MTFCA Forum

Had an old mechanic tell me one day "99% of all carburetor problems were electrical." I have found it often to be so!

Steve, If you had so much soot that cleaning made a difference you probably need to run more lean. That could also account for your milage. Once you get up to operating temp on your long drives, turn back the carb adjusting needle a little.

Is the engine still a little stiff? How is it acting after the rebuild? Do you like the scat crank?

As the engine “breaks in” do you have to make continuous adjustments? I keep having to adjust things on my 1920. It runs a little different. Do you have the standard clutch or is it the jackrabbit? Mine has a jackrabbit and it is really smooth.

Years ago on this form was a debate on spark plug gap with high compression engines. The consensus was to narrow the gap to.025 from the normal setting of .030/.032.

The engine was as stiff as you might expect at first, but after driving over 2000 miles it turns as easily as ever. There's still some iron fuzz on the magnet when I change oil, but less each time The crank is fine. With so much attention to balancing rods, pistons, drums, etc., it's pretty smooth.

Stock Ford clutch. No problems.

I've been setting plug gap between .025" and .030", about .028". Maybe I'll narrow that to .025" and see if it makes any difference.

Can anyone think of any reason at all why narrowing plug gaps from .03 to .025 should make things better in a HC engine - or any engine - if was starting OK at .03?