More newb questions. At idle, this engine sounds rough to me, and there is a bit of black residue on the ground when it runs. This goes away after it warms a bit. Any ideas?

also, is there some non-rocket scientist way to figure out if it timed correctly?

cheers,
MrM

 

If it smooths out after it has been running for awhile, your choke is probably closing too much, then after it opens it smooths out. To time it right, you will need a timing light, and you will need to know the degrees below TDC to tune it to. I believe for the 200 CID that would be 10 degrees Below Top Dead Center. Then loosen your distributor and while the light is hooked up to #1 cylinder and the battery, shine the light on the marks and turn the dizzy until the two lines line up. The pointer is on the timing cover, and the line is on the harmonic balancer. Marking the lines with either white out or white chalk helps you see it better. Then turn off the engine and tighten the dizzy down.
Or, you could tune it by ear, but that will only get you close.

 

I'll give it a shot.

 

Just another thought. Do you have a manual or automatic choke? If it is manual, just don't pull it out to fully closed. If it is automatic, then you need to adjust the butterfly by loosening the choke housing, and turn it to the right two or so notches, then tighten it back down.
On edit: That is an assumption that the spring in the choke housing is not burned, and that it is still doing its' job by opening the butterfly gradually as the engine warms up. Make sure you have heat from the header to the choke housing.

 

Must be auto, as there isn't a choke **** like there was on my first gen RX-7.

 

Then try to adjust the choke housing so that the butterfly doesn't close quite so much at cold idle. Automatic chokes on these old carbs have to be adjusted to the climatic conditions of where you live. Warm climatic conditions require less butterfly choke on initial start-up than cold climatic conditions. That is why you have to adjust the choke housing to meet the conditons of where you live. And, they have to be adjusted seasonally. Welcome to the world of vintange Mustang wrenching.

 

great.....[8D]

thanks for the info!

 

this is what it looks like right now.

[IMG]local://upfiles/16168/0F68E48108CE4499B7A168244D2677D3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/16168/8920D72F6B5849028E64E59450A49294.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/16168/ECDDC1D352564E2983D1C7C5523FA77E.jpg[/IMG]

 

Wow! Very nice. Now, dump the dice on the rear view mirror. [:'(]
Hey, I don't see a picture of your vert in the gallery. Send a pic to Amanda@mustangforums.com and she will add it to the gallery.