Yes, and a handy tip that an exhaust guy taught me, if you have that flange or the newer style, such as on Babe, is to wire brush both sides best that you can, then thinly coat it with anti-seize. That'll help it seal, and hold off any further rusting.
That's what I thought, it made no sense to me, that would definitely explain the major leak. Andy threw a curve in there that left me scratching my head.
The flange doesn't need to be coated, but doing so staves off corrosion that can lead to repairs. Definitely, though, if you remove a manifold for any reason, put a gasket in between it and the head.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-31403 Is this the part you are looking for? This would fit between the stock exhaust manifold and the header pipe. Will definitely leak if you leave it out. Ford parts were often built without exhaust manifold gaskets between the head and the exhaust manifold. It's a simple matter to put one there if you want.
Every Ford created exploded diagram parts list for V8 engines that I haver ever seen shows an exhaust manifold gasket. Maybe the Model A didn't use one. I suspect that the electric Focus doesn't use one either.
Headed back into town this weekend, and I'm considering taking the Ranchero back up to school. I have a wicked off-idle/normal acceleration stumble and then it smooths out. I have my suspicions and will probably attempt a carburetor rebuild this weekend. If I can get it to run pretty sweet then I might just say what the hell and try to drive 2 hours on the highway with it!
Setting the carb and/or timing without disconnecting the vacuum advance first will cause a problem like that.
I set the timing at 10* BTDC with the vacuum advance line from the carb/intake plugged. The engine I put in the Ranchero is just a typical used engine. I might do some work to it here at school, but I had a really tough time with the Neway seat cutters. I felt like I was chasing my tail with the angles and kept getting further from where I needed to be. We have the equipment to properly cut the old guides out and bore for new ones, but I'm hesitant to do it .
John, it was not uncommon in the late sixties to the early seventys to find Ford engines from the factory that had no head to exhaust manifold gaskets. Personaly have seen plenty FE's and 429 / 460's built that way. Just very nice machined surfaces with plenty meat around the ports let Ford get by with doing that.
I've seen a lot of things too, Hillbilly, including an old used hypodermic needle inside the door of an unmolested 62 Galaxy back in 71. What I have not seen is an exploded diagram that doesn't include an exhaust manifold gasket, and that is all I said. How many builds do you do without one?
Somewhere around 20 so far. Depends on how much metal is still there. If either the head or manifold is remotely suspect they both get around a .010" cut on a surface grinder to ensure trueness. The really crispy ones get nice gaskets. Neat finds= Candy wrappers, cigarette packs, coffee cups, match books, coke bottles, and the oddest, fifteen dome lights tucked in between the headliner and roof. I really think such crap partially caused the Atlanta Ford plant to be closed.
Surface grinder is a neat toy. Guy about a mile from me has one. He took 28thou off a pair of head for me without needing the valves and springs removed, only cost me a case of beer. What is the thinking behind not using a gasket?
Who knows, other than those lunk-headed bean counters the Whiz Kids (so-called because they pizzle away all the great ideas due to cost) caused it. Landyacht's two 460s, the wagon and cop car ones, did not have gaskets on any of the four exhaust manifolds between them.
