Murdoc

Interesting responses here. I've heard a couple people mention easier maintenance with Manifolds. What kind of maintenance needs to be done with headers?

OK folks, let's take a poll. Which is better Headers or Manifolds? I know Headers allow for higher HP, but there must be some benefit to having the functionality of the manifold with the pre-heater shroud attached, right? What do you think? What's your preference and why?

Sorry, what do you mean by "bridge the 2 slip ring pins"?

Here's what the inside of the button looks like currently.

I've burned through two sets of contact rings and plates under my horn button. When I press on the button I can hear a feeble sound coming from the hi and low pitch horn devices under the hood and then blue sparks shooting from under my horn button. I've searched the web and I'm still totally stumped. Di-electric grease on the contacts seemed to work briefly, but definitely not a permanent solution.

Thanks for the responses everyone! So here are some pictures of the dipstick I have. It’s DOAE-6750-AB. What’s strange is I looked up the same part number on ebay and found one with the same number, but the one on ebay says “use 101B oil”, mine says “use SE 101C oil”. Not sure why the same part number would require different types of oil. I definitely messed up here though because I did not remove the filter (picture attached) when I changed the oil. The filter is fairly new though, I installed it about 5 months ago when I did my last oil change. So what should I be doing in regards to my filter when I change my oil and/or I’m installing a new filter?

Hello everyone who's about to call me crazy, stupid or naive for what I'm about to say! My car has a 1972 351 Cleveland 4V. I've read online that a 351 Cleveland is meant to take about 5 quarts of oil, but when I did an oil change on my car the other day I noticed a definite discrepancy. I seemed to be at the high end of the "safe zone" on my dipstick after only 3. What am I doing wrong here? Do I have the wrong dipstick? Am I getting an inaccurate reading because I'm checking the oil when the engine is cold? I should also mention that when I drain my oil, I drive the front wheels up onto a set of Rhino Ramps, so the car is at an angle when draining... Could that be preventing the oil from draining completely? I also put the car down flat before I put the new oil in and the dipstick still came out bone-dry, so maybe that's not the issue. I'm using Pennzoil 10W-30 High Mileage, is there a better oil you guys recommend or prefer?

Hi All, I’m also trying to do some maintenance on my console clock, but the damn chrome knob will not come off. I’ve tried holding it with pliers and twisting, but that doesn’t seem to do anything. Has anyone else figured this out?

Success! It is running! It turned out to be the points gap. There wasn’t one! I set it to .017 with my feeler gauge and that seemed to do the trick. Next step is to get the timing adjusted. Thank you all for letting me field my questions here!

August was just the point when I got so frustrated I decided I needed the advice of you more seasoned vets on here (You're all amazing). These problems started in June when the car died in the fast lane on i95 in Connecticut. I can confirm it is a points ignition system. I'm getting about 3 volts to my coil with the key in the "on" position. I'm unaware of this plastic timing gear you speak of. Finally how do you check an ignition condenser? I've attached a video of what it currently sounds like. -Mike IMG_7879.MOV

I double, triple quadruple checked the firing order. It's definitely correct. 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8 counter-clockwise. I double checked my TDC yesterday, it definitely appears to be in the correct position. I can see the fuel squirting into the carb when I pull the throttle back. I even dialed the choke housing back so the choke stays closed. It keeps sounding like it's firing or on the verge of firing then I let go of the key and nothing, just a winding noise as the crankshaft slows to a halt. I attached a timing gun to the cable going from the coil to the distributor when cranking and I see some non-consistent flashing. I stuck the timing gun clamp on plugs 1,2,3 and 4. No light coming from the gun. This left me to believe it was a distributor issue. Took the cap off and had my fiance turn the key. I could see the rotor spinning. Today, I've replaced the coil, rotor and cap. Still nothing.

New Carburetor, New battery, New Battery Cables, New Ignition Coil, New distributor, New Distributor cap, new distributor rotor, new spark plugs, new spark plug wires, new 14 Amp fuse in the #4 fuse slot... Why in the f&*k won't this POS start?

Got 'em. Thanks everyone! I was able to get them off. Now I just need to find the correct replacements... or maybe I can just put these right back on? They look hardly used at all!

I'm removing these three bolts, not the two bolts on the very top, correct?

Thanks Don, I will say that the shop I had the car towed to in Connecticut replaced some spark plugs that needed to be replaced, installed a new analog Distributor and ignition coil. When they took the car for a test drive it broke down. They discovered the vacuum advance plate had come off and was spinning around inside the housing, so then they had to replace that. The shop owner told me it would run well enough to get it home (which it did), but I should definitely take it to a local mechanic because it seemed to have carburetion issues (which was later confirmed by a local mechanic who then directed me to install the new carb). Being that that shop in CT had just replaced all that, do you still think it's necessary to adjust the timing? Or do you think my futzing with the carburetor might have thrown the timing off? You are correct, though both the old carb and the new carb are Holley 4160s, there are some deviations in the grooves on the base, so that could definitely be a factor. I also just replaced the fuel filter with a clearview mr. gasket before installing the new carb. I didn't find any sediment in the old filter. Like a dope, I actually did forget to clamp the vacuum line that leads into the temperature sensor on my air filter when I was working, so I'm thinking that may be the cause for the backfire issue. One more thing to note: I also noticed the CT shop had re-routed the vacuum advance line to the vacuum splitter on the intake manifold, not the timed spark on the old carb (I assume to prevent another vacuum advance failure) @jpaz I've attached the manual I had mentioned and the page I got the idle speeds from. The screwdriver is underlining what I had thought to be the correct idle speeds for my engine. Am I just reading this wrong? Sidenote, you said to back out the mixture screws 1/12 turns. Did you mean 1 1/2 (1.5)? 1.5 turns is what the Holley manual advised, which I did do.

