Brand new good times

[Swank]

Just put new seat and needle in yesterday.  Took the air horn off again today to check the float level.  Looks good.  But I have had a rash of defective new parts lately.   I could put the old one back in to see if it helps...

[hiball3985]

Just put new seat and needle in yesterday.  Took the air horn off again today to check the float level.  Looks good.  But I have had a rash of defective new parts lately.   I could put the old one back in to see if it helps...

I've run them with the airhorn off to watch, be very careful if you do. A lot of new parts can be crap, I just had a fuel pump failure on a FE, probably less the 300 miles..

[djfordmanjack]

I think at this point you can rule out a head gasket problem. condensation was probably mostly collected from many short start ups. like some stated, humidity must be high in La and that would be natural to collect so much water.
simply try running it without the resistor for a minute. surely the coil will warm up faster but shouldn't get damaged from that. if it runs better in the beginning, it shows that you have a weak spark ( and only get a better running engine with having high spark with a 9V coil running on 12V). if it quits earlier than before, it shows that the problem is in your coil ( heating up and shortcutting earlier because of maybe a faulty winding).
From my experience though I have to say that it is often several different problems interacting. I wouldn't be surprised if you were having ignition and fuel mixture problems at the same time.
What spark plugs are you running ? They may look good outside but oh-so-many-times have I found faulty spark plugs in all kinds of vehicles. With all that rich mixture they might be fouled inside the ceramic insulator.
I suggest trying Champion. I have made good experience with them. And DO check the spark plug gaps!

[Tom S]

Doubtful that it's the resistor, they either work or don't, when bad the spiral wire breaks. Almost sounds like it is flooding ...

I agree. The dummies that put my Ranchero together just eliminated the ignition resistor for the points ignition & it still ran with no noticeable problem except for a very hot coil.
I didn't even notice it was missing for a while. 
The gas dripping into the carb just ain't right.

[John Palmer]

Disconnect the fuel line at the carb.  Connect a quality pressure gauge on the line and start the engine.  What's the pressure?  Too high, or too low is a problem.  6# is in the ball park.

While the fuel line is disconnected, push a section of hose over the line and run the hose into a can.  Restart the engine and check the fuel for fuel volume flow.

This basically checks your fuel system from the tank to the carb.  You need both pressure AND volume.  For example, you can get pressure without much volume when the filter is plugged, or the tank has a restriction.

Don't waste your time using anything but a real pressure test gauge.  Those small 2" glycerin filled gauges are not accurate.

[Swank]

Update:  ...its a runner, ...and im now able to field strip an autolite 2100 in under two and a half minutes.
It was apparently one of those days where everything fell down the stairs at the same time.
Venturi tubes were already measuring aprox .028 so i didnt mess with those.  Unhooked the tank, ran new gas straight from a bottle through the pump, pressure was good, carb not leaking anymore. Still running like junk. The new power valve spring was very soft and i eventually put the old valve back in and that seemed to stop the flow out of the venturi turbines. Dont know if that was it, or if I accidently got the float correct at the same time, cause i messed with the float for too many hours also, along with the idle screws.  No matter, it was hard to start, and if it did, would only run at high idle for less than 30 seconds, then sputter, or just shutdown.
So i gave up, had some cold snacks, and put the valence on instead.
Came back and decided to check spark since i felt i had exhausted the carb options.  Had a steady dizzy signal.

https://youtu.be/h65X-o3pfrY

But decided to check the arc.   All sketchy.

https://youtu.be/cEX-z9EdO8E

Did basic test on the coil and related wiring. All seemed good. Checked all the connections through the distributor, threw in a condenser, brushed up the points real fast, and checked again.   Much better.

https://youtu.be/BHaTIwv9dzI

Started right up.  I set the idle down some and had some more cold snacks. Half hour later, still idling and not a drop coming out of the exhaust. 
So last sunday,  between noon and 5, it started dumping what seemed like gallons of water out the exhaust, started leaking gas out the carb all over the manifold, and blew a condenser. 

After a week, im glad to be back at square one, and that i didnt pull the heads.

https://youtu.be/z-m3Ze37m_8
(It was late when i got it running, videos dark)

Thanks for all the input and suggestions, im sure i'll need more soon.

