Its out to get clean!!

[my 390]

Great progress Jarrod. Its coming along really well

[JT_1994]

It's been a very long time since the last update now, so I figure it must be about time or another...

Since finishing Yr.12 I have had time to paint the engine bay and check the motor, before finally putting it back in with the help of a friend.. We lifted it up and dropped it back in on Tuesday and connected the transmission and engine mounts, after two trips to the hardware store for some bolts... Which may or may not have been sheared off during re-installation due to a "misunderstanding" between the bolt, torque wrench and myself. We also took off the rusty, old exhaust system, which practically fell off because of how badly rusted it was.

I have already started trying to work out what goes where already and have successfully found some of the parts, but I still need to track down a few more nuts and bolts to mount some of the accessories as well as the new chrome export brace and shock tower mounts I bought.. Thanks to a dodgy keeper within the shock tower one of the bolts had to be sacrificed so we could maneuver the whole thing to free the old brace..

Other than that the only thing that will be happening soon is the head will be coming off once more for a thorough soaking in brake cleaner, under advisement of a friend, once that's happened I can focus my frustration attention toward the 2BBL Holley I bought as a replacement for the 1BBL.. Which should be fun because the hoses are all in different spots and the old carb has an electronic choke, whereas the "new" (second hand) one has a manual choke..

Now the fun begins.. Finding Reconnecting everything...


Shouldn't be too long before it's done and ready for an exhaust, Dad wants his shed back! 

[66 Hertz]

good work, keep it up

[mwizz]

Good to read it is coming along nicely

[my 390]

Good to see you are on the job.  All good things take time.   We are living only a few blocks from you for a while so I will message after the holidays to take a peek.   Ta. Dale

[JT_1994]

Found some old photos today..

Before...


After...

(I will be getting a new chrome air cleaner once I find one that will fit.)

The engine bay is still a bit of a mess, with all the wires and hoses going everywhere..
Now that I have an old photo, I will be able to re-run some of the hoses and wires to get them out of the way like they were before.
It has gone and come back from the exhaust shop and it sounds 1,000,000 times better, it's a custom 2.25" dual system with extractors and some bling up the back (tips) and it sounds just like a V8 now!

[mwizz]

Nice 

[68Coupe]

Looks great -  a huge improvement. A chrome air filter will finish it off nicely. 

[Ash]

Nice, JT 

Do you think you'd be able to put up a sound clip of the new exhaust?  My 200 has no note what so ever. Would love to hear your 6cyl.

[JT_1994]

Thanks everyone! 

Do you think you'd be able to put up a sound clip of the new exhaust?  My 200 has no note what so ever. Would love to hear your 6cyl.

Perhaps when I get it running more reliably, because at the moment it's a bit hit and miss wether or not it will shut down when the key is turned.

It has been running-on quite badly lately and tonight, when I turned the key nothing happened at all, it kept running as normal, with the key in the "off" position so I had to cover the carby because it was the only way I could shut it off.

[j1autotech]

Top work... 

It's amazing what bit of a polish clean and paint will do.

J1

[JT_1994]

!!!BAD NEWS!!!

There is a SERIOUS, INTERMITTENT electrical fault somewhere in the ignition system...

Basically what happened was that when I got home last night after replaced the bearings and axle seals (at a friends place), I turned the key and it kept running, with full electrical current running through the system (as if I had just started it, or not turned the key).

To shut it off, I had to cover the carby with a plastic bag so the air would not get in and keep it running (because the butterfly wouldn't close enough to stop the air feeding in).
Evidently, this was a bad idea, because it only stopped the engine and the electrics were still running....
So with the current running through the ignition system all night, the coil inevitably overheated and blew. Spewing oil all over everything in the immediate vicinity and leaving the smell of burning all over the place.


I will admit, I did know there was a problem, I just didn't know how to fix it and whenever it would run the starter continuously (while turning the engine over), even after turning the key back to "on" or "off", turning it back to start and then back again would always make it stop... This time, it didn't and it's cost me my ignition coil and cleaning cloth, which sacrificed itself to clean the mess inside the engine bay....


Anyway.. I have now disconnected the battery (which was sitting on 0.12V, fortunately it is now making a speedy recovery on the bench) and taken out what remains of the ignition coil..

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's an essay.    

[ANGZ66]

JT, is it the starter solenoid?
That is a typical fault with them.
Even new ones can do it.
Roger.

[JT_1994]

JT, is it the starter solenoid?
That is a typical fault with them.
Even new ones can do it.
Roger.

I don't know what it is yet, I had work today so I haven't had time to look at it..
Although I am getting very sick of these electrical faults... They are very frustrating...