Well, hopefully I can get it working with the 600 CFM, unfortunately I think it might be too late to make an exchange with Holley. This just seems to be another one of the previous owner's many eyebrow-raising decisions. These issues all started when the car broke down as a result of the rotor in my distributor snapping. The mechanic it got towed to informed me that the previous owner had put an optical distributor in as if they intended to do a digital conversion, but stopped with the distributor. Very confusing. Even so, your advice is extremely helpful. I'd be completely lost with this thing if it wasn't for all you great people on this site. Hopefully one of these days I will no longer be a FNG. Thank you again!

Thanks for the feedback jpaz! The reason I went with the 600 CFM was because I was replacing an old Holley that had been on the engine since it's previous owner and was also a 600 CFM. I called Holley Customer Support and gave them the part number (80457-2) on my old 4160 and the guy informed me that the 600 CFM was in fact the correct replacement for that part. On the Holley website, I don't see a 715 CFM, but I do see a 750 CFM. Do you think it's worth swapping for a 750 CFM? In addition to the battery cable, I plan to get some new terminal connectors because my old one's are pretty worn looking. When I was reading online that the battery issues could also stem from a bad ground. The old carb's electric choke was grounded to the Intake Manifold, while the new one is grounded onto one of the choke housing screws right out of the box. I had to use the old cruddy nuts and bolts to accomodate for the thicker holley base gasket (which was on with the old carb) because I thought vapor lock might have been another issue I was experiencing (also ordered a new one of those, but they're on backorder. Part # 108-12).

Hi All, I recently installed a Holley Street Warrior 600 CFM with Vacuum Secondaries and an Electric Choke. Once I got a trans kickdown that fit properly (or seems to). The fast idle was set very high around 1500 RPM (which is the factory setting according to the manual). I looked in the car manual and saw that the suggested RPMs for my set-up (351 4V Auto trans) is 625/500 (I assume that's 625- fast idle and 500- curb idle). After futzing with the Fast idle bolt, it seemed like the engine was idling around 625, but it sounded like it was struggling a little. I called it a day, and came back the next day to try adjusting the idle mixture screws and I think I might have gotten a little overzealous going back and forth between carb adjustments and starting the engine up. I could not keep the engine idling, heard a loud pop. I waited a while, tried again and the carb backfired, shooting a flame out the top. I waited a while, and got the engine to idle just enough to back the car into the garage for the night. The next day, i tried cranking the engine and heard a grinding noise and smoke coming from the battery. I tried jumping the battery and it seemed to start fine. Then I noticed a smell. I shut the car off and noticed the vinyl covering the ground cable which connected the frame of the car to the negative battery terminal had begun melting. I took the battery (Autocraft Silver) to Advance Autoparts to run a diagnostic on the battery. "Bad sale" was what the cashier said once the diagnostic completed (which only took one or two minutes), and they gave me a new Diehard Silver under warranty. I haven't put the new battery in yet, but I wanted to ask the vets on here what I'm doing wrong before I venture to try and "fix" anymore issues. P.S. What does rank FNG stand for? I assume "friggin' new guy" because that's how I feel right now.

Thanks Fabrice! Is there any sort of resistance when putting the caps back in place and reattaching the bolts afterwards?

Hi All, Sorry to re-open this two years later, but I'm running into the same problem as Tom and I wanted to know the easiest way to replace the front upper shock bushings. Could I just jack the rear of the car up so the front shocks compress and then unscrew the tops?

Excuse my ignorance Don, but aren't you already getting the cold air intake from the hood plenum? So what's the purpose of a second source for cold air intake? I'm just trying to understand how this all works together.

Wow, thanks guys. Lots of helpful responses on here. It seems like a pop rivet might be the most accessible and easy to install. On a related note, how necessary is the flex tubing and adjoining lower duct that attach to the end of the snorkel? Does it make much of a difference in terms of engine performance? From a lot of the pictures I've seen online, it seems like a part that a lot of people either never had or have chosen to live without.

Hi Everyone! First let me say thank you to all of you guys because digging through the forums on here has led me to get some very helpful answers to questions that have boggled my mind for a while. I'm currently trying to track down all the parts I need to get the Ram Air system for my '71 Mach 1 fully functional. The engine is a '72 351C 4V. I'm getting close to having all the parts I need, but I'm still missing a few. One piece in particular I'm having a hard time tracking down or getting any info on is the bolt or rivet that fastens the vacuum motor to the top of the air filter snorkel. Does anyone know what this piece is called or the part number? I figured maybe just a generic nut and bolt would work, but it seems like that might get in the way of the flap inside the snorkel. To clarify, the previous owner of this filter box removed this piece so he or she could repaint the filter box.