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What causes a carb to backfire?


Lebowski

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I agree that this owner already has a used motor in his car,  Chances are that the next one will be used as well.

 

I called Jasper today and they want $4600 to rebuild the engine plus I would have to pay a shop to remove all the parts and put it all back together which would probably be a couple thousand more so it looks like I'm going to have to find a used one and hope for the best. There's a 223 in PA on Ebay right now and another one in Nebraska for $600 so if I get one of them I'm sure you guys wouldn't mind talking me through an engine swap which I've never attempted before-right? LOL

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I can come back down and help you and should have a newer set of heads on the 65 for the next trip there.

 

Remember when you said you could swap engines in an afternoon? I found an engine yesterday in Lincoln, Nebraska and am going to get it this weekend. It's a 223 out of a '57 Ford that the guy bought 6 months ago and drove 80 miles home. He's going to restore the car and install a Ford crate 427 and Tremec 5 speed. He swears up and down that it runs great and doesn't smoke. It has the metal element type oil filter where mine screws on and the valve cover is held on by two bolts through the top and mine has bolts around the edges but those are the only differences that I could see. He owns a body shop in Lincoln and his father is a retired Ford mechanic whom he said I could call because he followed the guy home after he bought the car and wanted him to keep the 6 in it because it ran so good. He sounds like a decent guy so hopefully it will be worth $500 and a 1500 mile round trip. Is there anyone from Lincoln on the board?

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Guest newbymachineworks

Remember when you said you could swap engines in an afternoon? I found an engine yesterday in Lincoln, Nebraska and am going to get it this weekend. It's a 223 out of a '57 Ford that the guy bought 6 months ago and drove 80 miles home. He's going to restore the car and install a Ford crate 427 and Tremec 5 speed. He swears up and down that it runs great and doesn't smoke. It has the metal element type oil filter where mine screws on and the valve cover is held on by two bolts through the top and mine has bolts around the edges but those are the only differences that I could see. He owns a body shop in Lincoln and his father is a retired Ford mechanic whom he said I could call because he followed the guy home after he bought the car and wanted him to keep the 6 in it because it ran so good. He sounds like a decent guy so hopefully it will be worth $500 and a 1500 mile round trip. Is there anyone from Lincoln on the board?

I live in Syracuse, 25 miles from Lincoln.

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I live in Syracuse, 25 miles from Lincoln.

 

Ever heard of Mpressive Auto Body (he spells it without the "I" so that is the correct spelling) which is one mile from the U of Nebraska football stadium? The seller owns it and I verified that through the BBB website. Would you pay $500 for an engine that you can't hear run? The guy sounds honest but I've been burned before by trusting people I don't know. Plus a 1500 mile round trip is a LONG way for me to go. Any suggestions?

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Guest newbymachineworks

Ever heard of Mpressive Auto Body (he spells it without the "I" so that is the correct spelling) which is one mile from the U of Nebraska football stadium? The seller owns it and I verified that through the BBB website. Would you pay $500 for an engine that you can't hear run? The guy sounds honest but I've been burned before by trusting people I don't know. Plus a 1500 mile round trip is a LONG way for me to go. Any suggestions?

Never heard of them. Personally I would rebuild what you have. I rebuilt a 240 out of a 1969 F100 in the late nineties, I don't think I even had $1500 invested. I will add the disclaimer that I work as a mechanic, so do all my own work. And my machine work is done at wholesale. It all comes down to knowing what you have, you can buy another used engine and be worse than what you have already.

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Never heard of them. Personally I would rebuild what you have. I rebuilt a 240 out of a 1969 F100 in the late nineties, I don't think I even had $1500 invested. I will add the disclaimer that I work as a mechanic, so do all my own work. And my machine work is done at wholesale. It all comes down to knowing what you have, you can buy another used engine and be worse than what you have already.

 

I agree with that, or at the very least take yours apart and see what is going or not going on prior to another engine that you don't anything about

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That basic kit that Carbking shows is a pretty good deal and a basic recondition is pretty easy for most car guys.

