I have been working on my friend's 32 Ford. I put an intake and 4 Stromberg 97 carburetors and intake. I got the carbs adjusted,runs great and plenty of vacuum. Now this is where the problem is: took it for a test drive engine sounds great. The problem it didn't want to shift or it shift late. My first thought transmission was slipping or vacuum module was bad. I disconnect the vacuum hose to the module and had gas in the line. Check transmission fluid didn't notice any gas smell,just fluid was really thin. There was more than hand of gas in the line. Drain the line and clean everything. Took for another test drive and there was a smaller amount of gas this time and transmission still slipped. Any suggestion?
I can't understand how gas got in your vacuum module line. What is the line plumbed to? You have to cure that first. I also can't see gas getting from the module into the transmission, even if the module was totally blown. The air pressure sucks out on the module, not blows into it. Blown modules cause tranny fluid to be sucked into the engine, not the other way around. What I think happened here is that your engine vacuum characteristics have been changed with 4 carbs on top. Open those eight throttles a bit and your vacuum drops to nothing. The transmission module (which was set to the old carburetor) thinks you're running at full throttle so it delays the shift until vacuum is restored. The module is adjustable. Take the hose off and insert a little screwdriver to adjust. Adjust it one turn at a time. Test drive it after each adjustment.
I have found out where the gas is coming from. I'm assuming I need to relocate the trans vacuum line. In the picture you can see where he has the vacuum line hooked up. There is no other place to hook the vacuum line to. Also I'm getting condensation on the back spacer. So do I need to remove the spacer. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
If gas is coming out of there, then you have something strange going on. That manifold port should be sucking into the engine, never blowing out, and never blowing out gasoline. Put a vacuum gauge on that port. Tell us what you find.
Full Vacuum about 15 to 20.The car has a adjustable fuel regulator could it be dumping too much fuel into the carbs.
Even if fuel was dumping from overpressure, I can't figure out how in the world it ends up in a vacuum line while the engine is sucking in air from that vacuum port. With vacuum like that, and the car running fairly well, I'd have to assume that the gas is getting in there when the engine is turned off. You could run it and then shut the engine down and remove a carb top to see if the bowls are emptying into the throats on shutdown. Quite a mystery you have there.
I have had 2 c4 that didn't shift right with flathead. You need the kick down to shift later to 2nd gear. I shift mine manual with Locker for best get away.
Here is what I found - After the car is shut off there is gas in the line. The car has a electric fuel pump. He has the fuel pressure regulator setting on 3 1/2. I check the fuel pressure before and after the regulator. It was both the same pressure (before and after). So this meant the regulator was fully open I'm thinking. With this setting there was gas in the vacuum line after car was shut off.So after some testing I cut the amount of fuel pressure after the regulator to about 1/2 to setting 2. Shut the car off and waited a little while and there didn't seem to be any fuel in the line. I'm going to change the module and transmission fluid. Then I will take it out for a ride and see what happens.I appreciate all the help. Also if anyone thinks this might have been the problem.I forgot to mention he is only running the two carbs. on the driver side - the other two are blocked off I don't think this would cause a problem.
Do the two blocked-off carbs have their fuel supply disconnected? The fuel pressure at 3.5 on both sides of the regulator doesn't necessary indicate a problem with the regulator-- it may just be a coincidence that they're both 3.5. Before changing the modulator and trans fluid (which I doubt is needed anyway) you need to cure the problem. Don't forget that tranny needs type F fluid which is getting rare and pretty expensive. I'd put a piece of clear vinyl hose on the vacuum line to see when this fuel is entering the line., as a matter of fact, I'd get a long piece of clear vinyl tubing and droop it down the side of the fender towards the ground. Any fuel entering will go to the bottom and you can see it travelling.
Great news - I did what you suggested. In the morning after setting overnight I started the car and there was gas in the clear vacuum line. So what I did I moved the blocking plates from the passenger side to the driver side. Now I'm using the carbs on the passenger side. Re-set the carbs and ran the car for awhile. Let it set overnight. Next morning started it and no gas in vacuum line. I went ahead and changed the transmission fluid and modulator. When draining the fluid a pin and spring fell out. I check with a friend- he said that pin and spring belong under the filter. It was a relief valve. He took the filter off - showed me where it went. He said it was possible when someone change the fluid they didn't get the pin in right or didn't hold the filter tight enough to hold the pin place. Anyway car is running great now and shifts fine. Thanks for all your help.
I don't remember such a spring-loaded pin in an early C4. The valve body has a pin, but it's not spring loaded and it resides between halves of the valve body. At any rate, it seems to be running and that's certainly a good thing.
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