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Finally got a little cooperation from the weather and was able to work in the garage. Another mystery had me perplexed yesterday. While the Lincoln is in the garage it was a good time to recheck the lifter adjustments. But, it didn't feel at all like previous hydraulic lifter adjustments. Some of the rockers would have a firm feel at zero lash and some were soft. Not a lot of pressure above the push rods would compress some of the lifters. Those lifters could also be compressed by finger tightening the adjuster. Never had that happen before.

So, I quit and posted a question on 460ford.com saying I was HOPING the lifters where the valves were open for the last 2 months (been that long since the engine had run) had leaked the oil out and what I was feeling was OK for empty lifters. Carl responded saying that IS what was happening and not to be concerned.

This morning I pulled the distributor, primed the oil system, reinstalled the distributor, and cranked the engine over several times to refill the lifters. It worked! Got the more definitive feel at zero lash and pre-load and reset them all. WHEW!!! Guess that a good reason for filling new lifters before they're installed.

No oil leaks so far.

Good news: no oil leaks. 3/8" clearance where the left header had been hitting the adjusting stud on the steering box.

Went under the car and bolted everything back together. Started it up and, BAD NEWS, there's a bad exhaust leak on the left header. I can feel the leak on #5 cyl. CRAP!! Got a LITTLE more turns on the header bolts but to no effect. Most everything I had loose will have to get undone again to remove the header and see what's up. Not sure WHAT the fix will be. Happy hour might come early today.

Had a thought. Maybe I'll pull that header off and, assuming there's some obvious misalignment, bolt it tightly to an old head, heat the tubes and flange and see if the headers will true up. The flanges were already "flattened" on a large belt sander before they were installed on the engine.

Didn't see any signs of leakage when it was away from the head so I don't know why are they leaking now.

Not sure if you're using header gaskets or not, but I don't believe in them. Hi-temp black or the copper stuff work well. Just smear it on and tighten...

Good luck!

-BP

Basement Paul wrote:Not sure if you're using header gaskets or not, but I don't believe in them. Hi-temp black or the copper stuff work well. Just smear it on and tighten...

Good luck!

-BP

Yes, header gaskets. The one I replaced was different, probably came with the Fel-pro set. It was dimensionally the same as the one it replaced and quite thick.

I've heard of using hi temp sealer but was skeptical about using it with these less-than-flat flanges. This header is such a tight fit I'm not sure the sealer would stay in the right place as the header is slid into position. Maybe hi temp sealer AND a gasket would work. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to cogitate on it.

Did a little looking at 460Ford.com. Some experts use gaskets, some use hi-temp RTV, and some use both and no one ever has a problem.

So, I decided to get some Edelbrock gaskets that are recommended for the Edelbrock heads (rather than the FelPros that came in the gasket kit) AND Permatex Ultra Copper RTV to apply to the gaskets. Ordered the items from Summit. The Edelbrock gaskets couldn't be found locally. They should be here Thurs or Fri.

The plan is to pull the header loose, smear both sides of the gasket and the header and head surfaces with the high temp RTV, install the header bolts finger tight, wait 24 hours, then torque the header bolts. Sure hope it works. That left header is NO FUN to work on.

Started it up and, BAD NEWS, there's a bad exhaust leak on the left header.

Never mind. There's a front and back to the header gasket. Put it on the wrong way and the gasket is offset from the ports 1/4". Small wonder it leaked. I'll still wait for the good gaskets and hi temp RTV but, since they're not coming till Friday, and we're leaving for FL on Saturday, it'll be the end of the month before the header gets reinstalled.

Ah, sweet success!! The gaskets and hi temp RTV came yesterday, a day ahead of the arrival estimate. Reinstalled the header, with the RTV-smeared gasket and right end to, and bolts just snugged up last evening. Torqued them down this evening, reattached the exhaust, etc., etc., etc., and started it up. No header leaks. Just a few things to reassemble when we return from Florida and it should be on "On the Road Again". Happy, happy, happy!!! Oh yeah, there's a rebuilt master cyl to install too. Beats putting headers off and on.

