Firstly, yes, I used the search function extensively.
So, new head on the 65 Mustang convertible. It's a later model head, with a 1.75" bore. I had Mike at CI send me an adapter for my 1.5" bore Pony Carbs 1100. The carburetor is less than a year old. I am running a DUI distributor. New head is on because the old one ran out of machining room. It's a better head, in any case.
Me and my real mechanic buddy installed the head and valve train. I had not done an extensive level or research on setting valve lash, because, frankly, I considered it out of my capabilities. I entrusted it to him, as he's an old school guy. The car started, roughly. We attempted to dial idle and mixture in as well as possible. Initial timing was 12. DUI is curved to 24, making for 36 with the boot in it. It just never idled very well at all. It stalled, surged, and didn't run well at all.
We played the available settings on the carb, which didn't do much. It didn't respond a ton to any changes in hot idle settings. Choke worked okay. It responded to idle mixture changes. We took the air horn off and cleaned the idle circuit as good as we could. These measures did not fix the rough idle. No vacuum leaks, either.
Since the car/carb had been sitting for a few months waiting on the purchase/delivery/machining/installing of the head, I figured it needed a good cleaning. There is an excellent local carb shop (Hobbs Carburetors for those folks in MA and NH). Hobbs cleaned the carb and mentioned only that the float setting had been off slightly.
Installed carb, no apparent change in idle. My mech and I decided that it must be valve lash. So, this morning, using the Classic Inlines procedures, we set valve lash. The problem we encountered during this is that no matter how hard we pushed down on the push rods, it didn't seem to take all of the slack out of the hydraulic lifters. We would tighten the rocker down until the pushrod could no longer be turned, add a 1/4 turn, and then the rod seemed to loosen up. In any case, we finished the procedure specified, put it all back together, and started it. The idle is a bit better, but not what I would have expected, given the amount of effort, clean carb, no vacuum leaks, etc.
Is there anything glaring, or small, that I'm missing?
thanks, and apologies for the length of the post.
MrM
So, new head on the 65 Mustang convertible. It's a later model head, with a 1.75" bore. I had Mike at CI send me an adapter for my 1.5" bore Pony Carbs 1100. The carburetor is less than a year old. I am running a DUI distributor. New head is on because the old one ran out of machining room. It's a better head, in any case.
Me and my real mechanic buddy installed the head and valve train. I had not done an extensive level or research on setting valve lash, because, frankly, I considered it out of my capabilities. I entrusted it to him, as he's an old school guy. The car started, roughly. We attempted to dial idle and mixture in as well as possible. Initial timing was 12. DUI is curved to 24, making for 36 with the boot in it. It just never idled very well at all. It stalled, surged, and didn't run well at all.
We played the available settings on the carb, which didn't do much. It didn't respond a ton to any changes in hot idle settings. Choke worked okay. It responded to idle mixture changes. We took the air horn off and cleaned the idle circuit as good as we could. These measures did not fix the rough idle. No vacuum leaks, either.
Since the car/carb had been sitting for a few months waiting on the purchase/delivery/machining/installing of the head, I figured it needed a good cleaning. There is an excellent local carb shop (Hobbs Carburetors for those folks in MA and NH). Hobbs cleaned the carb and mentioned only that the float setting had been off slightly.
Installed carb, no apparent change in idle. My mech and I decided that it must be valve lash. So, this morning, using the Classic Inlines procedures, we set valve lash. The problem we encountered during this is that no matter how hard we pushed down on the push rods, it didn't seem to take all of the slack out of the hydraulic lifters. We would tighten the rocker down until the pushrod could no longer be turned, add a 1/4 turn, and then the rod seemed to loosen up. In any case, we finished the procedure specified, put it all back together, and started it. The idle is a bit better, but not what I would have expected, given the amount of effort, clean carb, no vacuum leaks, etc.
Is there anything glaring, or small, that I'm missing?
thanks, and apologies for the length of the post.
MrM