The Ford Barn

Squadron · 07-04-2025, 06:19 PM

Hey folks!

My 47 Ford just got back from the shop where they did a few things for me that I didn't have time to do:

Resolved some coolant leaks (antifreeze is nasty stuff) and remounted the new radiator
New carb
Added a radiator overflow

However after a few weeks of sitting without driving the car now has a pretty nasty habit of pulsing while the engine's cold. It also runs somewhat rich (not thick clouds of black smoke, but black-ish).

I took some videos of the engine running so you can hear the sounds and get a good view of what's going on. You can see it here:

https://youtube.com/shorts/F-8ShsKjPT8?feature=share

I fiddled with the two carb knobs and there was 0 change in either the pulsing or the smoke, and it's more pronounced when the carb is choked off (valve is closed). When I remove the air filter entirely and open up the choke, it feels less pronounced but is still there.

As the car warms up, the pulsing gets less pronounced but the smoke persists regardless.

I'm thinking I might need to do two things:

1. Fiddle with the carb more to get the engine running less rich (somehow, I'm really not an expert on carbs).
2. Maybe adjust the distributor timing? Also don't know much more than the theory around distributor timing. From what I can tell, I'd need to pull off the radiator again to get at the distributor.

If I have to do #2 I'm wondering if I should just fully swap out the distributor with one of these:

https://cwmoss.com/collections/v8/pr...t-12v-negative

The idea is to increase the reliability of the car without ruining the character of the engine so making the distributor less maintenance would be a win.

Any feedback would be welcome!

07-04-2025, 06:19 PM	#1
Squadron Member Join Date: Sep 2022 Posts: 46	Time for a timing adjustment? Hey folks! My 47 Ford just got back from the shop where they did a few things for me that I didn't have time to do: Resolved some coolant leaks (antifreeze is nasty stuff) and remounted the new radiator New carb Added a radiator overflow However after a few weeks of sitting without driving the car now has a pretty nasty habit of pulsing while the engine's cold. It also runs somewhat rich (not thick clouds of black smoke, but black-ish). I took some videos of the engine running so you can hear the sounds and get a good view of what's going on. You can see it here: https://youtube.com/shorts/F-8ShsKjPT8?feature=share I fiddled with the two carb knobs and there was 0 change in either the pulsing or the smoke, and it's more pronounced when the carb is choked off (valve is closed). When I remove the air filter entirely and open up the choke, it feels less pronounced but is still there. As the car warms up, the pulsing gets less pronounced but the smoke persists regardless. I'm thinking I might need to do two things: 1. Fiddle with the carb more to get the engine running less rich (somehow, I'm really not an expert on carbs). 2. Maybe adjust the distributor timing? Also don't know much more than the theory around distributor timing. From what I can tell, I'd need to pull off the radiator again to get at the distributor. If I have to do #2 I'm wondering if I should just fully swap out the distributor with one of these: https://cwmoss.com/collections/v8/pr...t-12v-negative The idea is to increase the reliability of the car without ruining the character of the engine so making the distributor less maintenance would be a win. Any feedback would be welcome!