Time for an update. I wanted to wait until I felt I'd got this engine dialed in right to bother with updating this
build thread. This engine has been a strong runner but as you may know I fought a pinging issue from the beginning:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=76005&p=585212#p585212
Well I finally solved it for good. I tried retarding the timing, using manifold vacuum. I limited the vacuum advance with a screw and probably more. All of those in different combinations. All worked ok but none were ideal. What I found was that I simply had too much mechanical advance for my combo. Iirc, the smaller mech advance slot was a 15L. So with 12 deg initial and 30 mechanical I was @ 42 degrees and with any additional vac advance, no matter how low it would be higher. That was all fine and dandy until I was under any kind of load. Add to that the AOD not shifting right and the whole thing was quite a pita to tune the ping out.
You may remember the AOD was shifting right through 1 and 2 and into 3rd too early, it was also shifting into OD to soon. It didn't matter how much I tightened up the TV cable, it just did the same thing but shifted harder. Well after about 2000 mile it started to loosen up and shift great. It shifts just right now, uses all gears and get's into OD at 55 and won't get into OD at 35-40. It could down shift a little sooner when coming to a turn or stop but it's pretty good. The only problem with the trans now is the torque convert stalls to low for the little six. More on that later.
Back to the timing issue. I finally got around to pulling the distributor out and removing the weights. Then I welded up the 15L slot a little bit on the far side and then filed it to the size of a 13L slot. I didn't change Bills timing curve otherwise or mess with the springs or tabs. This gave me 26 deg mech. I set the initial to 11 degrees to start for 37 deg total possible. Unfortunately I don't have a dial back timing light to get all the actual specs, what it is and when it is all in for sure. I hooked the vacuum advance back to ported vacuum and adjusted the canister all the way in(max advance rate). This was a couple of months ago. I've been driving it ever since in all conditions, loads ect and it's running better than ever. No hint of ping or detonation in any gear even OD after having to slow down in traffic then climb a hill back up to 60+ with full throttle. It will hold OD down to 30 or so depending on how you are driving or the situation, even less sometimes so it's a pretty good test on a steep hill. Plenty of torque to break the drive wheel loose if you pound it in first
Next is try and up the initial to
at least 12 and see how that goes, then try and lower the octane to mid grade and see if it's all good and go from there.
Other things that have happened is I swapped the RBS to a Chinese YFA:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=77352&p=595341#p595341 It's still on there and running pretty well, good cold starts, economy is ok, could be better. I'm getting 14 mpg around town. I know it's a little rich but if I adjust the metering rod any leaner it has what I will call a "low speed cruising stumble" iow you can feel it missing fuel in short bits as you cruise at 25-30. All in all I'm very happy with this carb though.
That last thing I need to address is the torque converter. I don't know what engine this trans came from other than a V8 Econoline. I got it from an old guy in town who was going to install it in his 50's F100 but changed his mind and he wasn't sure which V8. I suspect it is the "mid-stall" converter b/c it has F-44 written on it. That is the code Oregon Performance Transmission(OPT) uses for that converter. At the time I was putting all this together Xtasy told me there was a V6 version that was higher stall and mentioned the # F-47. Unfortunately at the time I couldn't find one anywhere. All of the auto parts houses only list the low stall and the mid stall(sometimes they call it high stall but it isn't), and on the mfr sites they only list those 2 in all the catalogs I searched and a search of f-47 didn't help either. Well X was right, of course. After I got this van on the road I kept searching b/c I could tell when stopped in gear there is to much load on the engine. And I found
OPT and that they had all 3 converters listed and their code for the V6 high stall is F-47. Well for less than $5 more they sell a "heavy duty" version of all 3 with brazed turbine and better bearings. Needless to say, I bought the HD version. Supposedly it is slightly higher stall, hopefully that doesn't cause any issues for me. It's rated at 2000-2400 and the other is 2000-2200 i think. I've got it in hand but haven't gotten around to installing it yet. I'll update the thread after it goes in service. Fyi, the issue is when stopped in gear the engine idle suffers. I can set the idle very low and it won't die or buck in gear, but it's not right and I want it right. Often I'll shift into N at a light to keep it smooth.
Here's the TC I got to install:
https://www.oregonperformancetransmission.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ORE-76-2T-10
Other things are I switched to synthetic oil on the last change @ around 3500 miles. It's @ 4600 now.