The Ford Barn

37SLANTY · 09-17-2014, 12:34 PM

Good morning!
New member here, having purchased a 1937 ford recently. I have been going through the car as I believe it's prior owner didn't drive it much or at all. I drive it lots. I've replaced a brake cable, adjusted brakes etc.,oil and filters serviced,diff and tranny fluids etc. now I'm on to tuning the engine as it has always smelled a bit "gassy".

I rebuilt the Stromberg 97, and it runs flawlessly and no leaks etc. has correct jetting, no damage etc. Installed new plugs. (the plugs have excellent coloring and work great). The prior owner had already installed a new rotor and caps, suppression wires etc. and a pertronix 6v pos grnd electronic conversion.
I recently rebuilt the generator and installed a diode in the original cut out shell after turning my gen into a toaster after the cut out failed.

The car runs and drives great except for the original gassy or rich smell from the exhaust, which normally I could live with except for a couple of reasons.
Locally, we have a requirement to obtain collector license plates and the accompanying cheaper insurance you have to pass a smog test. The smog test levels for this era of vehicle are very broad and an engine running close to decent should pass no problem. My car passes the "driving test" on the dyno, but fails the idle test miserably. (remember the "gassy" smell?)

So.. I decided to check the tune up specs. Problem 1. The information I read says that idle is 400 rpm. I can take the idle speed screw right out of the carb and only get as low as 650 rpm.
I'm wondering if I have a problem with timing. I know from experience with other engines, advanced timing speeds up the idle beyond where the idle speed can be slowed with the idle speed screw.
I took off the distributor and attempted to set it up on my Allen syncrograph. I have the flathead mounting stuff and get it mounted up no problem, but I cannot get the strobe to work. I supplied the 6v power with a lantern battery to the distributor by hooking positive to the housing and negative to the pertronix power supply wire. the wire that normally goes to the coil I hooked up to the wire from the distributor machine. The only time the strobe comes on is momentarily when I shut off the syncrograph.

Wondering if anyone has any insight on making the syncrograph work or failing that a manual (ruler method) way to set my distributor up to the required 4 degrees. I searched the forums but I find conflicting set up info on the correct method for 1937 distributor. The diagram I have says 1 3/8" from top of ruler to top of drivers side mount hole with wide offset on distributor drive tang to top. I am not sure if this is the correct info or not.
Sorry for the long post, but any help would be appreciated, I like to drive my car and I haven't been able to drive it for a couple of weeks.

09-17-2014, 12:34 PM	#1
37SLANTY Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 17	allen syncrograph / 37 ford Good morning! New member here, having purchased a 1937 ford recently. I have been going through the car as I believe it's prior owner didn't drive it much or at all. I drive it lots. I've replaced a brake cable, adjusted brakes etc.,oil and filters serviced,diff and tranny fluids etc. now I'm on to tuning the engine as it has always smelled a bit "gassy". I rebuilt the Stromberg 97, and it runs flawlessly and no leaks etc. has correct jetting, no damage etc. Installed new plugs. (the plugs have excellent coloring and work great). The prior owner had already installed a new rotor and caps, suppression wires etc. and a pertronix 6v pos grnd electronic conversion. I recently rebuilt the generator and installed a diode in the original cut out shell after turning my gen into a toaster after the cut out failed. The car runs and drives great except for the original gassy or rich smell from the exhaust, which normally I could live with except for a couple of reasons. Locally, we have a requirement to obtain collector license plates and the accompanying cheaper insurance you have to pass a smog test. The smog test levels for this era of vehicle are very broad and an engine running close to decent should pass no problem. My car passes the "driving test" on the dyno, but fails the idle test miserably. (remember the "gassy" smell?) So.. I decided to check the tune up specs. Problem 1. The information I read says that idle is 400 rpm. I can take the idle speed screw right out of the carb and only get as low as 650 rpm. I'm wondering if I have a problem with timing. I know from experience with other engines, advanced timing speeds up the idle beyond where the idle speed can be slowed with the idle speed screw. I took off the distributor and attempted to set it up on my Allen syncrograph. I have the flathead mounting stuff and get it mounted up no problem, but I cannot get the strobe to work. I supplied the 6v power with a lantern battery to the distributor by hooking positive to the housing and negative to the pertronix power supply wire. the wire that normally goes to the coil I hooked up to the wire from the distributor machine. The only time the strobe comes on is momentarily when I shut off the syncrograph. Wondering if anyone has any insight on making the syncrograph work or failing that a manual (ruler method) way to set my distributor up to the required 4 degrees. I searched the forums but I find conflicting set up info on the correct method for 1937 distributor. The diagram I have says 1 3/8" from top of ruler to top of drivers side mount hole with wide offset on distributor drive tang to top. I am not sure if this is the correct info or not. Sorry for the long post, but any help would be appreciated, I like to drive my car and I haven't been able to drive it for a couple of weeks.