npk

i am posting this question here because my activation email from the 460 forum seems to be lost in the mail. here goes

i have a 1977 ford 460 engine. runs great down the road. she is a very hard starter when she is cold, lots of pedal pumps to get her going. she idles like she has a huge cam while cold and after driving 50 miles. the weird thing is that every so often at a stop light or when i park it idles completely smooth.

i was thinking it is a vacuum leak that occasionally seals itself. the problem with that theory is i have plugged all vacuum ports while parked and it still idles rough. my second theory is that it is something with the ignition or timing but i don't know where to start looking.

can a carburetor cause this type of behavior? any suggestions on how to diagnose and fix?


thanks

additional details: this is a stock engine out of a 77 ford van. the only non-factory components are the edlebrock carb (8867) and the adapter plate to attach it to the ford intake manifold.

emptypockets

Try FTE, http://ford-trucks.com/forum. It's a huge forum, but there are a lot of knowledgeable people there.

npk

Hadn't had time to tinker with truck lately. Funny thing is that I have been putting a different brand of fuel treatment in at every fill up and it seems to be fixing the problem. Who knew that crap did anything? I really think that this method is going to work. Now if I fix the electric choke she might start better and cold idle better as well. I'll keep you posted

npk

The multiple fuel treatments have fixed my problem. I now have the choke hooked up and she starts great. I don't have to pump the pedal at all. Still runs a little rough while cold but I can live with it. Might adjust the choke towards the rich side when I have time. The fuel additive that seemed to help the most was that blue enzyme stuff.