out. You could move the lever to "Vent" with the fan control still on high speed, and no fan. Then off,back on,and in a while the AC would work again. I thought it was only happening at ~70 MPH,but this week it pulled the same stunt at idle. After leaving it alone for awhile,it always comes back on. If you look underhood when this happens,you can see that the compressor clutch does not engage,and the blower does not activate.

 

I've never had luck with the diy ac stuff. To be done properly the system should be completely vacuumed down before recharging. The good thing about taking to a place that has an ac machine is that it can also tell if there is a leak or not, whether or not it can hold the vacuum. The bad part is your gonna have to take it back to the shop to do that compressor properly. I'd just let them do the whole job as hard as that sounds for a guy like yourself

 

Sounds like it could be a control/electrical issue. If they evacuated the system they should have let it hold a vacuum for at least 30 minutes to make sure there aren't any leaks before they refilled it.

You can check your low pressure switch since it doesn't sound like you have a proper set of gauges. The switch is probably only two pins on your car. If there is continuity between the pins then the switch is closed and it is telling the system it has sufficient pressure to engage the clutch. If it is open then either the switch is bad or the system does not have a sufficient charge. If that checks out then you need to check the connector on the clutch coil to see if it is getting 12V. If the pressure switch is closed, but you aren't getting 12V at the clutch with the system turned on then you either have a wiring or control issue. If the switch is closed and you are getting 12V at the clutch and it will not engage then you likely have a bad clutch coil.

From the sounds of it with the fan blower working intermittently with the A/C my guess is it is a control issue somewhere in the dash.

 

Good ideas. I wish I knew where that switch was. The shop manuals from Ford aren't big on wiring diagrams.