Mechanic in west suburbs of Chicago?

[patentshark]

I was out enjoying the weather today when my 72 decided it didn't want to start anymore. Cranks a little bit, but then stops. Grabbed a brand new battery and same problem. I had John F work on it a year ago and we got it as good as possible, but knew there would likely be some problems down the road and he was out of ideas.

I am in Naperville and the truck is in Aurora, at least until tomorrow when I get it towed.

Looking for someone to take a look at the motor and, worst case, swap in a new motor. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[TwoDalesDad]

Sounds to me that your STARTER HAS TAKEN THE ..CRAP...REPLACE AND BE ON YOUR WAY...

 

[patentshark]

There's more issues than the starter going on and they are probably what caused the starter to crap. We goofed with the timing, intake and a few other things to get it to run decent. Time to get it looked over again.

 

[Kurt]

John F. has teamed up with Matt at AFA Repair in Lake Villa. Matt is an excellent auto mechanic and fab guy.

I would give John a shout to see if they can help.

 

[WheelHorse]

You think the engine is bad, hence the possible swap?

 

[patentshark]

John is going to try to call me this afternoon.

We dug into the motor about a year ago and it seemed pretty cobbled together (cam, etc.) so we aren't very confident in it. I bought the truck about 2 years ago and was told it was rebuilt 6 years prior, but with unknown parts. We installed a brake booster and new power steering pump but weren't getting much of a vacuum so we played with the timing, intake, etc.

If the motor is workable, I'll keep it. Otherwise I don't want to dump tons of money into a motor with unknown history.

 

[WheelHorse]

Sounds to me like you would appreciate a cam swap. Lopey idled cams will either cause NO vacuum at idle or lower vac at idle.

If John and or Matt are your techs, have them perform a cylinder leak down on the engine, this tells the true condition of the engine. If she's tight and has good oil pressure at idle, I'd have them throw a torquer or RV cam in it. This will bring the vac back to normal specs.

It's very important for them to run cam break in oil for the first 30 mins and keep the revs over 2500 so the crank splashes enough lubrication on the lobes. Also equally important, depending on seat pressure of your valve springs not to be too high for the initial break in. This pertains to a flat tappet cam. If you have a roller then this goes out the window.

The stop of the cranking is a whole different issue.

 

[WheelHorse]

You could also do a vac canister for reserve vac, but it looks ugly under the hood. Like a steel coffee can was the typical old Ford style canisters.

 

[patentshark]

looking like we are headed towards a new motor. my mind is thinking fuel injected setup but my budget is in the corner of the room crying.

no soft top or cage for me this year.