Major tuning problems -too much vac. advance???

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My old worn out 170 I just pulled ran fairly well- idle was a bit rough and it had that typical autolite 1100 hesitation at part throttle going down the road. Once I put my 200 in 2 weeks ago (rebuilt with about 1k miles on it- I did not run/drive it before I bought it ) everything got worse- I figured it was due to the carb being too small for the engine. Idle was still a bit rough, and there was that same hesitation but also what felt like a misfire or “surgingâ€￾ when going down the road at about 2,000 rpm or lightly accelerating at that speed.

Last week, thinking it might be the 200 distributor (dual vac. advance with only one hooked up) I put the distributor from my 170 in the 200- a remanufactured single vac/centrifugal advance unit for a ’68 mustang. I had no change in performance. (I had it timed at 14deg. of initial advance, with about 36 deg. of total advance at about 3500rpm with no misfire when I had it in my 170 ) I figured the problem was the small 170carb with the 1.5 opening not giving enough air/fuel to the big log head with the 1.75 opening.

Last night I put on my new remanufactured Carter YF for a 200. After tuning idle speed and mixture, the idle was the smoothest I’ve ever seen on either of the engines, and the exhaust note quieter and smoother as well- not that ugly “spittingâ€￾ sound. When I hit the road, the hesitation when accelerating part throttle was gone but the misfire was much worse- now at about 1500 rpm, most noticeable at low speeds in 2nd gear holding steady at about 20mph the car really misfires. . I don’t feel the hesitation much at all cruising at higher rpms, going up a hill, or accelerating full throttle.

When I hold the engine at high idle (maybe 1500-2000 rpm) it misfires- as I retard the timing it gets smoother. However, by the time I retard timing enough for the misfire to go away, my initial timing is down to 0 deg. BTDC, if not slightly retarded, and off-line performance is lousy as well as idle, and the exhaust note is awful.

Checked timing again this morning-
14deg intitial, misfire beginning at 1500 rpm with 48 deg total advance, 56 deg. total at 2500 rpm

0 deg. initial, no or very little misfire, 44deg. total at 2500rpm

10deg initial (factory setting), misfire at 1700 rpm with 42 deg. advance, 50 total advance at 2500 rpm. This is what I left it at for the moment – the car has tons of low end now, and better idle, but still has surging/misfire cruising at about 2000rpm. If I hit the gas, it accelerates smoothly, though.. It seems there is much more advance with the carter YF over the 1100 – but why?

I’ve put the timing light on each of the plug wires at the rpm where the misfire occurs, and don’t see a misfire there. Could this problem be with the Carter YF pulling too much vacuum, another internal carb problem (like being too lean), as well as something else causing the misfire? I have not played with the cent./vac. Advance settings as I’ve never done that and don’t want to cause more problems, and besides this distributor is intended for the 200 anyhow.

All plugs are uniform- whitish –tan tip with a tiny bit of carbon fouling at the base so maybe it’s a bit lean (drove less than 10 miles last night) I’m running no air filter with the YF at the moment as the old housing does not fit. I’m using the same fuel pump, plugs (.035 gap) flamethrower coil, points (.025 gap), 38 deg. dwell, plug wires, and generator off my 170 as well, so could it be an internal problem with the engine? I can’t find any vacuum leaks. Gas mileage is much worse than the 170, but that could be due to the larger displacement and that it's not broken in yet as well as whatever else is going on.

I don’t want to drive it much with fear of damage to my new engine- please help- Sedanman's in distress! :lol:

Thanks,
Thor
 
What would I look at in the points? They are adjusted correctly. Again, fuel pump, distributor, and all other ignition parts were on my 170 before this without this problem- If feel like it's the engine itself. I'll replace the fuel filter and check the points again.

What would a bad condensor do?

I'm still concerned about the advance- isn't 42 deg. total advance at only 1700 rpm a bit much with the stock initial setting of 10 btdc? With the noisy exhuast leak (to be fixed next week - no headers available right now :cry: )I cannot tell if it's detonating under acceleration

Thor
 
Yes, it's a little high. As we fix things down here (OTC exchanges being highly uncommon and good used parts in short supply), here's where I would look.

Check the vacuum source. Hook in a vacuum gauge and low speed (diagnostic) tacho; note the readings at various RPM up to 4500 (in 500 RPM steps from factory idle). There should be a noticeable diminution.

Similarly, note your total advance at these points, with and without vacuum. Compare to factory specs. You've now got three sets of data per RPM reading. Check the timing again as you let the revs down.

If the mechanical-only advance reading is coming in way too soon, you are in charge of a faulty distributor. Either the return springs are worn, or the counterweight pivot posts are worn.

Should neither of these suggestions prove the case, you have also timing chain slop and drive gear mesh to consider. How much can you turn the balancer before your rotor button moves at all? How far can you turn it back (degrees) before it moves the other way? Halve that amount for your potential error in timing.

Next: Distributor breaker cam wear - common enough, also scarring of the cam causing points flutter. Set your timing with a dwell meter - this is far superior to points gapping, especially with a worn distributor. A condenser is only a couple of bob, and an easy swap-in. I will generalise to say that even 3K RPM is comparatively low speed operation and shouldn't promulgate the type of issues common with seriously high RPM. In other words, coil/leads/cap won't fail at 3500 if OK at 500, but may show problems at 7K (another story).

