GT's running BAD. RPM Buckin voilently. Need advice asap!

[joelliott]

I have been on vacation for a few weeks and not driven the 85gt much for a month. No AC and its hot here. I ran the car for a few minutes abut a week ago. Ran fine.
I installed 2 new gauges (oil psi and temp) both mech. and started the car up. Ran really good. Reved between idle and 450o rpm's. No problem.
I get in and warm her up yesterday, runnin good. Drive down the street for a 1/2 mile, no problems.
Make a stop and turn on to another road and hit the gas....................

:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( \
Car starts buckin real bad. I think wrong gear, use clutch and check, Im in 1st. ok. Hit the gas, starts buckin voilently again. I rev and shift to 2nd. Nearly stalls. I hit the gas thinking maybe gas clog or somethin. engine About dies. I look at the tack, rpms jumpin up and down between 800 and 2500 about every second. Im freakin out now. Pull of the road, head back home in 1st the whole way 3/4 mile home. It was backfiring real bad, stallin, buckin. :evil:

I was low on gas and headin to the gas station. Gas has been in it for a month. Maybe funky gas. But I ran it a total of 20-25 minutes the previous days in the driveway with NO , absolutely NO hickups.

Im thinkin replace the fuel fitler. Maybe its clogged. I put about 3 gals of new gas in from my portable gas can. Start the car up and it contines to do the same horrible running. I spray some carb cleaner in the holley, no change. Engine torque'n over bad and car jumpin.

Any clue as to the culpret would be a huge help. I need your expierence guys. Thanks
Joe E.

[joelliott]

aw come on guys. I really need your help!
Maybe Ill just take it to the shop... :?
Joe E.

[frankiesaysrelax]

I think you should change the fuel filter like you mentioned. Do that and then report back.

Perhaps the float is sticking or there is crap stuck between the needle and the seat. If so, blow some compressed air into the fuel inlet of the carb. That might dislodge it. Definitlely change that filter before you do anything else though.

Inspect the condition of the distributor, wires, cap & rotor also.

[Zap's 85 GT]

Sounds like a carb disassemble-clean-and reassemble to me. Just blow it all out with some compressed air. If you dont have an air compressor, just get a computer duster aerosol can. They work great too.

[joelliott]

Ok Ill do the fuel filter. Im also gonna get some more gas 93octane and some fuel stabolizer. Ill get a new cap and rotor too and I can get some cheeper wires, might do it too.

Im pretty much carb novice. Use the compressed air on the same fitting that the fuel filter goes into, right? What about some carb cleaner like "Gunk" or somethin?

Something else I noticed is the 4 brrl. On my holley SA carb, there are 2 brrls that are lower than the other 2. The higher pair of the 2 (closest to the radiator) has a flipper on it. That flipper was open the whole time. I tried to close it by hand and it was alittle stiff. When I closed it though the car wanted to stall. Should I grease up the fittings around this area?

Thanks guys. I REALLY appreciate it. Im car-less right now cuz of this.
Have a good Weekend. Ill report back later.
Joe E.

[frankiesaysrelax]

Ok Ill do the fuel filter. Im also gonna get some more gas 93octane and some fuel stabolizer. Ill get a new cap and rotor too and I can get some cheeper wires, might do it too.

Im pretty much carb novice. Use the compressed air on the same fitting that the fuel filter goes into, right? What about some carb cleaner like "Gunk" or somethin?

Something else I noticed is the 4 brrl. On my holley SA carb, there are 2 brrls that are lower than the other 2. The higher pair of the 2 (closest to the radiator) has a flipper on it. That flipper was open the whole time. I tried to close it by hand and it was alittle stiff. When I closed it though the car wanted to stall. Should I grease up the fittings around this area?

Thanks guys. I REALLY appreciate it. Im car-less right now cuz of this.
Have a good Weekend. Ill report back later.
Joe E.

That flipper is the choke. If the engine is warm it should be open. You only need it to be closed when it gets cold out. In Florida, you don't really even need a choke, LOL.

I don't know where the fuel filter is on a carbed Mustang. If it is in the fuel inlet like a GM carb, yeah, you blow in there with compressed air.

[negusm]

You only need it to be closed when it gets cold out. In Florida, you don't really even need a choke, LOL.


Don't give him the idea that its worthless. You need a choke even on a 100 degree day when trying to get a car/tractor/weed whacker/etc started up.

-Mike

[frankiesaysrelax]

You only need it to be closed when it gets cold out. In Florida, you don't really even need a choke, LOL.


Don't give him the idea that its worthless. You need a choke even on a 100 degree day when trying to get a car/tractor/weed whacker/etc started up.

