The Ford Barn

gayle marlowe · 05-23-2021, 04:03 PM

Some of you may remember I wrote in a few months ago and had just purchased the 38 sedan that was rebuilt from ground up. Looks fantastic but have been chasing a few gremlins, mostly low power. I started with pulling the distributor to advance it cause I could not see the hash mark scale on the side.
Set points, timed it and reinstalled. Ran crappy. Pulled distributor again and found I had set wrong points for timing. Adjusted everything and reinstalled, started and ran okay. Not much power tho. Advanced timing 4 degrees and ran a bit better but overheated. Backed timing off back to standard and runs okay at cold idle.
Adjust idle speed cold and when it gets hot idle goes way up. At highway speed it runs rough. Checked plugs and were sooty. Checked idle vacum and only 5-6 inches.
I feel like I am chasing more than one gremlin? What should I concentrate on first. I know the old rule: only change one thing at a time.
Why is my vacum so low? Is that causing the low power problem?
Thanks in advance for your help. This flathead thing seems to be a bit fussy, or it may be the operator is not a flathead wrench!!!!

05-23-2021, 04:03 PM	#1
gayle marlowe Member Join Date: Feb 2021 Location: pueblo colorado Posts: 40	Low power, low vacum Some of you may remember I wrote in a few months ago and had just purchased the 38 sedan that was rebuilt from ground up. Looks fantastic but have been chasing a few gremlins, mostly low power. I started with pulling the distributor to advance it cause I could not see the hash mark scale on the side. Set points, timed it and reinstalled. Ran crappy. Pulled distributor again and found I had set wrong points for timing. Adjusted everything and reinstalled, started and ran okay. Not much power tho. Advanced timing 4 degrees and ran a bit better but overheated. Backed timing off back to standard and runs okay at cold idle. Adjust idle speed cold and when it gets hot idle goes way up. At highway speed it runs rough. Checked plugs and were sooty. Checked idle vacum and only 5-6 inches. I feel like I am chasing more than one gremlin? What should I concentrate on first. I know the old rule: only change one thing at a time. Why is my vacum so low? Is that causing the low power problem? Thanks in advance for your help. This flathead thing seems to be a bit fussy, or it may be the operator is not a flathead wrench!!!!