Way to go! You've earned your Florida vacation! Between you and BP, I was about ready to pay for a therapist for each of you to work out your depression over your frustrating problems.

There's a common denominator here: FORD

Glad to hear you're back on track Maverick. It should be a fun summer for you!

-BP

Been out of town for 10 days. We had a vacation in Florida cut short by the death of an old friend, Jerry, and his funeral in Michigan. Jerry had a 13 second, Olds powered Henry J in 1960 which he let me take down the 1/4 mile. Unfortunately, the rear universal broke on the 1-2 shift. Jerry was in Raleigh in 2012 and took the Maverick down the 1/8th mile.

So, we put 4000+ miles on the new Caddy XTS which is a dream to drive on the Interstate. Very stable handling and climbs the WV mountains at 80 with plenty to spare. Didn't get passed by many on curves or climbs.

Obviously, no progress on the Lincoln for a while. Did spend some time with it yesterday but didn't accomplish much. I intended to install the rebuilt master cylinder but opted to do the dust covers over the upper A-frames instead. No replacements for the Lincoln are available but some for a '70 Ford are close enough. Here's a picture of what's left of the LH original on top of the new Ford cover.



I didn't trim the excess preferring to keep the factory edges. Had to make several new holes to fit it to the Lincoln apron.

Nice weather this week demands some yard work so there won't be much happening on the Lincoln for a while.

After several days of yard work, its almost under control. So, back to the Lincoln.

Installed the rebuilt master cylinder. It WAS leaking on the back side. Not a lot but enough to make me think it could have been letting air in to the brake lines. Bled the brakes and the pedal is still a little soft. Tried a "reverse bleed" with this gadget. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 7379300010 No bubbles and no effect -- the pedal is still a little soft. Maybe that's normal for '78 Hydroboost brakes? Maybe the new pads need to wear in? Brakes work fine.

The Melling high volume oil pump and switching to VR1 20W50 oil solved the low oil pressure issue. Still 70 PSI at cold idle (same as before) but now its just under 50 PSI at 200* and 800 RPM idle.

Its dropping a cylinder on idle. Runs fine with some throttle. Had the plugs out and they look like the engine is running lean.



I'll go up a couple of numbers on the jets, re-adjust the timing and carb and see if that helps. Some other day.

After sleeping on it, I realized that the miss was kinda like the one where the cap blew off a 3/8" nipple on the vacuum tree -- only not nearly so severe. Could be a vacuum leak. Sure enough, I hadn't reconnected the vacuum hose for the cruise control module. DOH!!! Reconnected it and it still has one cyl that isn't firing all the time on idle but off idle is fine. Vacuum is 16" and steady. Engine picks up speed and even smooths some with a cap off a small nipple. It seems to want the idle screws only 1/4 turn out. Something's not quite right. Sounds like it wants more air on idle. I think the QuickFuel carb has replaceable air bleeds. I'll have to look into it. Any other ideas?

Recall that one freeze plug has a little seepage and also maybe a head gasket. Biggest spot on the floor after sitting weeks was about 1.5" diameter. Carl says that's common and Barr's Leak should fix it. Never liked putting stuff like that in a cooling system but, with multiple experts saying its OK, I put some in the radiator last evening. Per instructions, ran it up to operating temp then turned it off and let it cool overnight. Ran it again this PM for 20 minutes at 1200 RPM while fiddling with vacuum and carb. Hope there are no more leaks.

Called QuickFuel this morning and got recommendations for larger replacement air bleeds (to address the imperfect idle and only 1/4 turn out on idle screws) and main jets (white plugs indicating too lean).

Primary air bleeds 70 going to 76, QF part number 26-76
Secondary air bleeds 39 going to 43, QF part number 26-43

Primary main jets 72 going to 74
Secondary main jets 82 going to 84

Holley jets fit the QF carb. Bought a Holley jet kit when the 347 in the Maverick wasn't idling well so no need to order replacement jets.

The air bleeds should be here this week.

Hope the new carb tweaks fix it.