Call me crazy - Ranchero's (again)

[falcon cobra]

Roger, do you have a 157 tooth 28 ounce flex plate? jh

[Luva65wagon]

164 tooth. I think it had 28 ounces stated on the data sheet sticker. Seem to recall that anyway.

[falcon cobra]

Sorry about this but I wanted to know if you had a extra one, like on the shelf 157 tooth. I need one...thanks..jh

[Luva65wagon]

Only have another 157 that was from the FMX tranny - which I think you have a similar one of. I don't ever plan to install an FMX into ANYTHING.

[falcon cobra]

This is all getting strange, the plate I gave to you is for a 164 and the flex I have is a 164 from the FMX I had.. I need a 157 flex and the converter 4 bolts measure 10.5 across...jh

[Luva65wagon]

I thought you said you counted 160 teeth on the other flex plate you had. The C4 used either 157 or 164 tooth and the larger and smaller had different spacing on bolts (bell housing and converter).

My 157 flex plate (for the FMX) was just "OK" and I'd have probably used it if I could have - just to not delay the project. But if I'd have had a few days to spare I'd have bought a new flex plate.

[Luva65wagon]

Well, Gene and I have been hassling with the shifter for the past two nights trying to get the thing to align with the detents on the factory Mustang shifter I got at P-n-P. It must have something different between what it has and the length of the shifter arm on the transmission. Or the angle was too steep. So as of last night I threw in the towel and started shopping for a new shifter. I just did not want to invest the money if I didn't have to. Looks like I have no choice.

I looked at Lokar and was a bit surprised by the fact they allowed either the neutral safety switch or back-up light, but not both at the same time. What's up with that? Nobody had anything in stock or on ebay I liked anyway. I would have wanted a 6" version I think. Actually found a thread from Patrick on a different Ford forum when he was researching this in 2007. But he didn't say then what he ended up with.

I know Lokar is popular, but I went against the grain and finally settled (at about 1 in the morning) on a B&M Z-gate shifter, which is cable operated. I had a B&M shifter on my '56 Panel and it worked flawlessly, so I bit the bullet and ordered one.

I was also trying to not have to replace carpet to cover the big hole, so I'm hoping it will cover that up. It also accommodated both neutral safety switch and back-up lights.

As I wait for that I'm now working on the exhaust. Hoping to here it roar to life this weekend... finally. The kit I got was for a Mustang, but it appears to all be falling into the right places.

I gotta stop doing these "short deadline projects." I'm not a young whipper snapper anymore.

[Luva65wagon]

Well... it lives again. Yay.

Wasn't without a few hiccups. Seems to have a vacuum leak, but it may just still need to be tuned better. It seems to run with the a/f screws all the way in, which is odd. Not many places to form vacuum leaks (externally), so have to run it more to figure this out. Also, one of the block plugs (1/4 pipe) was dribbling too, so that should hopefully tighten without the need to drain it all.

Not sure I'll have it all debugged by the meeting (and yes, there will be one) but if it is I'll bring it.

[doghows]

Looks like you have some of those "small things" too.
I was hoping to have mine dialed in enough to maybe come over for the meeting. Well see.

[Luva65wagon]

I merged my swap party thread into my Ranchero thread.

Tried again last night to get this thing to run right, but finally concluded the issue is with the Holley I bought at the swap and rebuilt. So as of last night I have ordered a new carburetor for it. I did get it to run "smooth" but it was running with the A/F screws all the way in and still running rich. So after reading a lot of reviews I went with the Summit carb. It wasn't far different than the old 4100 Autolite, which I'm very familiar with (but cost a fortune to buy - even as a core).

So it should be here tomorrow and then I hope to take this thing out for a drive!



Oh wait, It has an automatic now...

[doghows]

That's cool, I drove mine finally and found some more bugs but baby steps. I am happy for you and the Ranchero's.

[falcon cobra]

Roger, I wish I knew the carb was not good because I have a 600 cfm summit carb that you could try. I told my son in law he could try it on his car but it will be a while before he gets around to it...jh

[Luva65wagon]

I appreciate that - but I'm done trying things. I knew you used to have one on your car. I liked the no-leaks-below construction of these and have been looking for almost 2 months for a cheap 289-version of the Autolite 4100. Just too expensive for the unknown condition core. Almost went again with a AFB style since I have rods and jets for these, but they too can be finicky.

I just want this car done and out of the garage. After all we did last night I am 100% sure this carb has something internally amiss. Not sure what considering I checked every passage and part to the nth degree, but as his friend said last night on the phone when we used our "call a friend" - Holleys work on and off. They are either on the car working or off the car being worked on.

I found the secondaries were not closing all the way too. This was manually addressed to test things, which did help, but not enough.

[BPVan]

If it makes you feel better, I have been trying to get my 4160 just right for a while now and can't seem to. Its probably 90% there but the last 10% has been I found my secondary float was bad at one point which caused all sorts of intermittant results, might want to check on that?

Too bad you don't have the advantage I have: a between-the-seats toaster oven, carbs like being toasty

[Luva65wagon]

Thanks Brian - I do feel better now.

The float levels seemed fine. Prior to last night you could kill the motor by plugging either primary or secondary, which meant what? With A/F screws doing nothing, and it running on the secondaries, and maybe the primaries to the same degree - this thing was wacky.

You just need to make a huge head gasket big enough to divide the upper part of the engine compartment from the lower part. Heat stays down and cool stays up. Simple.