*Edit, the thread title should probably be changed. I'm going to be 21 in October. I went home last weekend and did some work to the Ranchero and got it to run decently...with an asterisk. I drove the truck to my work on Friday afternoon to have it inspected and after BS'ing with the guys for awhile I went to leave and the truck didn't really want to start. It coughed once and puffed black smoke out the exhaust and just cranked fast. I went and looked at the carb and it was visibly dripping fuel out of the boosters. So, I held the throttle wide open and it eventually fired up. I grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall and went home. It drove as well as it could driving home, still stumbling off idle but it didn't die or anything. Pulling back in at home, I shut it off and hopped out and took off the air cleaner. After a little while I came back out to check it. It was dripping fuel into the engine again so I decided to remove the air horn. The fuel in the bowl was visibly boiling. It was significant enough to drop the float so that it kept filling the bowl with whatever pressure it had left. I put a socket on the float tab to at least stop feeding fuel to the bowl. I let it cool for an hour or so and then took the carburetor off to rebuild it with the kit I had bought. Once I had got it off, I noticed that if I stroked the throttle, it would bubble in the fuel bowl by the accelerator pump transfer hole (probably bad terminology, but where fuel goes into the accelerator pump well from the bowl). There was no shot out of the nozzles. I got the carburetor all cleaned up the next day and had to dig through the accelerator pump nozzles with a needle because they were clogged with either gasket material or varnished fuel. Everything was working properly at this point. I set the idle mixture screws the same as when I took it apart, 5 turns in from being loose. I did that backwards.. but I'm surprised at how many turns these mixture screws had. Seems like a large range they can adjust to. That being said, I wasn't quite sure from the instructions on how to set the hot air choke. As I understand it, there is the RICH/LEAN directions on the spring cap and two fast idle screws on the choke side? One sits higher up on the carburetor in a plastic arm (1) and the other sits low by the base and contacts a stepped metal cam (2). I tried to follow the instructions in the diagram. First I turned the choke cap the 90* rich. I then set the cam-screw to the second 'notch' on the cam that had what looked like a little 'v' or arrow on it and then finally adjusted the 1/4 head screw. I was fairly happy with how it LOOKED, but didn't really feel confident that it would work properly. If I remember correctly, when I set it all, the main curb idle screw on the throttle side didn't contact the throttle arm, which I thought was proper since I had the fast-idle set on the choke side. I got the carb installed back on the car and it pretty much fired right up. It was idling low and I messed with the screws on the choke side to try to bring it up to around 900-1000 in 'park'. That being said, the engine out the exhaust didn't sound particularly smooth, but it's a condition-unknown 289 so I figured there's not much I can really do about that. Anyways, I got for my test drive and the car ran pretty darn good! The acceleration off idle was smooth and didn't have the bog and lazy recovery that it had previously! I think I had the idle too low, because it seemed to want more idle while in gear and stopped at a stop-sign. Tragically, as the engine got progressively warmer it began to have the exact same hesitation that it had before I did all the work to the carb! At this point I was pretty discouraged and left it alone for the time being. That being said, if I accelerated with wide open throttle from a stop the engine pulled cleanly and didn't bog or hesitate, even when hot. The next day, I took it for another test drive, and had the same results. Running really well when cold and then hesitating again once it got hot. I used a temperature gun and measured 160 degrees on the carburetor float bowl, 220 degrees on the fuel filter and 190 degrees on the line from the pump to the filter. At this point, I assumed I was fighting a combination of excessively hot fuel, improper choke set up (wasn't fully 100% locked open when the engine was hot) and some mechanical engine misfire. My timing is set to 10* BTDC with the vacuum advance line disconnected. I messed with the car again a little bit on Sunday before heading back by adjusting the choke cap and turning the choke screws and switching my vacuum advance line from the fitting at the back of the intake to the fitting on the choke side of the carburetor that I believe it a ported vacuum source. Of course, by doing this I lost a fair amount of idle speed. I had to make up for that using the curb idle screw, even while the engine was cold. I set it at about 900 RPM with my tach/dwell multimeter. After making these changes, it actually ran the best it ever had in my opinion. I felt that I picked up a fair amount of torque as well by moving the vacuum line. Sadly, as it got hot again it started to have the same issues of hesitation. That's where I left it and went back to school. A few things to note at this time, the most vacuum I am able to achieve with the engine is about 14-15 inches of mercury, measure from the fitting on the back of the intake. By turning the mixture screws all the way in and then about 2-3 turns back out it reached the 14-15" of vacuum with a slightly vibrating needle. Furthermore I have some concerns with the 289. It's developed a pretty noticeable ticking noise that seems to be coming from the passenger side of the engine. I removed the valve cover with the engine cold and not running to see if I had some lash issues. Every rocker arm and pushrod was tight so I buttoned it back up. I don't have a a lot of money to spend on this engine so I ceased my investigation there. I am inclined to maybe suspect a valvetrain issue because the idle to me just doesn't sound smooth out the exhaust. I am ASSUMING this engine has a stock cam, and in my opinion the idle is too rough to be running perfectly. I think I can feel misfire in the truck while it's idling, too. My tentative plan for is to... 1. Look into adding the manual choke set from the 289 Hi-Po engines, as it is designed for a 2100/4100 style carburetor. Additionally, the manifolds I have on the engine don't have the hot air tube, so I have the vacuum source on the choke housing plugged with a cap. 2. Look into a plastic carburetor spacer. Right now it has what I would call a 1" metal spacer that appears to be factory. 