Anyhow, that should get you started! Get it fixed and you can take your room mate parking. :twisted:
 
I don't know, but your misfire, and how/when it occurs, sure sounds like a lean cruise condition. I would try increasing the main jet a size or two and see if that helps. Don't know what else to suggest. :?
 
Double check to make sure the advance line going to the carb is hooked to the correct port.
 
I think I at least found part of the problem- just what I thought it was in the beginning. But first, because I found it only after following Addo’s suggestions (thanks, mate! :) ) the test results;

First thing I did was bypass the fuel filter- no change. With 12 deg. initial advance and the vacuum advance hooked up, Vac. Gauge reading at the intake log was about 19cm or 48in. all the way from 1,000 rpm up to 3000 rpm (this gauge has two series of numbers on the dial - cm. of mercury and inches of mercury, I’m not sure which one to go by so I'm posting both numbers). Total timing advance was 50deg. by only 1500 rpm, 58 at 2,000 (this is when the misfire gets bad), 59 at 2500, and my timing light stops there. (I don’t know how to check timing by dwell meter as he suggested, although the dwell meter on my shop tach shows dwell is correct) I did not go to higher rpms as there was no benefit in it, and my engine is just rebuilt so I’m taking it easy on it.

I then unhooked the vacuum advance; 12deg at 1000 rpm (21cm/50in. of vac), 18deg at 1500 rpm 18cm/46in. vac.), 27.5deg. advance at 2000rpm (18/46 vac. from here on up in rpm range), and 30 deg. advance from 2500 rpm as well as at 3000 rpm.

I then thought maybe I was suppossed to hook the vacuum gauge to the dist. vacuum port on the carb (I only see one) for this test instead of manifold vacuum, so I redid the test again in case that's what Addo meant. Vacuum readings with no dist. vacuum advance were zero until 1000rpm, 14cm / 36in. at 1500rpm, 20.5cm / 52in at 2000, 21.5cm / 54in at 2500, and a hair back down to 21cm/ 52in at 3000 rpm.

Obviously, this shows I have too much vacuum advance- just what I suspected. As to why there is so about 30deg. more total advance than when this dist. was in the 170 with the autolite 1100, I do not understand. Total advance is in at about 1000 rpm earlier as well. I measured how much vacuum it takes to get total vac. advance.

At idle, it took 10cm/26in of air to advance total timing to 40 degrees with the vacuum pump. With the engine not running, looking at the distributor plate and mechanism with the cap off, it took 12cm/20in to advance it all the way until the plate stopped rotating. I don’t know if this matters- just thought I’d report my results.

So now what do I do? An article in Mustang and Fords in April 2004 (p. 56) says that you adjust vacuum advance by removing or adding shims against the return spring inside. I looked at it and do not know what they are talking about. What do I look for, and once I find it, and do I remove or replace shims?

When I remove or add shims, how do I know when I have the right amount?
And what does this say about my mechanical advance- is it about right, or should I have it re-curved?



Thor
 
Phil,

If I am indeed running too lean, would that have an effect on my timing advance problem? Since I don't have any other jets for a carter YF (have tons for 1100's though) I don't want to rush into drilling out my only jet if that's not the problem :wink:

Thor
 
Sedanman":1y74hca9 said:
. . I don’t feel the hesitation much at all cruising at higher rpms, going up a hill, or accelerating full throttle.Thanks,
Thor

This tells me that your plugs, wires, cap, rotor, coil, and points are good. Try unplugging the vacuum advance and see what happens. That sounds like a lot of advance to me.
Joe
 
I'm working on it right now. Had to write it out in tabulated form; you got the inches and centimetres reversed.
 
all I remember is the bigger numbers were on the inside of the dial, smaller (and I thought they were cm) on the outside, but I may have mixed 'em up. Exhaust fumes get to you after an hour or so.....
 
You've definitely got a venturi vacuum source there! It's proven by the vacuum increasing as airspeed through the carb rises.

You can also see between 1K and 1K5 RPM that the venturi vacuum goes from zero to 14", corresponding with the massive jump in timing of 12° to 50°.

In a sense, I see the carb as being at fault. The larger venturi means it's "nothing, nothing, still nothing...Wham!" as the airflow suddenly gets going. But this is no reason to change it or drill out jets. It's a matter of reducing the vacuum advance effect, as you surmised. Does yours have the allen head adjuster inside the hose fitting?

Or - quick and dirty - try a pinhole leak in the advance hose from your carb. On paper, it looks as though the best driving until fixed, would come with the vaccy unit not employed. Is that the case?
 
I personally would do that (in concert with a retarding of the vacuum effect), but popular opinion on this board sometimes seems to shout down manifold vacuum sourcing for the ignition. :?
 
Use ported only. If you use manifold vacuum, it will work backward. It will advance when throttle is closed and retard when it is opened.
 
Fairmont200":9pl9f102 said:
Use ported only. If you use manifold vacuum, it will work backward. It will advance when throttle is closed and retard when it is opened.

I think he has the wrong port. It should work fine with the proper vacuum port, but trying the manifold vacuum will guarantee that it is not on the wrong port, then he can accurately troubleshoot the vacuum advance module because properly ported vacuum behaves pretty much identical to manifold vacuum except at idle. Ford used ported vacuum to maintain hotter temps at idle for emission control purposes, with manifold vacuum you can get cooler idle less fuel consumption, plus some folks claim quicker throttle response. Just because Ford built it that way doesn't mean we have to leave it, look at all of the other things we modify :P

Addo,
I live quite a bit of my life OUTSIDE of popular opinion :lol:
Joe
 
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