So a funny story...

[Neener]

So my oldest boy (7 yrs) has been asking me to take him for a cruise in the 85 GT vert. Yesterday we finally decided to make that wish an actual.
The drive started off fine enough...then it started to afternoon colorado rain on us. Fortunately we were able to keep ahead of the storm so that we got to experience the open top all the entire time. He loved it, even as a few rogue drops graced our faces. After a stop at a take-n-bake pizza place...I decided to show the young one what the acceleration felt like. I got into it through the first two gears before the speed limit decided I should pay attention. The boy was all grins, so we slowed down to make another short jaunt to 60. This time I started in second and let it climb up to 6k. All of a sudden I here a small pop and my engine races up to over 7500 rpm! I fortunately was quick to think and turned the car off. Whew, now let's see if that was just a stuck throttle linkage or something. Start the car again and once more it rockets to 7500RPM. The car gets turned off and I slowly crawl to a side street to see what in the world is going on. At this point my boy is starting to panic a bit.

So check this...the carb air cleaner stud somehow wiggled out of the Holley and fell INTO the secondary bowl. The Secondaries were stuck wide open! I pulled the stud and threaded it back in and hoped that I didn't grenade the engine.

With a small prayer I turned the key. The vert burbled and settled into a normal idle. I drove home with no other issues however I never got on the gas hard again.

The boy and I had a good laugh afterwards and I was quite impressed at how fast and effortlessly the Explorer motor surged to 7500 plus. Hopefully nothing permanent was damaged!

[conmech]

Cool. The car WANTED to go faster than you did...

[Stormy81]

Glad all turned out well. That could have ended very badly.

[brianj]

Now you're making me want to go check the air cleaner stud on mine to be sure----lol

[homer302]

Threadlocker is your friend. I assume you added that to your list as soon as you got home.

[brianj]

When I bought my '68 mustang, it had no engine in it. It was gone, because the prior owner dropped the air cleaner wing nut in the motor, while it was running. Goodbye, 390. Ever since i heard that story, i have actually welded the wingnut to the carb stud on most of my cars. It is a little bit of a pain to get the stud started into the carb on re-installing the air cleaner, but i never have to worry about dropping it or it getting lost.

[Neener]

Yes, fortunately with a manual car...those types of danger situations can easily be mitigated with the pedal. If it was an auto...not too sure what would have happened haha!

I was going to put a nut on the stud at the carb...i wanted to try threadlock but have never used it...does it make the stud permanent or just a lot less likely to back out?

[JACook]

If you're using threaded rod in place of the factory style studded bolt, IMO a lock nut is mandatory.

Apart from the stuck throttle, I'm sure the car left a lasting positive impression on your son. Those
experiences are priceless.

[84StangSVT]

Yes, fortunately with a manual car...those types of danger situations can easily be mitigated with the pedal. If it was an auto...not too sure what would have happened haha!

I was going to put a nut on the stud at the carb...i wanted to try threadlock but have never used it...does it make the stud permanent or just a lot less likely to back out?

WOW! Crazy story but glad it worked out and no major issues. If you chose to use threadlocker or Loctite, use the blue stuff. It will keep it from backing out and it will allow you to remove it later if need be. The red stuff almost makes it a permanent fixture to where you will almost surely break something if you want to remove it.