Hey everyone, Looking for some advice on what the culprit could be behind these issues: The motor is the original Ford 292 V-8 in a 1960 F-100. Im bringing this thing back to life slowly and ran into some snags: 1. A high-pitched whistle (like a tea kettle) when engine is running. The sound seems to quiet down when I apply the throttle, but never really goes away. Ive heard it could be a bad generator, an exhaust leak, something with the carb, all sorts of things. 2. I removed a 1/2" spacer between the carb (2-bbl Holley) and the stock intake manifold. Since Ive done this the engine backfires out of the carb under throttle. I tried adjusting the mixture screws to no avail. Would this spacer, with no vacuum lines attached or anything, be the cause for this? Thanks for the help and if there is any other information needed in order to solve the puzzle, let me know.
I would check for inlet manifold leak. You could try squirt something like carb cleaner around the intake ports. See if the sound goes away. Though it is hard to get underneath. Great motor, persevere with it.
could you have damaged the vac advance tube? it would explain the whistle and the lack of timing advance could cause the back-firing.block off the vac advance port at the carb and test run....fingers crossed!
if a vacuum leak is small enough, the engine will still idle,... And, it can give you the whistle serenade you're getting. The fact of it "getting quieter" under acceleration verifies the vacuum leak. it doesn't take much, to get some of that noise going. A glazed, and / or loose belt, gives it's tell tale , usually quite loud, squeal when opening the throttle. Ditto, go with the carb cleaner squirting around the carb base / intake gaskets. You'll know in an instant, where the problem is. 4TTRUK
Ill try all of the methods everyone offered up tomorrow and keep you guys posted. It sure beats me scratching my head and using every four-letter word in the book to solve the puzzle.
These motors HAD vacuum leakage problems . I have always taken the intake to a competent machinist and had the intake planed. scrubba
Maybe the carb base is a little warped, with the insulator in place it didn't matter. We used to run a file across the bases to flatten them, or at least check. Also used 2 gaskets on a lot of them. And yes the yblocks had some vacuum problems. Jack
Sounds like a Carb issue. Call or take it too Contra Costa Carb - 1930 Arnold Industrial Place, Unit C, Steve Callander, Owner • (925) 687-1872 • Steve@ContraCostaCarb.com Great guy, even better turn around. He rebuilt my Motorcraft 2100 2v in about 20 hours. 280 bucks. Truck runs like a Champ now! Runs great, but hard to look at lol.
While it sounds your problem is a vacuum leak.When any engine dont run idle properly you need to check out everything. First thing Do a compression test. check that the vacuum advance is working properly. are the bushings worn in the distributer. are the points good and properly set and timing set. Grab the front pulley and move it back & forth is there a lot of slack in the timing chain. I just fixed a 454 chevy it wouldnt idle ran like **** kicked back on the starter and broke the starter drive. turned out the mechanical advance was frozen and the timing chain really loose. It was a el cheapo roller chain. I replaced it with a stock link belt timing set. ran like a champ afterwards. anyway do a compression check It dont require spending any money. And If you have a valve compression problem all the rebuilt carbs ect are not going to help. Hook a vacuum gage to the intake. One other thing many Y blocks have a vacuum pump on the fuel pump to supply the wipers. if that diapragm is bad it will cause problems. also Y blocks have solid lifters they need to be adjusted properly. IF I had your car here I could have the problem diagonosed in less than a hour. There was this farmer had the engine in a Mack truck rebuilt twice. It never ran properly. They brought it to me and I quickly found the camshaft was badly worn. There isnt a piece of cast iron in the world that can fool you unless you let it.
Heck I could rebuild a whole engine in 20 hours. You will never learn anything paying someone else to solve your problems. Buy a kit and a new power valve a can of carb cleaner and tackle it yourself. Then you can take pride in being self reliant & having know how.
Did you have the whistle before you removed the spacer? Why did you remoVe the spacer? the intake has a exhaust crossover under the carb. that insulator is to keep the heat from the carb so the fuel dont boil in the carb bowl .
In my case it was a customized carb, which I couldnt even identify, modification made to it and I lost patience with it. Only part Ive sent out.
UPDATE: 1. Generator burnt out so I pulled it and am having it rebuilt. 2. Old distributor cap was cracked and moving so it's been replaced. 3. Spark plug wire was completely severed. Didn't catch it since it was in the back and Ive never seen a SP wire completely broken in half. It's been replaced. 4. The screeching sound turned out to be at the intake manifold by one of the front bolts. Tightened it all up, but it still has the vac leak, so Im working on scoring a fresh intake manifold. 5. The backfiring might be in part because of the vac leak at the manifold, so Ill post an update about it soon. If anyone has an extra intake for a 292 w/ a 2bbl carb, let me know! Thanks.
55Ford, how's the truck in your picture coming along? Hopefully both our trucks will be cruising the roads of Concord soon enough.
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