However, I would not buy it without taking the engine apart and inspecting the bores and crank.

Most of the time one of these cheap rebuilds with standard used surfaces work OK, but  if you find it necessary to turn the crank or bore the cylinders you can customize the rebuild kit. The oversized pistons will bump the price of the kit some.

If you take the bare block and the head to a machine shop it may cost a few hundred on top of the kit, but I bet it could be pulled off for under a thousand before assembly which should take some one that knows how the better part of a day.

 

First pull the engine out and tear down.

Then take the block and head to a machine shop for measuring and estimates.

Then wait for the parts and machining.

Plan a clean day for assembly.

Then put it back in the car.

Shouldn't take more than a month with only three or four days working on it yourself.

 

I know that you are not engine savvy from your posts so maybe a possibility would be to check with a local tech school or maybe a jr. college.

I don't know if they teach this stuff in the high school shops anymore, but might be worth an ask.

I had some body work done by the State Penitentiary once that worked out well.

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OTOH if you plan to keep the car (and it is a neat one) having a spare engine and trans is not a bad idea. Then you can take the time to do yours right while still enjoying the ride. That should be a simple engine to swap.

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​I emailed the guy in PA who made the first video (post #168) and asked him to make a second video with him revving it up some so he did. It doesn't look like a smoker to me but it does sound like there's a miss in the engine. Is that something serious or not? What do you think it's worth? It has a 3 speed manual trans. (same as what's in my car) that I don't need. Thanks....

 

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It actually sounds OK. I think the miss may be carb related plus it has no exhaust. The other thing is the carb filter was open so I don't know how it would have performed with a complete air cleaner.

What year it the engine from? 223'a from 61 and newer have slightly less power.

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It actually sounds OK. I think the miss may be carb related plus it has no exhaust. The other thing is the carb filter was open so I don't know how it would have performed with a complete air cleaner.

What year it the engine from? 223'a from 61 and newer have slightly less power.

 

It's from a '59 truck which had 58k miles on it according to the seller. I won the auction this afternoon and got it and the 3 speed trans for $581.50 which seems reasonable to me considering the fact that a Jasper rebuild is $4600 plus paying a shop to remove and disassemble the engine and then reassemble it and install it back in the car would probably be at least another $2k. What do you guys think of the way it runs in the video (post #173)? I'm making the 880 mile round trip drive over to NW Pennsylvania tomorrow to get it.... 

post-101899-0-22890400-1449878578_thumb.

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Should be OK but the truck transmission might be different. It might have a larger flywheel and clutch than the car version which is fine but you might need to keep the truck engine's bell housing. I'm fairly certain the Edsel's transmission will bolt up fine to it but you might want to double check the pilot bearing to be sure it's the same.

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Should be OK but the truck transmission might be different. It might have a larger flywheel and clutch than the car version which is fine but you might need to keep the truck engine's bell housing. I'm fairly certain the Edsel's transmission will bolt up fine to it but you might want to double check the pilot bearing to be sure it's the same.

 

Thanks for the tip. I was just going to leave the trans hooked up to the engine and install both of them in the car. That shouldn't be a problem, should it?

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Thanks for the tip. I was just going to leave the trans hooked up to the engine and install both of them in the car. That shouldn't be a problem, should it?

if they both are the same length. and the drive shaft will mate up.

 

Say that the truck trans is longer, the existing drive shaft could be modified

 

edit; it is an open shaft drive? 

not torque tube (like Buick)?

Edited by JamesBulldogMiller55Buick (see edit history)
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Mixed feelings: unless you know the clutch is new, this is a great time to check it and the pressure plate.

 

BTW top gear will be the same for all trannys: 1:1. Just locks up the mainshaft. Depending on the input gear, 1st and 2nd may be higher or lower. Chances are a truck trans will have a lower (easier to start with load - higher numerically) gearset than a passenger car. A really great period addition for Interstates and such is a Borg-Warner overdrive.

