F-engine first time start-up....almost. (1 Viewer)

[Matt1260]

After dropping everything in and putting the underside together, the time has come at last to fire her up.

eventually I'll figure it out but i'm sure people out there can make this more efficient. The first few turns revealed to me and the entire neighborhood that the distributor was 180 degrees off as fuel filled the cylinders and backfired with a super loud, ear ringing bang. After sorting out the timing I have it set by the book at 7 degrees BTDC (the BB). The distributor is pointing in the right direction, more or less. I fed the carb a little fuel and got her rumbling a little and it wants to start, but it's not quite turning over.

I'm pretty sure i have the ignition coil wired correctly, but wondering if the carb reservoir needs to be full (til I can see it through the view port?) or if the cut off solenoid is activated or deactivated with power. I'll take any hints... Will be trying again tomorrow.

 

[C6H12O6]

Pulling for you. That motor is an inspiration. Would love to come check things out sometime.

 

[Vossie]

did it sound anything like this?:


if yes, all mine took was just some playing around with the dizzy to time her in

 

[73FJ40]

It looks to me like your + coil wire is connected to the starter motor side of the starter solenoid. If so, power to the coil goes away once the starter solenoid is de-energized.

When I test fired my F Engine (exact situation you are in) I used alligator clips to supply power to the carburetor solenoid, and to the + terminal on the coil, and then another to the flat-tab male connector (bare terminal at 9:00 in your pic) on the starter solenoid for momentary contact to run the starter. Alligator clips to be quickly removed (yanked) in case of unanticipated 'flare ups'. All of these temporary power supplies get disconnected the moment you decide to abort attempted starts or shut downs, just like turning the ignition key to "off".

My air cleaner horn was removed, so I could splash some fuel into the throat of the carb, and have someone hold the choke closed and be able to maneuver the throttle linkage until it started to fire.

Other things to consider:

My OEM coil, for my '73 F engine, needs an external ballast resistor for continuous running. I don't know about your coil.

I would definitely put a hose clamp on the fuel line entering the carburetor. Once the engine fires up, the pressure from the fuel pump will increase and combined with engine vibration, (see the note above about 'flare ups.)

Also, when running, the air flow from the radiator fan will tend to blow oil mist out of the valve train, particularly since there will be a desire to 'race' the engine when it starts. I would install the valve cover with gasket in place as well.

It looks like a new distributor; did you double-check the points gap? Regarding timing, while cranking I turned the dizzy back and forth (more forth than back!) until it fired up.

Good luck!

 

[thebigredrocker]

You probably know this but I'll mention it just in case. Make sure you prime your oil pump. One way to check prime is pull your oil sender, coil wire and crank engine til oil squirts out the sender hole. I let the fuel run into a bucket while doing this, perhaps overkill. This method ensures your dissy is properly engaging the oil pump.

I see a bolt missing on the carb, just above your fuel inlet.

When you apply 12v to the idle fuel cutoff soleniod, a magnet retracts the brass plunger needle. This allows fuel to flow to the idle circuit. You should hear it click when juice is applied.

You should be able to see fuel in your sight glass whether the idle solenoid is hooked up properly or not. It will obviously take some extra engine revolutions to prime the fuel pump.

 

[Matt1260]

Everything is primed, and she fired up today! The solenoid (+) was connected to the wrong part of the starter.
Now on to the timing and carb adjustment....
Can't get a good idle without it dying and the engine/exhaust wants to heat up and smoke everywhere. Either the fuel is too rich, or the timing is off or both, but the carb doesn't have a fuel/air mix screw that I can tell... anyone know the correct idle RPM for these engines off-hand? If I can get it to idle, I can work on the timing better. I understand from some research that advancing the timing on this to something like 12 degrees was better than the factory 7 degrees BTDC.. Also this distributor is a vacuum advance which some say don't bother with...

 

[sadam_husain]

Can't get a good idle without it dying and the engine/exhaust wants to heat up and smoke everywhere

congrats on getting the engine started up mate its not unusual for anything that gets hot to smoke a bit after a rebuild as it burns paint, oil, residue etc off, if the timing is retarded too much your exhaust manifold and exhaust will get really hot and if its retarded enough it'll glow red

 

[Matt1260]

points gap set correctly at .031"

 

[Matt1260]

congrats on getting the engine started up mate its not unusual for anything that gets hot to smoke a bit after a rebuild as it burns paint, oil, residue etc off, if the timing is retarded too much your exhaust manifold and exhaust will get really hot and if its retarded enough it'll glow red

View attachment 1471060

wow

 

[crimsonaudio]

Sorry I can't help, but that motor looks awesome!

 

[73FJ40]

points gap set correctly at .031"

It appears you may not be consulting a Factory Service Manual (FSM) regarding how to perform standard adjustments.

For instance, the "points gap" set at .031" seems to be the spark plug gap (0.8 mm) from the FSM. Typical points gap is almost half of that.

 

[thebigredrocker]

Arrow pointing to Air/fuel mix screw
Very carefully screw it in until you feel it bottom out. Then back it out 3 turns. If you use too much force when bottoming it out you'll gouge the brass tip.

 

[C6H12O6]

The hood sticker on my '74 says: IDLE SPEED 650 R.P.M. MAN. IN "N" under the Engine Tuneup Specifications. Also says 7° B.T.C. at Idle Speed and lists an idle mixture setting of "CO 1-3% (Lean Best Idle)"

 

[thebigredrocker]

Looks like you've got a good vac advance dissy and the proper ported vac connection. I would stick with 7 degree timing for now.

Here's a good thread on your carb adjustment screws in which FJ40Jim chimes. His advice is trustworthy. Note: he says back your air/fuel mix screw 4 turns initially.
Carburetor Blues

 

[thebigredrocker]

Back the idle mix screw (#1) out 4 or 5 turns to get a decent idle. Adjust the idle speed screw (hidden on back side of carb) to get the desired idle speed. If it will idle at 6-700RPM, then turn in idle mix screw until idle speed starts to drop, turn back out to achieve peak/smoothest idle.
If it will not idle correctly, then it likely is running too lean due to:
-manifold vacuum leak
-plugged carb idle passage
-warped carb body &/or air horn.

HTH

 

[Matt1260]

so setting the points gap to .031" didn't work. Had to eyeball the gap as it turned with trial and error. Engine is just about idling... once the timing is dialed in that might be it. Gotta charge the battery now.

 

[Walkerm916]

Trying and trying to turn the engine till it starts sounds a lot like what I was doing on mine. I had to get a new dist. So I opted to go with a DUI. I hope you get it running soon.

 

[Matt1260]

The hood sticker on my '74 says: IDLE SPEED 650 R.P.M. MAN. IN "N" under the Engine Tuneup Specifications. Also says 7° B.T.C. at Idle Speed and lists an idle mixture setting of "CO 1-3% (Lean Best Idle)"

Can I see a picture of this sticker? I'd like to get a reproduction of it...

 

[Matt1260]

It appears you may not be consulting a Factory Service Manual (FSM) regarding how to perform standard adjustments.

For instance, the "points gap" set at .031" seems to be the spark plug gap (0.8 mm) from the FSM. Typical points gap is almost half of that.

Oops, I was using the Haynes manual and confused the "electrode gap" with the "breaker points" gap. That helps.

 

[Matt1260]

has anyone adjusted valves on these while running it? This engine (supposedly) had a "cold" valve adjustment at SOR but I'm wondering if I'm going to need to do a "warm" valve adjustment.