[JT_1994]

After calling the auto electrician I have been advised to get a new ignition switch, unfortunately he cannot get over to sort out the problems until June, which is ok because it will be at the panel shop as of Monday anyway..

So, I got to work getting the dash apart and the old switch out, only to find the replacement does not match..
So when I get it back from the panel shop (in about 3 weeks), I'll also get the auto elec. redo the wiring so I can use the new switch as finding a matching one has proved to be quite difficult. Very little on the car is original, most of it has been replaced with mix and match parts from various model Falcons..

I also got the deluxe door mouldings I needed to install my new door panels and I spent yesterday afternoon and a little of this afternoon putting them in, after finally getting them to work properly, here is the before / after.

Before:



After:



I think it looks really good and finishes the interior quite nicely.. Aesthetically at least..
All that's left to do in there is the wiring under the dash (which is why the instrument cluster isn't in properly) and the seat belts, then it's all mechanical and body work for a RWC.

It needs a good wash and then on Monday it will be going to the panel shop, where they will be fixing up the all the paint work (a few touch-ups and respraying the fenders, headlight buckets and rocker panels and taking out the "FORD" badges out of the hood. I am also toying with the idea of taking out the "MUSTANG" on the boot lid, but I've not decided yet..)
They will also be putting the hood scoop on (after painting it) and installing the hood pins, which are mostly for aesthetics, but the hood wobbling at high speeds is a little unnerving and it can't hurt to have a safety feature that looks good too! 
Once it comes back from the panel shop I will be getting an auto elec. over to go through the ignition wiring and the instrument wiring to sort out the problems I've been having.
After that, it's ready for 3pt seat belts, a new front bumper, a bit of fine tuning of the carby (to sort out the running on) and a roadworthy check.. Then, eventually... Rego and a good, long cruise!

When I get it back from the panel shop I will post some pics of the new paintwork.
Unfortunately it will be going there (and more than likely coming home) on a truck, at least it'll look better than new!

[shaunp]

The hood shouldn't wobble, you dont have it adjusted correctly, it has the clamp down hard on the rubber bump stops, or they are worn out.

[JT_1994]

I have adjusted it. I'm not sure wobble is the right word..
The hood just just flexes a bit more than I might like to see at high speed..
Again though, the hood pins are mostly for aesthetics. 

[JT_1994]

For the next few weeks not much is going to be happening, as it turns out the panel shop is having an extension to their workshop done this week and I have exams approaching, so we have decided to push the work back another week so they don't have to push the car in and out of the workshop and they can just leave it in there to work on it..

This means I have a week to see if I can get it running..
I have done a bit of looking around and it seems the previous owner swapped the ignition switch out to a 68 / 69 switch..
At least now I know what I need to get it to start.... Hopefully!

If it's not the switch and there's no visible damage to the wires, what else can I look at?
I heard the solenoids often play up, what can I test there?
The only thing I did to is was when I took the wires off it when I hid the wiring harness under the fenders, but I labelled each one of them carefully and have triple checked they are all in the correct spot again..


But this is where I really need some advice!

As I have previously mentioned, it's been running on quite badly for anything up to about 15 seconds (which feels a lot more like a minute or two) before finally cutting out.
I have noticed however that it only wants to run on when it's been running for about 5+ minutes, anything less than that when it doesn't get to operating temperature and it doesn't seem to happen as frequently or at all!

The carby has been sitting on the shelf for about 2 years while the engine was out, so I am certain it's tuning has slipped, and that's before I've been messing with it.
I've tried resetting the curb idle speed, idle speed and fuel mixture with some basic (and generic to "single barrel carburettors") instructions I found online so they weren't particularly useful, although it did get it running marginally better.
The automatic choke is not working as there is no pipe to the extractors to operate it, which of course doesn't help..

I know I haven't got the carby tuned properly and it has been running like a dog at idle, although out on the road it seems to run better.
I'm almost certain it's the mixture that is doing it, because I've had a timing light on it and the timing is now set properly (almost perfect actually!) and while I did swap out the spark plugs, they were matched to the old ones perfectly. It's running regular unleaded.. Which was what it had before I took the engine out and all the problems arose. 

It's only a little 1BBL Holley and I can't find much on how to tune it properly because everyone swaps to a 2BBL (350 or 500CFM), is there anyone who can offer some good advice on how to get it tuned back to stock settings so it stops running on?
Can anyone recommend a workshop that will be willing and is able to tune it properly, do a roadworthy check and do any remedial work then give it a roadworthy?
Someone on the north-west side of Melbourne is preferable.