3. Look into adding a heat shield to the carburetor similar to what the 4bbl Foxbody Mustang's have from the factory. You can see in the picture below the plate below the carburetor. 4. Figure out why the heck the fuel system is getting so hot! I know it's a hot summer in Missouri, but this heat issue seems excessive. As far as I can tell, the engine doesn't overheat. I've measured acceptable at a hot idle at the thermostat housing and both radiator hoses. 5. Hesitantly compression and leakage test the cylinders. I hate to do it because I'm convinced I'll find a problem and I don't necessarily have the means to fix the poor 289 anyways. Overall my outlook right now it a little discouraged, but I do feel that I'm on the right path. Thankfully, this just a project car and I can work on it at my leisure and I don't depend on it to get me anywhere. A few other notes, the rebuilt transmission shifts really well. I've well pleased with it. The Torino is still at the chassis shop. Dad told me he heard from the owner and it might be done this Friday. I'm not holding my breath, but I do have my fingers crossed. The Ranchero basically drives poorly as all get out. The steering is all over the place, I feel there's memory steer. The strut rod... "mount" (where the bushings meet at either side of the eyelets) it torn up on the passenger side, it looks like something got run over. The bushings are loose and cracked on both side and I don't think either side is properly tightened. I have access to a nice alignment machine at work and my boss graciously allows me to work on weekends. I'll work on the alignment when I have time on a weekend that I come back home. I was thinking of using these specs, 1 degree positive caster -.01 degrees toe on each wheel. My steering wheel isn't straight, but I suspect that has more to do with someone getting into the column to replace the turn-signal switch and poorly reassembling the column. -.5 degrees of camber on each wheel. Thanks for your patience if you managed to read this far. Take care folks of RancheroUSA, Mike The first pictures shows screw 1, with the 1/4 inch head in the plastic arm. The second pictures shows screw 2, on the choke side. It's the gold colored screw with the spring going to gold stepped cam.
A lot of issues to address, sounds like your fuel line is to close to or touching a heat source, is float adjusted correctly, do you have an insulator plate between carb and manifold. As for the air/fuel mixture screws I have always ran them to seat then backed out 2 1/2 turn's then adjusted from there. With the amount of fuel that you indicated that was boiling down into the intake you might want to pull the dipstick and smell for gas, it could have thinned the oil enough to cause the ticking. Might want to invest in a set of gauges to.
And, with the unknown engine condition, you described a progressively worse running after working on the carb and resetting the choke, which to me sounds like a hidden vacuum leak, such as worn guides. As the engine's cold, the engine runs good while choked, then as the engine warms, the engine runs worse, and that tells me it's a lean condition. You can confirm it by spraying carb cleaner around the intake, and inside each valve cover, as well as pinching off the booster line (if it has power brakes).
Unless the 1" spacer is the EGR it is not factory and should be ditched and a phenolic spacer installed. Use of a drop down style aftermarket air cleaner will create percolation (boiling) problems. Make sure the fuel line is not touching the engine or within 1-1/2" of the exhaust manifold at any point. You can get away with rubber line touching the intake manifold, but not the head. As long as your carb is overheating, you will not be able to get it set correctly. FYI, the long threads on the A/F screws are to aid sealing, not to allow for a lot of adjustment.
I have what I assume to be a factory 1" metal spacer. I'm going to look into switching to a plastic one in the future. I think the oil smells like fuel, so you're probably right on it with the thinning suggestion. I'll do an oil change next time I'm home and see where that leaves us. I'd really hate to put gauges in this car. I do NOT want to drill any holes in anything or add anything aftermarket. I might look into adding some hidden gauges... possibly in my center console with electrical sending units. I'll look into vacuum leaks. Good thought Andy! We have the capabilities to rebuild cylinder heads here at school... if it comes down to it, I might try my hand at it again. By your info, the spacer is probably not factory. It's just a 1" spacer, no EGR port. What does phenolic stand for? Is it a type of material? Using the factory air cleaner. I just had some exhaust work done, so that's a really good suggestion to look into the routing that might have changed. Good info about the mixture screws, thanks.
In regards to the '68 Torino, the chassis shop said that they are not able to get my cable conversion kit to work At this point, I'm considering a manual transmission swap. I would prefer that to an automatic and I have some odds & ends laying around in the shop I might be able to cobble together for a swap. I realize there's a lot involved in this swap, but I think it might be worth it more in the end.
