First Test Drive: Very dissapointing.

[TheDude]

I drove to a gas station which was five minutes away and had no problems. I drove through a development so I did not go above 25mph. I filled up with 93 octane and turned the key...nothing...not even one click. Tried to start it in neutral but that did not help.

When the Mustang left me stranded in public before it was at a basketball court not far away from the above mentioned gas station. An elderly gentlemen with a device that allowed him to speak (Put the device to your throat...I do not know what they are called though helped me out that day.

Oddly, that same man was at the gas station today and noticed that once again I was in trouble. He told me to put my headlights on to see if the system had juice. The headlights worked and the horn worked. I got a tire iron out of the trunk (I had tools with me 8) ); the long type with only one size. He tapped the starter motor a little but that did not help either. Still no clicks when I turned the key. He told me I would have to call someone. I thanked him once again and he left. Perhaps I will see him again when the Mustang is in trouble. Okay...if that happens again I would be freaked out.

I beat the starter motor again and maybe that helped because the Mustang fired right up. As I pulled out of the station, the acceleration was VERY poor. It was worse than when I first got the Mustang with a 1bbl carb and stock exhaust. I am bummed out and its to hot to start troubleshooting. I am sweating just typing this post. I did check the timing when I got home. It is accurate. I guess I either have a lean mixture or a rich mixture.

 

[Anonymous]

the problem that you might be having with it not starting could be your starter relay switch, i had problems with mine, but mine clicked, i was lucky i just pushed started mine for a couple weeks.

 

[weeds]

I had a similar problem once. Fought the gremlin for a couple of weeks. Replaced the relay and had a starter on order. It turned out to be corroded wire at the battery.

I always overlook the simple stuff.

 

[hasa68mustang]

Mine did the same a while ago when I went to McDonalds... I got my food came back got in the car went to start and nothing, we tapped the starter, and I called my dad, he got in it and he looked at it and used the screwdriver to started sylinoid trick and I drove it to work. He met me there and got in and put the shift selector inbetween neutral and reverse and it started. It turns out I needed a neutral safety switch. I also never mentioned that it wouldnt start in neutral but it wouldnt. Hope that helps! Tommy

(I just read the last part of your post so this probably won't help you... oh well)

 

[rickwrench]

The old column safety switch contacts always wore out. I don't think I've ever been in an original, unrestored, automatic falcon or mustang, that I didn't have to jiggle the column shifter to get it to start. The relay won't click in this case. Before my T5 conversions, in both of my wagons, the start procedure was: Insert and turn the key all the way over to start position, pull the shifter down to engage the starter.
Lots of little electrical problems can kill and engine. My favorite is the choke wire being connected to the coil. Invariably, the wire will come loose from the choke, flop around in the fan wash until it grounds the coil and kills the motor. Battery cable ends always corrode/wear out, too. The cable between the relay and starter also gets hot, brittle and goes bad over time.
Rick(wrench)

 

[Anonymous]

I have had two ignition switches go out on my Mustang. The plastic back of the switch started separating from the front. So the contacts inside were not making a connection. It was intermittant for a while. The last switch was intermittant until it separated too far, and the key kept turning past the normal start position.
As far as doggy performance:
Since you just installed the new carb, another thing to confirm would be to see if you are getting full range of motion on the throttle plates. Have someone step on the pedal, open the choke butterfly and look in the carb to see if the throttle plates are openning fully.

As far as timing being correct, have you verified the top dead center position on the dampener and the #1 piston? The dampener's ring could have slipped.
Doug

 

[TheDude]

Yes, I did make sure the throttle plates open completely.

As far as timing being correct, have you verified the top dead center position on the dampaner and the #1 piston? The dampener's ring could have slipped.

As far as that goes, I do not know how to do that. I will have to look in my shop manual.

It ran pretty smooth at idle but when I put it in gear and tried to accelerate it sounded almost as if the engine was missing.

 

[Anonymous]

As far as timing being correct, have you verified the top dead center position on the dampaner and the #1 piston? The dampener's ring could have slipped.

As far as that goes, I do not know how to do that. I will have to look in my shop manual.

It ran pretty smooth at idle but when I put it in gear and tried to accelerate it sounded almost as if the engine was missing.

one way you could check to see if the #1 piston is at tdc is take out the spark plug and get a screwdriver, put the screwdriver in the hole and rotate the crankshaft till you feel the piston with the scredriver reach up as high as it will go, you'll feel the piston start to go back down, just turn the cranck the other way
or you could just shine a flashlight down the hole and look

 

[TheDude]

I took out the #1 spark plug and shined a flashlight down the hole. I do see the piston.

I increased the fuel mixture but that did nothing. I took it out for a short test drive down the road and it stalled in under a minute. It started right back up but as soon as I accelerated the engine seemed to miss and bog down. I need help! I have a hot date this Saturday and it would be nice to take the Mustang out.

 

[ludwig]

Go to your local old-timey garage and have the resident geezer look at it. I have found this to be a solution for some nagging problems that my pea brain was incapable of solving, like getting the stock alignment right and dead-nuts tuning before I fiddled around some more.

 

[gtm1086]

For the starting issue double check to make sure your battery connections are clean and tight. This also goes for your ground connection at the engine block. If you have not recently replaced your starter solenoid you may want to. Also depending on how old the starter is you may want to have it checked. A weak or shorted armature will cause a no start when they get hot.

As for the running issue. Several things come to mind. Timing. Is your timing advancing when you give it throttle? You can check this using a timing light. When you give it throttle you should see your timing advance. What is your base timing? Sometimes you maybe better off by just advancing your timing and listen to your motor. Set it to were it runs the best. Then go test drive if it does not ping then leave it alone. Do you have a vacuum leak? What is your manifold vacuum?
Is your choke stuck or set to rich that is assuming you have an automatic choke. Are you sure you petronics ignition is working properly? Do you still have your old one-barrel carb to put back on? If you do put it back on now if the motor runs fine you can go back to finding out what’s wrong with the new carb.

Gary

 

[Greg]

Where in PA are you?

 

[TheDude]

Go to your local old-timey garage and have the resident geezer look at it. I have found this to be a solution for some nagging problems that my pea brain was incapable of solving, like getting the stock alignment right and dead-nuts tuning before I fiddled around some more.

My ex-girlfriend's father (the guy who helped me tune the first 2bbl carb) should be coming over this week to check out the tuning.

For the starting issue double check to make sure your battery connections are clean and tight. This also goes for your ground connection at the engine block. If you have not recently replaced your starter solenoid you may want to. Also depending on how old the starter is you may want to have it checked. A weak or shorted armature will cause a no start when they get hot.

As for the running issue. Several things come to mind. Timing. Is your timing advancing when you give it throttle? You can check this using a timing light. When you give it throttle you should see your timing advance. What is your base timing? Sometimes you maybe better off by just advancing your timing and listen to your motor. Set it to were it runs the best. Then go test drive if it does not ping then leave it alone. Do you have a vacuum leak? What is your manifold vacuum?
Is your choke stuck or set to rich that is assuming you have an automatic choke. Are you sure you petronics ignition is working properly? Do you still have your old one-barrel carb to put back on? If you do put it back on now if the motor runs fine you can go back to finding out what’s wrong with the new carb.

Thanks for the suggestions Gary. I will see what I can rule out.

Where in PA are you?

I am in South East PA, near Pottstown.