It's good to know at least that everything that has gone wrong is because of something I did!
It means it shouldn't be too hard to figure out and it also means it's not something that has gone horribly wrong!
I'm sure when I do I'll be kicking myself I didn't find it sooner!

[shaunp]

So it is definatly running on ie dieseling after you turn it off when there is no spark? if this is the case it is lean, or idleing too fast. so look for air leaks etc. This is common on hi compresion engines with low octane fuel as well, they run too hot in the chamber. Make sure the timing is right. A test for running on is to floor it just after you kill the key, and it should just stop.. then as it getts so much air, this is what you do with old MGs etc.

[JT_1994]

So it is definatly running on ie dieseling after you turn it off when there is no spark? if this is the case it is lean, or idleing too fast. so look for air leaks etc. This is common on hi compresion engines with low octane fuel as well, they run too hot in the chamber. Make sure the timing is right. A test for running on is to floor it just after you kill the key, and it should just stop.. then as it getts so much air, this is what you do with old MGs etc.

Yes, it is definitely dieseling on..
I have spoken to a friend who is fairly competent with engines (he's doing a mechanical engineering degree), he and his dad are both fairly mechanically-minded and have always worked on old(er) cars and they both said the same thing about flooring it while it was running on.
I did it, but it didn't seem to do anything.. So I have just been turning the key back to 'on' (to provide spark) and get it running normally again, before I suffocate it by covering the carby to cut the air supply.

The rubber ring the goes under the air cleaner (between the carby's throat and the base of the air cleaner) has split through and would be letting a bit of air in without it passing through the cleaner's snorkel (and then the filter)..
Could that be a culprit?

Keeping in mind I have been fiddling with the carby's settings, I would've thought it would be unlikely as it would still have to pass through the butterflies anyway and I'm almost certain it was split before I took the engine out anyway.

It's a standard motor and would have pretty low compression and there are no modifications to enhance the performance other than the exhaust.
If nothing else works, would running the half tank or so of regular fuel that it has out and putting in something with a higher octane solve the problem?

What other solutions are there?

[shaunp]

It's not the air cleaner seal that is on the wrong side of the carb, the leak has to be below the carb, Does it still do it with 98 octane fuel? ignition could be retarded making it run hot as well. Stale or low octane fuel will cause it. Drain the tank try some 98

[JT_1994]

I swapped the carby / intake gasket when putting the engine back it, it shouldn't be that one..
Being an early Ford 6, the intake is integrated into the head so there are no gaskets to worry about, there is only a vacuum hose for the brake master cylinder but it's sealed nicely and is on properly..

I haven't run anything but regular in it, even before I took the engine out (almost 2 years ago) it was running regular.
It still has about half a tank or so, when it runs down I'll fill it with 98 and see if it makes a difference.

I thought older engines (with lower compression) needed lower octane fuels run better?

[shaunp]

I swapped the carby / intake gasket when putting the engine back it, it shouldn't be that one..
Being an early Ford 6, the intake is integrated into the head so there are no gaskets to worry about, there is only a vacuum hose for the brake master cylinder but it's sealed nicely and is on properly..

I haven't run anything but regular in it, even before I took the engine out (almost 2 years ago) it was running regular.
It still has about half a tank or so, when it runs down I'll fill it with 98 and see if it makes a difference.

I thought older engines (with lower compression) needed lower octane fuels run better?

Who say they are low compression Falcons were over 9:1, a rebore and a face off the head and you have more. Old iron heads hold heat unlike alloy ones, you could have leak in the brake booster, or distibutor, vac advance. Are the plugs the correct heat range.

[JT_1994]

I had to take the brake booster apart because I dropped the plug in it and the only way to get it out was to undo the screw and take the ring off to split into the two pieces, but it's all back together tight and the brakes work really well still.

The engine hasn't been rebuilt at all, apart from what I've done to it which was just replacing some accessories.
It's got dish top pistons and a standard bore and the head doesn't look to have been milled much, if at all.

I was told by a machinist when I took the 2v head I bought to get it reco-ed that they would've had low-ish compression.
He bought it up when he noticed it had a lot of the deck surface taken off and the oil and water passages didn't have little wells in them like the log head (the one that is currently on there)..
We suspect it had warped and then been milled and then it possibly a second time and was then re-milled, resulting in a massive crack and the spark plug hole moving a few millimetres inward to compensate. (It was a trashed head..)

When we took the vacuum advance hose off it was blocked off at one end, we took the screw out to unblock it so it worked properly, but surely that little amount of air getting through wouldn't enough to ruin the mixture to the point where it runs on?

[shaunp]

Then it's lean, retarded or the fuel is crap, or all of the above, how fast does it idle 600rpm?