clowe1965

I have a 68 302 reman engine that I can't get to idle at all. Sits at 1100 rpms with the choke, anything below that and it dies. It revs up just fine. I"ve rebuilt the carb and played around with the timing but nothing seems to work. It also sounds like its skipping. Only thoughts I have had are I didn't get the carb cleaned enough, vacuum leak, or bad distributor.

Bit of history, engine has sat for 2 years without being started. Pulled the engine, switched the oil pan and dropped it in a ford ranger. Gets me a truck and now the 65 is closer to being blasted. Engine was running fine prior to sitting, just had electrical issues that drained the battery so after a while it stopped getting started. Engine is also running with open exhaust manifolds until I can drive it down to the exhaust shop.

New(ish) gas, bout a month old now with twice the concentration of sea foam that is recommended. New fuel filter, 3-4 psi. Electric pump.

New plugs, wires, dist cap. Coil has probably less than 100 hours of operation on it, same thing with the distributor (reman from autozone).

1985 4 barrel intake, 500 cfm edelbrock carb. I adjusted the floats to the correct specs.

Advice/thoughts/ideas?

clowe1965

I know this isn't the most active section on the forum but i would appreciate the help, trying not to throw money at it. Short video i took, played around with the fuel pressure bumping it up to 6 psi. No luck.

Mustangdemon67

sounds like its missing like you said. Since you already did plugs and wires and seems like the fuel pressure is ok, check for vac leaks, getting a better distributor isnt a bad idea either. also what shape are your valve springs in? i know your not running at high rpms but the valves may be floating a bit from weak springs

clowe1965

I assumed the springs were replaced when the engine was rebuilt. But it doesn't list that specifically. Link below. I'll probably get a distributor tonight and try that out, hopefully the wife won't complain too much. Is there a spec to check for spring force? Hope that's not the case due to getting the valve covers off in the truck will be a pain. It has always had some minor skipping in it at low RPMs, so might be the distributor.
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par..._333209_0_1277

Mustangdemon67

A good electronic distributor is a solid investment all around. You should find out if the valve springs are the factory ones, its possible that they havnt been replaced. Before pulling off the valve covers though, hook up a vac gauge and see what it says. While the engine is idling spray some carb cleaner around the intake manifold and the base of the carb, if that changes the idle then its a good sign of a vac leak. Also do a compression check on the cylinders and see what you come up with. Maybe even a fuel pressure gauge for good measure. Then take it from there.
For sure though i would get rid of that points distributor if you plan on keeping the motor. Also when you switch to electronic you can get rid of that ballast resistor as well.

Oh, as for checking to see if the springs have lost any tension, the only way i know of is removing all of them and checking with a valve spring test stand. Hopefully its an easier fix than that though

clowe1965

Well talked with a friend here and he said to check the plug gap too. Last set i had bought was set correctly, same plugs same store so i didnt check the new set. They were all at .045. Changed it to. 034. Also it was leaking around the carb gasket so i torqued the bolts down to 28 ft lbs, well all except the one that stripped out, hence why i didnt crank down on them to begin with. Ran a lot better, then the leak came back because of the stripped bolt. So back to the auto store tomorrow for a helicoil kit.

Assuming the vac leak is the only issue left i should be good after this. Still crossing my fingers its not the valve springs. Might go ahead and get the distributor though, just going to get a whole new unit, pertronix brand fits in my budget for 180ish. Gapping the plugs brought up another concern though. All the plug threads had engine oil on them. Not the cleanest engine bay in the world but having it on all of them is somewhat concerning. Course i dont think the engine is broken in yet either. Thanks for the assist!

clowe1965

Well no luck. Fixed the bolt, torqued it down and its still skipping and won't idle below 1k. Also if the throttle is popped it stumbles and dies instead of stabilizing at 1k. Checked for vacuum leaks but no luck, either leaks arent the problem or there are so many leaks it doesnt matter where i sprayed fluid. Didnt change the distributor so thats next, then the valve springs. Would the proper method be turn the engine to move the piston to the top, remove the rockers, compress the springs, remove and replace? Figure the valves can't fall down that way.

Mustangdemon67

yup thats the way, have you hooked up a vacuum gauge to it? Heres a good write up on valve springs, its been very helpful to me in the past.

http://www.aa1car.com/library/valve_..._diagnosis.htm

my f100 died on me today, its not getting fuel so im about to go check it out. Ah the fun never ends =/

putz54143

I really think you have vacuum leak. What about vac to booster or the booster it self.

clowe1965

New distributor on order (4 days bah!). I checked the booster hose, no leaks there. Inside the booster, maybe. The mustang didn't have a booster so its a new item to check. Brakes work though at least . Might try plugging the hose and see what happens. I have no doubt there is a vacuum leak, seems the most likely explanation since its primarily a low rpm issue. Guess I'll go get a vacuum gauge and check the compression too. I've got a gas pressure gauge installed btw demon, bounces like crazy since its a 40 psi pump but its definitely getting gas lol.