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1955 Ford tuning


Matt Harwood

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Hey guys,

 

I've got a 1955 Ford with a 272 cubic inch Y-block V8 and a stock 2-barrel carburetor (the same one Ford used since the '30s) and the sucker just doesn't quite want to run correctly. I've been playing with it and thought I had it figured out when I pulled the blugs and they were black, but it still doesn't quite run right even with new plugs in it. The right bank still has a "snuffle" in the exhaust like there's a dead cylinder and there's a bit of a stumble when I tip into the throttle, both from a stop and at speed. It's like 85% as good as it should but, but not great. And it runs pretty rich--it stinks pretty badly.

 

I've cleaned the carburetor but I haven't pulled it apart. I've closed both idle screws and maybe it helped a little but to be honest, adjusting these does almost nothing that I can detect. We also did new plugs and I'm going to pull the distributor cap and see if anything is going on in there.

 

The car is still 6-volts and starts hard when it's hot.

 

Any other tips from someone more well-versed in these cars? I may put a new coil on the car and see if that helps and I was thinking I'd close the gaps on the plugs a bit. What else should I be checking?

 

Thanks!

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Guest BillP

Hi Matt,

 

How old is the gas? If questionable, drain it and put in a new fuel filter.

 

Those carbs are easy to rebuild, get a good kit and make sure all the orifices are clean. Make sure the choke is pulling off completely as it heats up.

 

Electrically, I'd just make sure the gaps (points, plugs) are in spec. and see how the fuel system sorts.

 

I find they really don't run like they did the year before until a couple tanks of fresh gas goes thru them.

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I'm no Ford expert but it sounds like the carb needs a rebuild. Don't they have a power valve that fails or something?

 

Start by doing a compression test and checking the oil pressure. If your bearings are good and your compression is good, 99 times out of 100 you can tune it up to run like a Swiss watch. If compression and oil pressure are no good, you may get it to run better but it will never be perfect.

 

The rule is, set the valves first, then do the ignition, then the carburetor. Carb adjustment depends on everything else being right. Start by putting everything back to factory specs. Then you might experiment with a little more ignition advance. But the factory specs are the best starting point.

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Back in the day, I had one of these cars that was running rough. Tried to adjust carb but no improvement. Bought a rebuilt carb and it worked great for about a week. Then the power valve started leaking  raw gas into the intake. I replaced the power valve and everything was fine. Worth a look to see if your problem is associated with a bad power valve after you have eliminated the other things that have been suggested. Good luck!

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The power valve idea issue sounds like the most plausible solution in this case. It should be fairly easy to replace.

You could also try posting at y-blocksforever.com and see what some of the experts there might offer.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the advice everyone. We've got it up and running well, which only required a carburetor rebuild (the power valve was shot), a distributor rebuild (new bushings), new points, condenser, rotor, and cap, new plugs, and a rebuilt fuel pump. How it ran as well as it did before, I can't say, but it's a lot better now. We're with it up at the St. John's Concours of America in Detroit, and it's about 95 degrees, so it was stumbling a bit on the drive back to the hotel after the driving tour, but I'm hoping that's related to heat and traffic not the repairs we've made--I'm planning on driving it home Sunday!

 

Again, thank you for the advice. It was actually a little of everything but at least you pointed me in the right direction to not overlook anything.

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Is the 55 a car that you have to keep all original,the reason I ask is a 57 to 62 intake and carb swap along with a 57 to 62 distributor will make it run much better. In 57 the 2 and 4 bbl carbs were changed along with a distributor with mechanical advance where the original distributor has only vacumn advance.

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