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. >>mike1969 "Phenolic plastic, also known as phenolic laminate, is a laminated plastic created by the impregnation of layers of a substrate with a resin then formed utilizing ..." It's plastic with other fiber stuff encapsulated inside. You can get them from Summit, ~$40.00 or so. That said, I doubt that your gasoline problem is due to your metallic spacer -- it presumably ran OK with it for the years before you owned it.
It's a kit from the company, IDIDIT, here's the link Phil... our chassis is good, and I must admit I'm disappointed he couldn't make it happen. I must admit, I feel it's probably a case of him not wanting to do this pain-in-the-ass fiddly project when he probably has much more important and better paying jobs to work on. I'll make a second post with some pictures of what this is supposed to accomplish. https://www.ididitinc.com/i-2504985...umn-c4-transmission.html?ref=category:1310159 That's what I was thinking Burninbush... how could this seemingly be a new problem? It's probably been this way for donkey's years... maybe the new engine combination has exacerbated it somehow. I don't think this engine runs hot or anything. It's the exact same intake, spacer and carburetor that was on the 302 that originally came with the '69. Just a different engine, a '68 289. I guess this is what we're going to try next... https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ctr-85-040/overview/
That kit would work with their column, but brackets would have to be made to adapt it to your column. Not a difficult project, like you said, they likely just don't want to do it. The issue with the spacer, aside from the tuning problems they can introduce, is that people tend to use lowered air cleaners and lowered air cleaners increase percolation. I suspect everything is not the same in the engine compartment. Deleting the fan shroud will increase carb temps, as will a failing fan clutch. Changes in headers will affect heat soak, as will many other items, like hood insulation.
I'm no expert on carbs, but it sounds to me like 220˚ at the fuel filter is hot enough to cause vapor lock with today's gas. Maybe you could try re-routing the line to a cooler spot under the hood. And if you have a 1" metal spacer under the carb, it's simply an extension of the hot metal intake manifold, and could easily heat up the fuel bowl. A phenolic spacer of around 1/2" thick breaks that metal-to-metal contact, and should still allow hood clearance for a typical 14" x 2-3" air cleaner.
That page you posted for the shift cable, there's a note at the bottom that Ididit can make custom brackets to fit your application. I'm guessing it'll be big Rancherobuxx to do them, but in the absence of findable OE parts, it may be your absolute last choice before you try a floor shifter.
Going totally off the rails here, ever checked the vaporization point of the fuel you have ? You may be dealing with a govt. inflicted fuel problem.
Even the good stuff boils well below 220 Hillbilly. The gas here in CA boils at between 160 and 170 depending on the formulation. I have to have my electric fans run after shut down on my 5.0 or it will vaporize the float bowls dry and smell like someone dumped a pint of gas on the ground.
One thing is for certain, from my perch: On Babe's engine, because the EGR passages are cast into the Cali-emissions spec intake, I use the factory phenolic spacer under the carb, and because that specific heat is kept from the carb that way, I don't have percolation problems. As for the possibility of carb icing, I do have the thermostatic air cleaner from the Grand Marquis on it, and though I don't have an oven installed on the driver's exhaust manifold, the tube does draw enough heated air to prevent it so far (it definitely worked with the old carb). I won't know until the weather turns really wet and cold if it will continue to work, but for now, even on the hottest days during this Summer, no percolation.
Is it not a column shift car? OEM (used?) parts should be sufficient, I would think. But you need to have the correct shift arm extending from the tranny side - column shift and floor shift ARE different and NOT useable in the wrong application - the detents don't align. Was the trans from a column shift car?
Trans and car are matching column shift pieces. Unfortunately, the factory shift lever arm at the transmission had to be cut to install the unit that the cable was supposed to attach to. I admit I never tried to get the factory mechanical linkage to work, I went straight for the cable. I wonder if with some creative bending I could get the original linkage to work. Of course, I would have to replace the shift arm lever...
Take a look at the '72-'79 intermediates; I have a C4, and the cable and bracket, which originally were on an FMX, bolted right up. All I had to do was flip the manual arm 180* to get it hooked up. If you can find one of those intermediate car brackets and a manual lever to swap into your trans (it wasn't hard to do on mine), you should be able to use the Ididit cable kit, I would think.
Firing off a quick response to you here Andy, the big problem with the IDIDIT cable kit is the clamping bracket that anchors and guides the cable. These are clearly different applications, but it shows the idea. There's no darn room in the Torino platform to run that guide/anchor down the inside of the firewall/transmission tunnel with my longtube headers. Confounding that, there's hardly any steering column sticking out to clamp to and the angles you can achieve are quite limited with the Torino design. Let me dig through some pictures and see what I can come up with in regards to my setup
Isn't it a bit more than just 'flipping the arm' with a C4? I thought you had to pull the pan and valve body to do that.
Yes, you're right, you do have to pull the pan, and in most cases, the valve body. But it won't help Mike, as he has already cut the shift arm lever off. Mike, go to the trans shop and get the correct lever and get the linkage from a boneyard (or another member!) and get it back to stock - at least it's useable then.
As I recall, I didn't remove the valve body, as I had enough access room to the manual valve, arm and retaining nut, to do the flip. If it had involved removing the valve body, I would've had a trans shop do it.
Ah, man, nice cackle! How'd it handle? Was the drive at least somewhat comfortable, no bottoming out?
Would you believe it actually drives and rides REALLY nicely? Dad says it feels like it's never been apart.