-Mike

I've just heard countless guys in florida recount how they intalled manual choke carbs and just wired the choke to be fully open all the time. Up here in NY you see that a lot on race cars, since during race season is warm enough that you really don't need a choke. A lot of the time they remove it completely. I can't imagine needing a choke to start ANYTHING on a 100 degree day. Outboard motors certainly don't need the choke to start on hot summer days. Once the thermometer hits 80 degrees, most thermostatic chokes are mostly open, if not all the way. However, whenever I owned anything with a carburetor, my choke was always hooked up and working properly. Which reminds me of how you could never really get the choke set just right until it got really cold out. Then you could fine tune it. I would never say it is "worthless" though. Sometimes it does get into the 30s or 40s in Florida.

Anyway, if his choke is staying open it isn't the problem.

[85saleencoupe]

i have never used chokes and i have no problem getting my car started even in the coldest of winters.i start my car once a week in the winter and by 4 cranks it fires.in the summer time i dont even need to touch the gas to fire it up turn the key and it starts and runs great.chokes are not needed,only thing they save you from is if your car takes awhile to idle when it starts other wise just hold the gas down for a few minutes to warm it up

[amanns]

mine did the same thing the other day. probably it was because i did a burnout aruond a corner car bucked shortly after getting straightened out. drove the car about 5 miles still bucking sputtering and would die if i clutched it. finally pulled over to check out problem. car stalled. let sit a while. didn't see anything wrong. cranked it up. car ran pretty good but still bucking but not as bad. drove on. about 10 miles later car was fine. haven't had any problems since. early cars tail happy with stering wheel cocked one way too far. probably you have trash not letting needle seat. the filter on my 83 was a fine mesh screen in the carb inlet. holley carbs don't like dirt . on the 83 carb there is a brass screw on the lh side of the float bowl. its a site gauge for float level. the fuel luvel should be at the bottom of the hole. i would advise to put a clear filter somewhere in the fuel line so you can see how the filter is doing. have one on mine since i changed the holley for an earlier one.

[megamustang]

Guessing fuel filter too....let us know if that's the culprit.
Matt

[joelliott]

OK guys. Ill keep everything in mind today when I go out to the car. I still have to get a fuel filter. Saturday just got too busy. I worked harder sat than I did all week at work! lol. My sister is moving and I get to help her! Yesterday, I stormed here like crazy. We had so much lightning it was crazy.

Anyways, Ill get the filter today and see if that helps. Im also gonna get some more cash fuel (gas=2.67 a gal for 87) and see if that helps. Thanks for your info guys.
Joe E.

[FanToM]

Sounds like the same thing that happened to me resently. Check your charging system.

[fordfreak300]

Wel since I knwo the carb is new I doubt it needs rebuilt. I would check your fuel fliter, l have a feeling this is it. If it was the needle sticking open it would not idle very good but drive ok once you really steped on the gas and help the throttle open. Sounds more like you are not getting gas. Yur gas shouldn;t go bad in a month to cause that kind of bucking. I knwo you are just looking for solutions but that is probably not one of them. Let me know if it was the fuel filter.

P.S. By the way did I ever show you pics of my cr with the scoop on it? Thank you again for the present Joe, it was awesome of you.

[joelliott]

Whats up buddy? No Ive havent seen them yet. But Id love to. Shoot me a email. Ill be looking. You get the scoop all painted up and stuff? I bet it looks killer. Oh and dont worry bout it man, Im glad I could help alittle. God knows, ive sent many many emails your way over the last year! :tu:

As for the stang, I got some more gas in it. Back and forth from the gas station with a stinkin 3 gal. jug. lol I got some fuel additive that removes water and gonna put half of it in the tank. I also got the new fuel fitler but havent put it in yet. Its been in the upper 90*s here and misquitos like crazy due to the afternoon rain nearly everyday. :evil: But Im hoping to get it all tightened up in the next day or so. Im thinking the gas and filter combined is what caused the problem. Im hope'n!

Well I gotta get back to work. Talk to yall later.
Joe E.

[fordfreak300]

The scoop is still dark blue but it almost blends in. I will have plenty of time to paint it now that my suburban is finally comming home after my dad driving it for the last year. I'll make a post on the burb in the BS forum though so look for it there. I'll send ya an e-mail with pics of the scoop on.

[fordfreak300]

On second thought I just went through my pics really fast and I dont; have any pics of it eith teh scoop on yet. DOH! time to wash the car and start snapping pics lol...

