I have a 429 Ford in a 60 ford wagon with cam, alum intake,1"spacer, roller rockers,holly 750. ran hard until i had a recent valve job and fixed vacuum leak, this car used to smoke the tires from a dead stop 100 feet now ten feet then no power and would backfire at 2500 rpm I blew out the fuel line put on new fuel pump changed diaphram in carb also weeker spring for vacuum secondaries. timing set and vac advance works. acts like its 200 hp instead of 365 it did quit backfiring after blowing out fuel line. sugestions to look at or thing to try
Back to the basics. Was the valve job done right? -- Check compression. Was the engine put back together right? -- Check firing order. How long did it sit while the valve job was being done? Could there be water in your tank that separated out the ethanol from the gas? Isn't all gas in MN now with ethanol (spoken as a former minnesotan)? Did a fuel line get kinked in the process? I had a 460 that ran like absolute **** until I bumped the timimng up a bit. Just a few thoughts. Good luck with it!
How old is the timing set in this engine? Does it have a plastic-coated, or steel cam gear? Is this a SCJ engine with solid lifters? If this is a hydraulic lifter engine, were the valve stem lengths corrected for amount of material removed from valve seats, and or heads, during machining process?
firing order good I run non ethanol premium checked fuel lines. and bumped timing up to 16 initial 36 total stock distributor has been reworked for mec advance only also does not run like ****. idles good with lope from large cam just has no power have not done a compression test yet
new timing set i can only hope that the heads were done correctly has hyd lifters and adj roller rockers
New timing set is problem. Ford put 8* retard in sets in early '70's for smog. You probably had early set before change.
no it ran good before the valve job. also I have a very high lift cam that I run at 4 degree retard other wise it backfires through carb I guess Im going to have to go in the garage and check compression
You may want to check your mechanical vacuum springs, they may be to light now since you had a vacuum leak. Also check with the shop that did the valve job to make sure they set the spring rates to your cam specs and you said you have a high lift cam. You might want to check valve to piston clearance you might hitting.
I don't mean to sound like an untrusting ****head but... Reputable shop? Are they still the same heads you gave him? Bigger comb. chambers would lower compression and then power. Some early 429 heads are valued parts but I won't begin to tell you which those are, I don't know, others here do. Barring that I'm going with the timing gear placement too. A little off changes EVERYTHING.
I'm not familiar with 429s specifically but when my buddies fire new motors they end in my yard for the same reason and here's how I get them running right........ What style of lifter & adjuster does this engine use? They're adjustable like a SBC, correct? Not a small ford style bolt-n-go pedestal? If they're adjustable, get it warm, pull a valve cover, set the lifters with it idling. Back til it clicks, tighten til it stops, then 1/2 turn more. If they're not adjustable, were your heads milled when rebuilt? If so you may need to verify pushrod length. (it's a longshot but worth eyeballing) You also mentioned changing timing. Hit the streets with a distributor wrench and road time the ***** with some WOT runs. Pretend they never invented a timing light. Now come home and put the light on it and see where it ended. This tells you a lot about the timing marks accuracy and if something sketchy is revealed time for a piston stop and further investigation. Holleys and power valves.......I've never seen a naturally aspirated car blow one, and have had some nasty motors sneeze real hard. I've seen 20 year old dried out power valves crack. But in my 2 decades of messing with holleys and taking in all manner of buddies tuning problems....never seen a "blown" power valve. Put that out of your mind, it's more urban legend than tuning tip. Cover all that? Still running like a pooch? Looks like phil1934 hit the nail on the head about year to year timing set differences. Good luck
It sounds like you may have a few valves too tight. Agreed on setting timing by WOT runs, old balancers slip, then timing with a light is impossible. You mentioned the vacuum advance is working but is the mechanical? Tried a different ECM?
distributer has been changed to mech advance only It is the original balancer so Ill try the wot and see what happens my thought on the valves to tight is that it wouldn't idle or ruff idle this car ran strong and the only thing was the valve job to get hardend seats
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