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After all of the trouble that you've experienced with the old engine, I wouldn't blame you for being anxious to get the new one installed. Nevertheless, this really would be a good time to take a look at the condition of the clutch assembly. By that, I mean flywheel surface, clutch disc, pressure plate, throw out bearing and pilot bearing.

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Thanks for the advice. There's nothing wrong with the old transmission so I guess we'll be using that one which is no big deal.

 

It's been a long day today. I got up at 3:15, left at 4:10 and got home at 6 PM so that means I made the 861 mile round trip to about 30 south of Erie, PA in 13 hours and 50 minutes. My 2004 F150 Heritage turned over to 120k on the way home and ran great even with 3 idiot lights on the whole way (SES, ABS and gas cap). The seller Charlie seemed like a good guy so hopefully this engine will turn out to be a good investment. Tomorrow my neighbor and I are going to unload the engine using the tree branch method which involves parking under a tree and wrapping a rope around a big branch several times and then pulling the truck up and slowly lowering the engine into my wife's gardening wagon and then pulling it into the garage with my riding mower. I'll make sure to post a video of the engine running after it gets installed which could be in a couple of weeks or a couple of months. Thanks again for the advice....

 

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Edited by Lebowski (see edit history)
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Has always been so, remember changing the clutch on my '70 GS on an oak tree root. Having one side of a car on a tall curb to change the harmonic balancer on a sidewinder works too. Needs must.

 

Is nice having a lift though. Would have been nicer before Medicare.

 

ps real ST mechanics transport an engine on an old tire.

 

pps tree branch method does not work with a minivan.

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The branch was strong enough to hold the engine and trans and it worked out OK. My wife's garden wagon was strong enough to hold them so she drove the riding mower and pulled the wagon while I walked alongside and held on to them on the trip to the garage....

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post-101899-0-71481600-1450042497_thumb.

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I got a call last night from the webmaster of the local Kyana (Kentucky-Indiana) chapter of the AACA (Dick Renders) who lives about a mile from me and who just returned from Florida. He was one of the three guys I called about 3 weeks ago regarding joining the Louisville chapter. (For those of you who haven't been following my Edsel adventures, the local chapter only accepts new members during the month of October-no exceptions.) He said that even though I'm not a member he would try to get with a couple of guys from the club and bring over an engine hoist and help me (actually me helping them) swap engines in the Edsel sometime in the near future. I may have to wait until March or April when the weather starts warming up but that's fine because I can still drive it around with the current engine until then. I told him about all the advice and encouragement I had been receiving from many different guys on the AACA forum and he was really impressed by that. So anyway I'm super psyched that he's going to get something organized and help me get this done. I'll let you guys know what happens and thanks again....

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I dont know if anyone has mentioned it in all of this, but check to make sure that there is nothing stuck in the jets in the carburetor.  I watched chasing classic cars from a week ago last night and the wise old mechanic on the show describes the exact same condition on a brass era car that would only run on full choke due to a clogged fuel jet.   

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As I recall you mentioned your Edsel was a standard shift, if it is it would be the perfect time to install a new clutch assembly and pilot bushing and throw-out bearing  

 

The clutch that's in there now works fine and the throwout bearing doesn't make any noise so it's not really necessary, is it? I'll probably pass on that idea but I appreciate the suggestion anyway....

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Excellent advice on replacing those items. The cost is minimal. Installing them does not add any time to the project.  If you don't do it and the t/o bearing goes in a couple of months you will be pulling the engine all over again. Or worse - if you pull the engine and you discover that the clutch facing is almost non-existent you will not be able to install the new engine until you get a new clutch plate - they do not give much warning before they go. It's a couple of thousandths between grip and slip and once it slips it is all over with.

 

We are not trying to get you to spend your money on unnecessary parts - we are trying to help you avoid what would be a very expensive, needless repair. or discovering that you cannot complete the engine swap once you pull the old engine out.

 

.

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Just went to Advance Auto and they show the whole clutch assembly including t/o and pilot bearings and alignment tool for under $150 (under '60 Ford). Considering the cost of of replacing them after you have the new engine installed I would refer to it as minimal.

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