This 79 F250 was brought in for a lack of power. The engine was recently rebuilt and it has a HEI distributor in it. Problem appears to have been incorrectly adjusted ignition timing.
I'm impressed, Phil. Not too often you run into somebody who can troubleshoot modern electrical problems but can still recite how a vacuum/mechanical advanced distributor works. Usually it's one or the other.
Its running good now! Don't see too many of those old trucks. A buddy just sold a 1979 F150 s/c 2wd last week. Was a project truck. We both probably wont see another for a while.
Whomever owned this truck had NO CLUE what they were doing. I like to time not only with a light, but also a vacuum gauge. Also noticed it was running hot. Oil pressure looked great though!
Mine started running like crap i rebuilt the carb thinking it was that cause just all of a sudden started poping and losing power on hills thats didnt do it what would cause that i bought another engine just incase but if its good i cant find my exact issues and fixes i didnt do anything other then drove it next day just started running bad dizzy is good all that idk what to try before swaping it
It could be dozens of things, spark plugs, wires, cap, rotor, ignition coil, pickup, ignition module, timing controls, carb and finally internal engine mechanical. An ignition scope would be useful if you can find a shop with one and some one who knows how to use it. Parts swapping is time consuming and expensive. You need an old school diagnosis. The new techs won't be able to plug a scan tool into it...
Great engine ! Decent amount of torque off the line I recently bought a 77 dual barrel But I'd like to make it breath better When I bought it The air intake hose that goes from the engine to grill is missing What do you recommend? Also if I change the exhaust should I go Glass packs? Full exhaust and headers ? It's a daily driver So. Needs to be economical
@@HVVYMETAL definitely a wise move if you’re wanting to stick with the original engine, cant go wrong there. The 76 Hiboy I bought in High School got 6mpg and with the fuel gauge not working it was a bit sketchy. I had a shortened broom handle I kept with the truck to stick down in the tank as a fuel gauge but mostly I just tried to make sure to keep gas In it. For the most part it’d put $30 every single day to go to school, then work and usually a little running around which doesn’t sound too awful bad but this was about 25 years ago hahaha.
I would give it a super tune. I have all the tools to work on it. Like a timing light. Set the choke. Be good to put a 4 barrel intake & carb . Duel exhaust. Make it run real nice 🎉 10:26
Irritates me when people use those junk Chinese HEI units ….so simple to run a stock ford distributor with an aftermarket ignition set up! Which is far superior! Appears the timing is way way off if the distributor isn’t causing the problem
I agree. He should have kept the stock duraspark system. There was nothing wrong with it. Whoever put in the HEI setup probably used the original ballast resistance wire for power as well.