[joelliott]

Good to hear you gotta DD. In about a week I wont anymore. Just the stang. Its been so hot here. I saw 99* on the bank sign about 6pm here. Raining of course and nice and buggy. I just could pull myself out to the driveway to work on the stang. Hopefully tomarrow! Instead I was on our 2 story roof installin a new Satellite TV system and moving furniture. About 40 miles from here 3 roofers were electrucited of which 2 died from lightning. And here I was on our roof. Not real bright! lol

Shoot me a pict of your stang anytime dude. Sounds like good stuff tho. Have you done any other work on your stang? And what about this suburban? Its lifted on 44s right? Well itd be sweet if it was. Done anything to it? Well gotta run. Im installin Microsoft Office on my laptop and typin on the folks desktop right now! I feel like a computer nerd! ttyl
Joe E.

[fordfreak300]

I see yuo already found the other thread. i will get my car washed up and take some pics this weekend. It is all dirty from recent rains here. I have just finally saved up the last of the money i need to buy new heads. I don;t have the money for the machine work yet but I will be porting an dpolishing them at home. Then milling .030. i picked .030 for the cc's that will give me and the compression where i want it. Then i am going to put behive springs ans titanium locks and keepers on them. I also will be going to a bigger valve size. All in all I will have about $800 invested into a set of GT40s lol... However the porting and polishing is free.

And before anyone says why not save up a little more and get AFRs or twisted wedges. because the compression I am going to get will off set what i will gain by the better aluminum heads with no work. Also I will be using a lighter valve train than I could afford with alum heads. It also will get me right about where I want my NA horse power to be so I have some room left for N2O.

[joelliott]

good stuff man. Sounds like your cars gonna get some serious perf. mods here real soon. I wish I had the whole idea of the heads and their details understood better. I got the basic ideas but not enough to go get a used set and fix em up to run how I want. more reading I must do I guess.

Good Luck with it.
Just curious? What 87 oct out there in Cali? Its 2.71 here.
Joe E.

[fordfreak300]

I dunno i ise 91 octane, we dont; have 93 and I paid 3.01 a gallon two days ago. I first started doing heads on an old set I got ahold of for nothing. Then i just worked my way up. Do lots of reading and maybee pick up a set of E7 heads for cheap and start working on them. That way you dont; spend too much money and can learn what your doing.

[joelliott]

Hows it goin man? Sounds like a good idea. Find some cheep heads and tinker! :lol: Im good at tinkerin. lol. But right now Im focused on the darn fuel stuff. i got out there early today and tinkered abit. Put some more clean fuel in the tank. Put in some gas stabolizer. PUlled all the Hat filter stuff off to get to the carb. I started the engine. It ran but still missing bad. But not as bad as a few days ago. I could hear and see the gas goin into the carb. Seemed to flow ok. But the rpms were jumpin still. However there was no backfiring now.?. On the holley carb, I couldnt find a tool go get the fuel inlet off. I could get the stock fitting off but not the new holley one. I was just buggerin it up. After a while the car started stallin out. And white smoke would blow back up through the carb barrals. Smelled like gas. I could see a small bit of drips hittin the inside of the carb when I manually pulled the throttle cable. That bit of fuel would sear off and white smoke would exit through the top of the carb. It got to where the car wont start now. it will turn over and almost fire but it wont catch enought to run. I did this a dozen times thinkin I could get it to go but it didnt. :evil:

So now Im wonderin if my problem isnt distrubitor related. The plug wires lookd fine. But I dodnt pull the cap and rotor. Maybe moisture got in there and goobered up the terminals. Thus causing bad misfires, engine jumpin due to pulling over dead cylinders, etc. I ran outa time so I decided to call the local speed shop and set up a thing tomarrow AM. Gonna tow the stang up there and have them look it over. I just dont have the time or patience to tinker with it anymore right now. lol. Im getting ready to move back to college this weekend so things are crazy here right now. You know how moving is! So hopefully tomarrow Ill know more.

TTYL.
Joe E.

[fordfreak300]

hmm could be a needle not closing all the way. You should not see fuel droping in when idling.

[NoBling]

aw come on guys. I really need your help!
Maybe Ill just take it to the shop... :?
Joe E.

DISTIBUTOR!!!!!

The same thing happend to me, and I spent a metric assload trying to figure it out,and it was the dist. Exactly the same thing happend to me.

[joelliott]

thanks again guys. Im hopin it just the cap and rotor. I had setup to get the car looked at today and I just went with it. Im outa time to mess with it. its gotta be fixed asap.

The gas wasnt drippin at idle while the car was runnin. This was after the engine stalled and shut down. Id pull the throttle cable and I could see a few drips of gas fall from the carb into the intake. These drops would burn off and be white smoke commin back outa the carb.

Well anyways, the car is at the shop and being looked at. I figured while it was there Id have them put in my new radiator hoses and T stat. That Tstat is a PITA to get in! lol Let them mess with it. :D

Ill let you know Wed what comes of it...
Joe E.

[joelliott]

got the car fixed. See new thread.
Joe E.