351W Running Issues

[ledzilla]

Ok, so yeah, I was a putz. Forgot to re-torque the nuts on the carb. But new problems arose. I had to jump start it because somehow the battery was drained, but it started up somewhat easily. I let it sit and run at high idle to hhelp recharge the battery. After some time, though, smoke started coming from the enginend bay. Not sure where it was all coming from, but some appeared to be coming from around the spark plug for cylinder #1. I shut it off and then heard dripping water, saw coolant dripping down up front. Took a closer look and found that the lower radiator hose had popped off. Didn't even see the clamp. I'm thinking that the clamp may have been badly corroded and fell off, and the pressure from the hot coolant popped off the hose.

I went to do a crank test just to make sure the block didn't warp enough to seize. But there was barely any power in the battery to crank. So it looks like I also need a new battery. I have a new jug of coolant on hand, so I'm hoping I have some distilled water and clamp on hand, too. Regrettably, the battery was one I pulled from my LTD wagon because it needs some attention, and I have no extra batteries available.

At least on the plus side it's running well.

 

[ledzilla]

The saga continues.

I picked up a junkyard battery, but after one or two drives it stopped holding a charge. Got it swapped out for a nearly new battery and that's been a big improvement.

However, I've been having trouble with the carb mounting nuts staying torqued. I torqu them into place, the engine runs great for one or two outings, and then it's running terribly again. Torque, drive, repeat. So, I went to just pull the nuts, apply LockTite (blue), and then torque them down again. Well, it turns out that one of the nuts is completely seized onto the stud, and it's u too high to properly tighten onto the carb base. So, I have new studs now on order.

 

[Tiha]

Frustrating isn't it. Hurry up then have to wait for parts again.

Nice work though. It will pay off.

 

[ledzilla]

Frustrating isn't it. Hurry up then have to wait for parts again.

Nice work though. It will pay off.

Hehe, oh yeah.

The fun part now is that I have to take some measurements and order some different hardware. I dropped too much hardware from the existing installation for the carb, but I'm thinking no biggie, I have the new studs and hardware. Wrong. The washers and flanged nuts won't fit on the rear studs. Not enough room between the stud and back of the carb. So I have to measure what diameter washer will actually fit back there and also order some non-flanged 5/16-24 nuts because all I have on hand are 5/16-18 nuts.

On the plus side, though, the ~1" spacers I made from washers to raise up the throttle cable bracket are working wonderfully. Crossing my fingers that this actually solves the sticking fast idle problem.

 

[ledzilla]

OK, so the problem was just me being a dummy and not accounting for the taller studs I ordered having a little less clearance near their tops. I got it all figured out and torqued down with thread locker, and then I also installed jam nuts with thread locker. It all seems to be holding in place fairly well. Went driving around a bunch and it's mostly behaving. It doesn't like going full throttle but that's likely a result of adding nearly an inch between the carb and manifold, so I probably just need to change the jets to resolve that.

The next step for now is to chase down what appears to be an electrical gremlin draining the battery. Going to make sure the battery is fully charged and then start some testing with my trusty multimeter.