Hey guy and gals maybe I have lost the touch as I cannot get this engine to run, Heads rebuilt with hardened seats, new valve guides and a couple new valves. Crank was turned to 10 under and put in new bearings crank and rod. Pistons are stock and all I did was cleaned up the bore and used new rings, camshaft is stock original and push rods are original, lifters are new. Carb is an Edelbrock and ignition is stock points. Starts up fine but will not idle if I rev it up it will respond nice then begin to go ragged and if I do not take my foot out of it it will snort and die. Keep my foot on the gas but back down a bit seem to clean up but then goes ragged lots of noise out the pipes nothing popping in the carb. New fuel pump and have 80psi oil pressure. Darn just got done doing a v6 and a 302 and it was a success but this 390 is giving me fits. Thanks Jim
If a bunch has been milled off the heads,shorter pushrods will be needed.sounds like a valve(s) is open.ford makes them in .060 shorter just for this problem.
check vacuum, the intake manifold may not be seating. make sure the dowl pins on the lifter valley are lined up and in the manifold.
The heads were milled to five thousandths to level them out which should not have had an effect on the valves, I at first thought it was a valve floating but it seems like either a vacumn leak or a fuel problem. Cannot keep it running long enough to spray around the carb base so I think I will remove the carb and put a thicker gasket under it to take up any slop.
Removed the carb and the spacer had a big gap on the backside where the egr? would be as the gasket did not cover the bottom of the spacer, putdown some silicone and left off the gasket then the spacer and gasket and the carb. Will idle now but I do notice a lot of tappet noise so in the morning I will remove the tappet cover and try to figure out why all the rattling coming from within. There is less then 30 min on this engine so it might be possible the lifters are not pumped up.
the heads had new seats put in and a couple of exh valves I also had the heads shaved five thou to get them flat along with new lifters. Would this be enough to mess up my push rod length? I can turn the pushrods with my fingers if that means anything. Jim
Just some random thoughts: 1. You're sure the distributor and timing is set correctly? 2. How are you setting timing? FE's like your '62 are notorious for the crankshaft damper shifting due to deteriorating rubber, meaning if you're using a timing light your timing marks may be off enough to create a rough/out-of-time problem. There are some good posts on VTCI's website if your search its archives for timing by using a vacuum gauge. This might help narrow things down. 3. Does your car use the draft tube out the back of the intake manifold that runs down along the back side of the engine, or does it have a fitting with a hose nipple for use with the original PCV system? Is the original PCV system there, which connects that hose nipple on the back of the intake to the nipple on the back-center side of the carb spacer? 4. You're sure the replacement valves match specs for the OEM valves in terms of length? Had to ask. 5. Can you narrow down which lifters are making the noise? 6. When spark plug wires were reinstalled did you remember to cross the #7/8 wires (rear-most cylinders on the driver's side) at the plug comb? This is a must-do for FE's due to the firing order - if you didn't cross these wires (this is shown in the T-bird and other Ford/Mercury shop manuals related to the FE, BTW) there could be a misfire between them.
1. yes 2. light and ear, ear works the best 3. It did have the draft tube but am changing over to pcv 4. Had to replace two exh valves 5. This is hard, I am going to make up a set of wires so I can short them out. 6. I always cross the wires due to induction.
Run it with the valve covers off and you'll likely spot your problem. I bought a 60 F-100 with a 62 FE for nearly nothing- the owner gave up in frustration for the same reasons you experienced- wouldn't idle and made bad sounds. He installed the carb spacer wrong, resulting in a giant vacuum leak. Since it would only run at 4,000 rpm he bent a bunch of pushrods and knocked 2 lifters apart. The "bad" engine was fixed for about $20 in about 45 minutes. I did get a $2,500 discount off his asking price towards a new engine so it all worked out. He also said it had a bad fuel leak and needed a new "fuel system" He installed his new fuel pump reusing the 45 year old gasket.
Got it fixed, I had to take the rockerarms apart and flush em, never gave it a second though as it did not rattle before I took it apart, darn thing was full of old crude and was pluging the oil holes. Runs like a champ now.
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