Pulling my hair out, FE Probs. SHOULDA USED A SBC

This is why we make it a point whenever possible to dyno run (or at least break them in on the run-in stand) every complete motor we do. It lets the guys who know what they are doing catch any little issues along the way and take care of them before the customer has to 'help' out. It costs more to do it that way but its a win-win for everybody in the long run. Also, if the cam or timing set was off then the assembly guy dropped the ball as degreeing the cam is (or should be) pretty much mandatory. The last CompCam we put in a 455+ Olds we just did was off the mark by more than a little bit. We had to make our own dowel pin off-set bushings to get it where it was supposed to be. For a long time Comp was doing pretty good but we're starting to find little issues (and some not to small) here and there. ALWAYS check everything, everytime.

-Bigchief.

 

they guy that rebuilt my engine did not assemble it, I DID. its not his fault if i screwed up.

he is the one helping me figure it out though and is being very good about it. anything that is wrong with this engine is not his fault, all the machine work and head work was beautifully done.

i assembled it trying to save a few bucks, ive never degreed a cam in before and didnt have tools to do it, but i have never had an issue either untill now. Now i know i will have to degree everything i build.


The engine is in the guys shop now, i should know in a couple days i think how it went and how far if it was off.

i will keep everyone posted.

 

I would guess that the distributor is 1 tooth off. I had the same problem with a 302.

 

if the distributor was one tooth off, i could adjust the timing by moving the body of the distributor, i cant get it even close that way.

 

Has anyone suggested a stopped up fuel filter yet?

 

Ok update, and i feel totally stupid.

Cam originally was off one tooth, which i corrected myself. but since im retarded and found out i was reading the timing marks on the dampner wrong, it musta been ok. I was tring to make it run advanced, i was reading the marks on the damper backwards, what i thought was ATDC was BTDC, and vice versa. so thats why whenever it got near 0 it wouldent run, cause i was going the wrong direction. So heres me feeling like a dumbass and admitting it.

so im gonna put it back together, and with the Distributor off to bubba, it should be like a new machine.

turns out it is only off about 1 degree with the degree wheel on it.

im gonna get everything cleaned up and get it back together, i cant thank you all enough for all the input. i love this place.

this april a guy from watertown SD is coming up my direction with a chassis dyno.. so im gonna put it on it and see Shopping for a new Carb for it too, any reccomendations?
Aaron

 

Well, at least you got the balls to man up and admit it. We all learn from our mistakes, and sometimes from others too!
Update when you get the dist back and get it running again.

 

Way to go D! Glad to hear it wasn't a major catastrophe. You want embarassment? I have done probably 500 timing set jobs on FEs, and I was helping my son replace the original on the 352 with an aftermarket double roller set. The original has a spacer washer like a round horseshoe that goes in the cam retainer, and the aftermarket set is thicker to account for it so the spacer has to be removed. Guess what didn't get removed? Fired it and there was this gawdawful scraping at the front cover. Shut it down immediately, I knew what it was right away and I was walking one legged for ahile bcause I put my other foot where the sun doesn't shine I can't see well, but I should have remebered that darn thing was in there.

Fortunately no damage, but boy did I feel assey. My son still teases me about it once in awhile.

 

So it was off a tooth? One tooth is a big deal, I've heard of cars dynoing at my buddy's shop like 50 hp less.

 

Glad it turned out to be minor stuff. We've all been there one time or another that's how we learn. Your going to love your FE now.
The Wizzard

 

Glad you got it fixed!

You gotta listen to all the posts, even the ones you don't think matter. Like #13 -

The experienced guys have all done really dumdassed stunts, that's why they are experienced.

 

Glad you found your problem to be a minor one. As for carburetors, the best carburetor (in my opinion) for an FE is the 428CJ Holley. List #4174. Thousands of these carburetors were sold through Ford dealers for upgrades on 390's so they're pretty easy to find at swap meets.
FE's love to breathe, good heads and tube headers. If you're not going to drive in cooler temps, block the heat crossover if for nothing but to prevent vapor lock in the summer.
Get a PMGR starter. FE's are hell on starters.

my $.02

 

I was really looking at the Barry Grant Speed Demon 750, Vacuum Secondary with annular boosters. thats what there tech line reccomended.

any thoughts?

 

See i was pretty sure it was going the right way, its kinda backwards for me, all ive ever messed with is chevys...

 

Had a similar problem with a buddy's 67 cougar yesterday. He put a new carb on and hooked his vacuum advance to manifold vacuum instead of ported vacuum. just a thought.

 

haha. i should finish reading a thread before I post.

 

top man,thats been an awesome story,not so much fun for you I bet,but credit for taking the can,It was getting way technical out there!Yeh,I've done that sort of stuff...too many times.If there's 2 ways something will go you gotta pick the wrong one first.Feeling your releif,happy hotrodding

 

did you get the front of the car detailed like you wanted to? I have an FE and i am going to save this thread, a lot of help on here. Thanks everyone.

 

No,No, No !!! You did the right thing by finding your problem instead of going with a SBC!!!!! Glad you are on the home stretch now. I had similar problems with my 360 in my race car. Fortunately there is a guy locally in Sacramento calls himself FE Specialties who is a FE expert and he retimed it and painted new marks on the damper for me it ran sweet.One thing I found out with the Petronix, especially running a lot of high rpm's, keep a spare coil handy!!!! And use the highest rated ones too.

 

well belive it or not, i always had the best luck with a motocraft 4bbl on my fe's even on a blowen fe...

 

If you use the RIGHT coil, as rated Ohm wise and recommended by PerTronix, this is NOT a problem

 

It would work fine. The 750 is marginally bigger than the factory 735 used on the 428CJ/SCJ motors......Any of the the Demon, Holley, Quick Fuel versions of the 750 vacuum secondary will be plenty for your motor.

Bigchief.

 

And its a winner !!!!! Winner of the worse FE i have seen for a while. Dakota this thing is really sick. Will get er fixed this week but thought everyone would enjoy seeing this one for sure....

Un boxed the disctributor and put it on the tester and bang problem found right away. ( i kinda prefer them this way , as its pretty easy to fix the problem when you can see it)



At idle all eight cylinders fire ( some of the time) like this....



With a slight increase in rpm it looses a couple cylinders at random and they come and go all the way up the rpm band.......



And again at higher rpm.............



I will post more later as i degrease and take apart, check advance curve etc ....

 

Wow, well that might explain alot.

thanks again man..

 

That's a Pertronix for ya, that's why I call them junk! Duraspark much better, plus if you need any parts for it, any autoparts store should have them.

 

+1

 

Wow that is cool........

 

I'll put money that it's not the PerTronix causing that!

 

to hell with pertronix and duraspark, use an MSD, a winner every time, spend the money. Time after time I heve used the MSD and the owner says that their junk has never run as good as is does with the MSD. One guy owned his car 20+ years, all my cars get MSD .

 

there is NO pertronix in the Distributor he is testing! i put the points back in it.