Frank Keating

Goodmorning forum,

I am the proud owner of a 69 mustang lemon that I bought a while ago and really havent. had the chance to work on.

The issue that I have is that the car does not have the origional engine in it. The former owner took the engine and transmission out of a 1978 ford thunderbird (with and electronic ignition) and put it in the mustang. The car did run when I got it with a very high idle, however once it was put into gear, it would stall out. When i called him about this problem, he told me that he hadnt driven it just worked on it, but he had put a 1969 distributor into the car to get around the 1978's electronic ignition.

I believe that the harmonic balence is from the origional 1978 car but I am not too sure. I really dont know where to go with this. or how to get it to run correctly. I am assuming that the 1969 distributor will mess with the timing.

Can someone help?

thanks

frdnut

There is no problem with the 69 distributor in a 78 motor...If anything it probably has a better timing curve for better performance...Your problem sounds more like a severe vacuum leak..Are all of the hoses connected to carb and intake?

JMD

69 and 78 should have used the same engine balance. The high idle and stall is probably not going to be related to engine balance.

High idle, and stalling in gear makes me want to think that you might have a vac leak.. either at a vac hose, brake booster, carb gasket, or intake manifold gasket...

This is not a definitive diagnosis, but judging from you description, this is where I would start looking.

Edit - You were too quick for me Frdnut!!!

Randys66gt

Don't worry, the balances are all the 28 oz prior to 79. just different locations for the timing mark. If the distributor has points, it is a pre 74 so it'll work. It sounds like carb probs too. Make sure you put the dist. in at TDC. Pull #1 plug and crank it till you feel you feel the compression pushing your finger away. Look at the timing marker and see where it's at. If the timing marks are wrong, need a balance. If they are right, advance it to about 5* and put the dist in. Put the wires in the correct place and put a screw driver in #1 wire, turn the ignition to the ON position and then put the screwdriver about 1/4" away from metal and rotate the dist. It'll spark when you get to the timing mark and you just timed your engine without a timing light. Take a vacuum gauge and check it for the highest vacuum and then back it off 2* and that will also time your engine. Fire it and if the idle is still high, carb probs. Good luck!

Frank Keating

Hey!

Thankyou for the reponses. I really aprreciate it. Ok so it looks like a vacuum leak I thought that it might have been a balencer/distributor iss just bcause of the face that when one spins the distributor, the idle increases and decreases. Amazing enough, i do pretty well on motorcycle engines, but not so much on these old ford engines. Im going to look around a little and see what I can find. Is there a recommended way to find one of these leaks. on the bike Ive used something a littlle less flamable than ether. Is there something better that can be recommended. ?