RHicks5712
New member
Hello,
Hi. I'm Ryan. I'm new. I've lurked for awhile, just never signed up. Like your children, I'm only coming to you because I need something. My 223 will not start, it KIND OF does, but dies within a few seconds of sputtering. Every now and then, catches and runs great for 3 seconds.... then bogs out and dies.
Recently bought a 1964 F100 from about 500 miles away. 223, 4 spd, Autolite 1100 w/ manual choke. Ran fine, made it home w/ no hiccups, everything good until a few weeks back. Car died on me, fried points. Swapped em out. Good.
Due to that, I decided to go through and fix some reliability things. Get ahead of it. Plugs (.035) , cap, rotor, (NOT WIRES), points (Set to gap spec, not dwell) , condenser, dual belts, coil, starter solenoid, fuel filter and 30w oil. Adjusted valve lash to .017 cold. I know .019 is spec, however many on here had said on an older engine you can go up to .014. so I happily settled on .017. Changed out some parts on the carb. Float, seat, needle, diaphram, spark arrestor..... did not break down the accel pump.
Set the float correct, set the choke wrong, (new to car carbs) Mix screw was 2 turns out, bolted on carb and it fired up. Tinkered til I found out what felt right (Was set too rich) and set the timing after checking that the 0 on my balancer lined up with the #1 spot on the cap and rotor. Everything good. Set timing to -5. Re-adjusted the carb (again, rookie hour)
Drove it for 4 days, all was fine. Startup was tougher, more cranking and choked Idle was quite a bit off but Once warmed up and I opened the choke it ran better. Decent power compared to before. Then I get in it one day at work and fire it up, it idled poorly, and I drove it off without fully warming it up. Totally Rich. It died, so I Leaned it out and barely got it to Idle.... once it finally caught good, it warmed up and ran great. It was like it stumbled and barely idled, then all of the sudden a magic switch was thrown.
Now it wont even start. Took the carb apart, reset everything correctly (especially the choke), Changed the plugs out and they were COVERED. COVERED in black soot and oil. Rechecked the Dist/Compression/Crank timing, it on. Acts like it wants to start but doesnt. Backfired once. A real weak backfire. Sounded like a black cat. Ive probably tried cranking it 50 times. Its started maybe 8 of those times. The longest its ran is 5-10 seconds, and sounds good when it does. Specifically does not want to run with choke opened. Its like its getting too much gas, but you cant smell it like a flooded engine. As the hood is open I can see mist/vapor exiting the valve cover while I crank. Not always. Fuel pump works, tested disconnected.... squirts fuel pretty well. Has Spark at Coil, At plugs, and the negative on the coil blinks (Points indicator). All of this leads me to the carb... which is surgically clean. And set properly. Compression seems super low... I can turn the engine with the fan and Medium effort. So if my engine is shot, I guess its shot... but how would it run smoothly for 10 seconds at a time if it's so shot that it wont start?
Suggestions?
Hi. I'm Ryan. I'm new. I've lurked for awhile, just never signed up. Like your children, I'm only coming to you because I need something. My 223 will not start, it KIND OF does, but dies within a few seconds of sputtering. Every now and then, catches and runs great for 3 seconds.... then bogs out and dies.
Recently bought a 1964 F100 from about 500 miles away. 223, 4 spd, Autolite 1100 w/ manual choke. Ran fine, made it home w/ no hiccups, everything good until a few weeks back. Car died on me, fried points. Swapped em out. Good.
Due to that, I decided to go through and fix some reliability things. Get ahead of it. Plugs (.035) , cap, rotor, (NOT WIRES), points (Set to gap spec, not dwell) , condenser, dual belts, coil, starter solenoid, fuel filter and 30w oil. Adjusted valve lash to .017 cold. I know .019 is spec, however many on here had said on an older engine you can go up to .014. so I happily settled on .017. Changed out some parts on the carb. Float, seat, needle, diaphram, spark arrestor..... did not break down the accel pump.
Set the float correct, set the choke wrong, (new to car carbs) Mix screw was 2 turns out, bolted on carb and it fired up. Tinkered til I found out what felt right (Was set too rich) and set the timing after checking that the 0 on my balancer lined up with the #1 spot on the cap and rotor. Everything good. Set timing to -5. Re-adjusted the carb (again, rookie hour)
Drove it for 4 days, all was fine. Startup was tougher, more cranking and choked Idle was quite a bit off but Once warmed up and I opened the choke it ran better. Decent power compared to before. Then I get in it one day at work and fire it up, it idled poorly, and I drove it off without fully warming it up. Totally Rich. It died, so I Leaned it out and barely got it to Idle.... once it finally caught good, it warmed up and ran great. It was like it stumbled and barely idled, then all of the sudden a magic switch was thrown.
Now it wont even start. Took the carb apart, reset everything correctly (especially the choke), Changed the plugs out and they were COVERED. COVERED in black soot and oil. Rechecked the Dist/Compression/Crank timing, it on. Acts like it wants to start but doesnt. Backfired once. A real weak backfire. Sounded like a black cat. Ive probably tried cranking it 50 times. Its started maybe 8 of those times. The longest its ran is 5-10 seconds, and sounds good when it does. Specifically does not want to run with choke opened. Its like its getting too much gas, but you cant smell it like a flooded engine. As the hood is open I can see mist/vapor exiting the valve cover while I crank. Not always. Fuel pump works, tested disconnected.... squirts fuel pretty well. Has Spark at Coil, At plugs, and the negative on the coil blinks (Points indicator). All of this leads me to the carb... which is surgically clean. And set properly. Compression seems super low... I can turn the engine with the fan and Medium effort. So if my engine is shot, I guess its shot... but how would it run smoothly for 10 seconds at a time if it's so shot that it wont start?
Suggestions?