1950 226 carb and motor help.

[restoringmy74]

I'm trying to get my dads 46 ford truck running like it use to. 4 months ago the truck ran great with plenty of power. The motor is a 50 model 226 flathead 6. I went to start the truck one day and it started fine but the power is just not there anymore. It has a one barrell carb on it that does need to be rebuilt, so I took it apart and cleaned it and put it back on the truck to buy me some time since we are in the final stage of getting truck on the road again. I have checked the timing, firing order and pulled the spark plugs. The spark plugs are a month old and they are jet black with carbon build up. Is the carb putting to much fuel in the motor for the plugs to be like this and will this cut the power down on the motor. You can hold the gas feed half way down and you have to wait for the rpm's to build up to just move the truck around. I know this is a long post but if any of you guys can help or give me some info, I'm all ears. I'm going to do a compression test on it today just to clear my mind on that. The motor was rebuilt 7 years ago but I would say it dont have 2000 miles on it because of us restoring the truck. Thanks for any help. Scott

[ken ct]

I have a properly rebuilt carb for your truck if you need one, with a core trade in the cost is $200 plus shipping.Truck ones are hard to find.I only have 1 that a customer defaulted on and sits in the box ready to go. ken ct. PM or email me if interested. [email protected].

[Henry/Kokomo]

From your description, it sounds like you have a very rich mixture which indicates carb trouble. Your best bet for a permanent remedy would be a properly rebuilt carb. In lieu of that, check the float level and check to be sure that the float has not developed a pinhole which would cause the float to remain too low and, thereby, allow the float valve to remain open at all times. FWIW

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

Plugged exh. system. Mice have made a big nest in the muffler. Unhook the exh pipe from the manifold and see if the engine will riv up like it should. Let us know what you find out. Walt

[restoringmy74]

Guys thanks for the help. Ken, I will get with you this evening on the carb. I've wanted to get a new carb for the truck for a while but let me run it by my dad since it is his truck, that sounds like a good deal to me. What I did yesterday was I took the carb apart and soaked everything. I have some new parts left over from a carb kit but its really not the right way to do it since I am using some old parts back. I think you guys are right that my problem is the mixture is rich. I'll check the exhaust to just to make sure it is clear, I didnt even think to do that. I'll update you guys this evening to let you know how I did. Thanks for the help!! Scott

[TomO]

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Get rid of those carbon fouled plugs. You will get more power right away. Plugs can get carbon fouled by too much idleing or only slow speed driving.

[restoringmy74]

Ok here is what I did. Got the carb back together and I cleaned the spark plugs and made sure the gap was set right. Checked the exhaust and found no mice nest or anything like that. The truck started up great once the carb filled with gas. I let it warm up and adjusted the idle mixture screw. It sounds better and takes gas good once it warms up. It rained here all day so I cant say its completely fixed because I havent drove it yet. The carb on the truck is a 40-42 model carb. The vaccume advance on the truck runs into the back of the manifold. The ones I looked at on the flathead site for the 46-53 trucks shows the vaccume advance screws into the side of the carb itself. Does this make a difference. I know on my 74 f100 it does make a difference if you hook it up to manifold vaccume. I did check the vaccume advance on dads truck and if you unhook it the rpm's on the motor goes uo and it will not take gas at all, so I'm guessing it is ok. At idle it does have a little miss in it and I cant seem to get it out of it. I still think a new carb would take care of the problem, but I'm going to try to get the truck out and drive it if the weather is better. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Thanks Scott

[ken ct]

Originally Posted by restoringmy74

Ok here is what I did. Got the carb back together and I cleaned the spark plugs and made sure the gap was set right. Checked the exhaust and found no mice nest or anything like that. The truck started up great once the carb filled with gas. I let it warm up and adjusted the idle mixture screw. It sounds better and takes gas good once it warms up. It rained here all day so I cant say its completely fixed because I havent drove it yet. The carb on the truck is a 40-42 model carb. The vaccume advance on the truck runs into the back of the manifold. The ones I looked at on the flathead site for the 46-53 trucks shows the vaccume advance screws into the side of the carb itself. Does this make a difference. I know on my 74 f100 it does make a difference if you hook it up to manifold vaccume. I did check the vaccume advance on dads truck and if you unhook it the rpm's on the motor goes uo and it will not take gas at all, so I'm guessing it is ok. At idle it does have a little miss in it and I cant seem to get it out of it. I still think a new carb would take care of the problem, but I'm going to try to get the truck out and drive it if the weather is better. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Thanks Scott

On 46-51 engines vacume for dist is gotten from the carb[venturie vacume] Their is NO vacume connection on 41-45 carbs."G" engines were used from 41 to 45-46 "H" engines used a diff dist setup. Your carb should have a vacume connection on it. If not you have a mis-matched carb to engine situation.The correct carb for this engine should have a connection for a cable operated choke,w/ a bracket on the rear carb screw to hold up the cable.These are #847 ford holley carbs. #'s on bowl side should be 8HT or 7HT. Trucks have a diff top than the pass ones. The vacume situation could be your problem. ken ct.

[31chevy]

What Walt Dupont said, Two friends of mine had exactly that problem.
Gary.