All Small Six Help! Did I just screw up my new build?

[Frank]

But what if you’re rear’s don’t lock up and there is more braking power still left in them BEFORE they lock up? You will never know without being able to adjust.

If the pedal is mashed hard enough, wheels are going to slide. If all 4 slide simultaneously there is no more braking power, and no need for changing the pressure front to rear. . . or so it seems to me, but I've never had a sports car or tested the limit of my braking ability (intentionally) so I'll step back quiet now.

 

[DON]

If the pedal is mashed hard enough, wheels are going to slide. If all 4 slide simultaneously there is no more braking power, and no need for changing the pressure front to rear.

True!
All I’m saying is if they don’t.
Also if you upgrade wheel cylinder in the rear like I did, one could have max braking with less pedal pressure. Which would take adjusting for max braking.
60’s vintage brake systems are pretty primitive compared to today’s systems, they can be easily upgraded but upgrades to the entire system help. Adjustable brake balance is just one factor.
I like to keep the corners square on brakes and tires

 

[Otto]

@Otto thank you for the suggestion!
Would it be easier to remove fenders for door adjustment? I don’t think I can reach door hinge bolts with the door closed lol
I was thinking to put the door, try it, remove, adjust…and repeat. But seems like it might be a very long process, especially that I had to put new door hinges

No need to remove fenders. If Mustangs are like Falcons, the hinges bolt to the body from the inside out, so you'll have to remove the kick panel but the bolts should be easily accessed. Sometimes there will be paint marks or other clues as to where the hinges were located. Just get close to those marks as a starting point and adjust from there. If you have better marks to go by on the body, maybe try bolting hinges to the body first and then door to hinges. Or the opposite if there are better marks on the door.
Just be careful the door is not too far forward to start- so you don't catch the fender edge. If you remove the striker from the jamb, it should go pretty quickly. Just be careful to not chip anything and you should be fine.
UAW workers did this in seconds!

Edit: I just looked at the photos you posted close up and the hinges are bolted to the body from the outside; forget what I said! Falcons and Mustangs are not always the same! I have a special 1/2" wrench for hinge work like this, but it's not impossible without it.
In your case, I would bolt the hinges to the body first matching up where the old hinges attached closely (maybe slightly rearward so you don't catch the fender). Leave the bolts snug but less than fully tight so you can move them around once the door is attached and adjust from there. Once you get it perfect, fully tighten and re-install and adjust the striker.

 

[WillingnessLimp]

@Otto I ended up getting S-style wrenches to get to the bolts on the frame. Gosh that was pain in the ass to adjust those doors....Lined them up okay, but when I installed the striker, the door wouldn't completely go flush with the back fender (without striker it was nicely lined up). I think I need to move front part a bit outward to make the back part move in more. But I'm afraid that then I'll catch front fender. Another option I see is to elongate the holes for striker bolts, so I can push it more towards "inside" the car.

 

[WillingnessLimp]

I think I went a little off topic in this thread with those doors lol

I might need some more suggestions from you guys.
So I put everything back together in the engine (new adjustable rocker arm assembly and new replacement carb from Redline Weber). Adjusted rockers to zero lash plus 3/4 of a turn.
Carb was set up to idle screws 1.5 turns out with following jets per Redline:
Mains 145
Air corrects 170
Idle 55
E/t F50
70 double pump

Was trying to start the car yesterday and completely failed - at the beginning it was trying to start, but at the end of the day just didn't want to start. I think I ended up flooding the engine.
Decided to check the compression with new rockers. Removed all spark plugs and when I was checking compression on the first cylinder, cylinder #6 just spat up a bunch of gas from spark plug hole lol. So yeah, flooded....
Compression was good:
1st - 175
2nd - 170
3rd - 165
4th - 170
5th - 160
6th - 170
So I assume that kinda scratched possible problem with valve adjustments?

Checked the battery - was at 49% charged, so got it charged overnight.
Was trying to start it again today (after letting it air out some of the gas from the engine). It started briefly, but kept dying on me - had to hold acceleration to keep it running. Eventually it died again (when I let it go). After that, wouldn't start again.
Car ran before with faulty carb (dumping too mush fuel) and regular rocker arm.
Spark plugs are fairly fresh (maybe 40-50 miles on them).
Ignition was roughly set to 8-10 degrees advance.
Distributor gets power and I removed spark plug wire and checked that there is spark while cranking.

I'm a out of possible options what to check/do now. Not a fuel delivery problem, as it definitely gets gas in.
My options are: my DUI distributor is not giving full spark (Dyno Module?) or try to put back my non adjustable rocker arm assembly and try starting it again. Maybe I did mess up something with the valve adjustments....

Anyway, any suggestion or direction to move forward would be greatly appreciated!

 

[awasson]

I think I went a little off topic in this thread with those doors lol

I might need some more suggestions from you guys.
So I put everything back together in the engine (new adjustable rocker arm assembly and new replacement carb from Redline Weber). Adjusted rockers to zero lash plus 3/4 of a turn.
Carb was set up to idle screws 1.5 turns out with following jets per Redline:
Mains 145
Air corrects 170
Idle 55
E/t F50
70 double pump

Was trying to start the car yesterday and completely failed - at the beginning it was trying to start, but at the end of the day just didn't want to start. I think I ended up flooding the engine.
Decided to check the compression with new rockers. Removed all spark plugs and when I was checking compression on the first cylinder, cylinder #6 just spat up a bunch of gas from spark plug hole lol. So yeah, flooded....
Compression was good:
1st - 175
2nd - 170
3rd - 165
4th - 170
5th - 160
6th - 170
So I assume that kinda scratched possible problem with valve adjustments?

Checked the battery - was at 49% charged, so got it charged overnight.
Was trying to start it again today (after letting it air out some of the gas from the engine). It started briefly, but kept dying on me - had to hold acceleration to keep it running. Eventually it died again (when I let it go). After that, wouldn't start again.
Car ran before with faulty carb (dumping too mush fuel) and regular rocker arm.
Spark plugs are fairly fresh (maybe 40-50 miles on them).
Ignition was roughly set to 8-10 degrees advance.
Distributor gets power and I removed spark plug wire and checked that there is spark while cranking.

I'm a out of possible options what to check/do now. Not a fuel delivery problem, as it definitely gets gas in.
My options are: my DUI distributor is not giving full spark (Dyno Module?) or try to put back my non adjustable rocker arm assembly and try starting it again. Maybe I did mess up something with the valve adjustments....

Anyway, any suggestion or direction to move forward would be greatly appreciated!

In my experience, the only difference between the non adjustable rockers and the adjustable ones is that given the option to have adjustable rockers, the non-adjustable ones are a step backwards, so don’t do that.

This is a just a hunch but my suspicion is that you have over torqued the adjustments on the rocker arms. You don’t want to set lifter preload on lifters that have not been pumped up. Cold, compression appears to be good but it might be that as soon as you get some oil pressure, the lifters pump up and valves might not be sealing.

My process would be as follows:

1) I would pull the spark plugs and spin up the engine to get the fuel out of the cylinders. Dry off the plugs if they’re fuel soaked.

2) I would back my lifter preload by at least half to 3/4 of a turn.

3) See if you can get it to run.

Let it get to temperature and hopefully it runs and idles. If so, listen to the lifters. If they’re noisy, give them 1/4 of a turn. I set mine in 3 sessions until I had them at 3/4 of a turn but my lifters were never left long enough to not be pumped up and I always adjusted them when it was hot.

Keep up posted.