[terry_208]

I'm glad you got it sorted out!

[djfordmanjack]

So glad for you, that it's up an running again !!!! awesome ! 
Can't wait to see your 57 out on the streets! it will be a head turner for sure.

here is just a reminder of what I said a few days earlier. Not trying to brag, but it took me years, if not decades to accept the fact that sometimes oh-so-many things start going wrong in an old car incidentally at the same time.

I think this really is something that needs considered everytime we run into trouble with our old cars. it is my troubleshooting credo, if you will.

From my experience though I have to say that it is often several different problems interacting. I wouldn't be surprised if you were having ignition and fuel mixture problems at the same time.

[hiball3985]

Heres a general rule I live by: When you think it's carburetor it's the Ignition. If you think it the ignition it's the carb  Be suspicious of new condensers, the are Chinese junk

[Swank]

Soon as i came across the sketchy spark i thought, well, G did say it could be more than one problem.   Guess im still in denial that new parts can be junk, seeing how that condenser had about 30 minutes of run time on it before it gave up the ghost. Dang.

[hiball3985]

I have had new condensers dead right out of the box. This the reason I went to Pertronix.
Thinking about the carb: I don't know what the base mounting surface looks like on yours but I tried to use one from the late 60's and there was no way to get the carb mounted to the Y manifold without a huge vacuum leak, the carb had a space that over hung the mounting surface on the manifold.

[Tom S]

Heres a general rule I live by: When you think it's carburetor it's the Ignition. If you think it the ignition it's the carb  Be suspicious of new condensers, the are Chinese junk

I agree that it's nearly always the ignition that causes running problems, not the carb.
Tried to start a car that had sat for years but was getting nothing. No spark. Points looked good & sanded 'em a little, still no spark. All the other ignition stuff seemed ok.  After trying everything else I put a multimeter on the closed points & got zero continuity.  Sanded 'em a bunch more but still no continuity. Replaced 'em & all was well. Just weird.
I'm pretty sure that these were the Chevy points that I had very easily adapted to the Ford distributor in order to get their externally adjustable dwell setting. Works great, makes it so easy to keep on top of the point setting.
Hardest part was drilling the hole for the allen wrench into the side of the Ford distributor while it was still installed in the van's engine.
Maybe getting no spark there is what I get for using brand X parts in a Ford.     

[Swank]

Thinking about the carb: I don't know what the base mounting surface looks like on yours but I tried to use one from the late 60's and there was no way to get the carb mounted to the Y manifold without a huge vacuum leak, the carb had a space that over hung the mounting surface on the manifold.

The early 70's autolite fits pretty good on the manifold.  The hole diameter between the little riser and the intake might be a little different, but the overall footprint is pretty much on.

[Ecode70D]

I agree that it's nearly always the ignition that causes running problems, not the carb.
I'm pretty sure that these were the Chevy points that I had very easily adapted to the Ford distributor in order to get their externally adjustable dwell setting. Works great, makes it so easy to keep on top of the point setting.
Hardest part was drilling the hole for the allen wrench into the side of the Ford distributor while it was still installed in the van's engine.
Maybe getting no spark there is what I get for using brand X parts in a Ford. 

     Tom
      That's a real cool idea.   I have to admit that those points are easier to set the dwell. Jay

[Swank]

UPDATE:
Ok, back to messing with the 2100, because it has a bit of hesitation coming off of idle.
Ive got 10 degrees initial timing,  27 dwell, 19-20 inches of vacuum, and vacuum advance is working.  Starts right up, but while in idle, will miss every once in a while.
Found yesterday that while idling,  i can turn the passenger side idle mix screw all the way in with no effect on the rpms.  Both were set aprox 3 turns out.  Driver side will kill the car with the passenger side backed out pretty far.    Im assuming pass side has no fuel flow.   (Which is probably why screws had to be turned out so far originally)
Last time i had this thing apart, i did notice that one of the emulsion tubes has a hairline crack going down between the holes on one side of that tube.   I decided to ignore that part, and put it back together.
Would that crack stop this side from flowing through the idle circuit, or do you think the idle circuit is just stopped up?