O.k. - Here goes nothing.
Had to drive the 6 all week because F150 was in the shop. Performed
flawlessly all week. Left it out in the rain one night because I had to stay
at work and witness a 350 cubic yard concrete placement. Anyway, it started
right up the next day with a little choke for a minute or two as it always
does. Leaving from work, there were a few collegues looking to be impressed so
I gap it a little and take first up to about 6000 rpm which for me is also
quite a common practice. Two minutes later there was a miss, then another then
the engine wants to cut out at lights. I limp it home feathering the choke to
keep it running and I see that the fuel filter is very empty, even though the
tank is full. I suspect the pump, get and install a replacement with no change
in the symptoms. The symptoms, BTW, are unusually inconsistent - the car never
wants to start and when it does, it's only with the choke fully on. It'll run
somewhat O.K like this for anywhere from a minute to 10 minutes and then just
cut out. Sometimes there is a backfire from my SU's but the bowls are full and
the float needles are clean and operational. Testing each and every one of the
plug wires suggests that all plugs are getting ample consistent spark from the
MSD 6A. No broken valve springs and compression is 155-165 across all 6
cylinders (head is shaved). Timing is another issue - never my forte, I can
get the engine to remain running by rotating the dizzy all the way to the right
and disconnecting the vacuum retard. It was running rally badly when I
discovered the dizzy changes things - lots of black and blue smoke, an obvious
miss from one or more cylinders and a knock then seemed to come from the motor
and the exhaust. Speaking of the exhaust, the sound is terrible and sound like
I am running an open pipe. Checking the timing once the dizzy was rotated to
the right with the retard disconnected showed 4 ATDC. Attaching the retart
puts it about 12 ATDC.
HELP PLEASE - spent the whole day with nothing to show (except for the timing
epifany).
Cheers,
Geoff Parker
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