I guess I'll be standing on the same side of the fence as Dave...lol

 

Come on, come down, you'll have a great time.

 

Only thing stopping me is that 2700 miles to get there Rob...

 

I know its been a coons age since I posted an update on my truck. It let the tabs expire but plan on getting new ones today if I can get into town. I have serious oil leak up front that needs some attention. I plan on ordering a oil pan gasket and a timing cover gasket set from RockAuto this week. I'm sick of adding oil to it. I had a cooling system leak a couple of years ago that turned out to be the engine soft plugs. They rotted out of the engine and needed replacing. If you do the plugs its best to remove the intake and exhaust manifolds. Be warned the exhaust manifolds have tendency to crack and replacements are few and far between. I found a person that had one laying around that was willing to part with it. The flap inside was stuck but it wasn't cracked, so I was happy. Anyway when you pull the plugs, sand the holes real well so they are smooth or you will have leaks. Another tidbit of info reach into the holes and clean out the junk that has accumulated below and back of the plugs. I was amazed what was back behind the rear plug. at one time one of the plugs was leaking and a PO had used an aftermarket plug with a strong-back type system to seal the leak. My only guess he didn't want to pull the intake and exhaust manifolds. Use gasket sealer on the plugs to ensure a good seal, I used aviation gasket sealer. Oh and when you go to torque the manifolds back down tighten up the gasket that's between the intake and exhaust, below the carburetor last.

 

Hi kjvforme, wondering how you made out with hooking up your vacuum advance on you 223. I have some comments on the carb and distribuitor match on your engine if your interested.

iicap

 

I'm missing a fitting that goes into the carb side but the other is threaded in. Its an Autolite 1100, wish it was the Holley, but it works. As far as I know it works fine. What comments do you have?

 

Hi Rob, you may know all this but I'll run it by you. Your engine was built with a Load-O-Matic distribuitor. It has NO centrifugal/mechanical timing advance. It has vacuum advance only. So without the vacuum line from carb to the dizzy hooked up, the engine's timing remains wherever it is basically set and cannot advance. Without the advance working the engine will be lazy and not have good pull. It may run perfectly fine and smooth, if the engine is mechanically sound, but will not make the power it should The carb(s) for these engines needs to be as original or a dedicated update for for the application. Hopefully your AL 1100 is the correct up date. If there is still a tag on the carb it could verify that. These carbs have a "spark control valve" on them, usually near the port that the vacuum line threads into. The vacuum advance uses both ported and manifold vacuum to move the point mounting plate in the dizzy and the spark control valve modulates between ported and manifold vacuum to advance the timing, depending on the load placed on the engine.
You say missing the fitting that goes into the carb. I'm assuming threads in the carb are OK and the fitting on the vacuum line doesn't fit into the carb. Some auto parts stores have brass fitting selections and you may be able to get what's needed there. The male end of the fitting will be 1/8th pipe thread and the other, female side of the fitting, will accept the 1/8th tubing and the male fitting on the tubing. You should bring the vacuum line with you to check the fit. Or a carb rebuild shop might help you with one. If I can add anything more for you let me know.

cap

 

Somewhere I saw that someone had made a 300 distrubutor work by machining.

 

I may have seen that too, maybe we can both search or someone else here on site may have a link. Let me tell you that would be a SUPER upgrade and here is my story on that.

I have a 1966 F-250, 240 I-6, a 1 2 3 O transmission from a 86 F-150. It also had a Load-O-Matic dizzy. I have a non original carb issued as a replacement. The truck ran well. I have some grades around here I travel regularly. I could not make a grade in particular without shifting from O to 3rd all the time. I had the opportunity to upgrade dizzy to a DSII from a 79 F-350 with 300 engine. I did install a spring kit into the centrifugal weights to allow the advance to start and complete at lower RPM's than with stock springs. There is a ton of info out there on updating to DSII. The difference in the power and pull with DSII is amazing for this otherwise stock engine (i did set my timing by vacuum gauge). I put my foot into it and it holds the speed going over the grade and on rainy, damp, heavy air days it will even start to gain speed.

As an Ole man, I don't wind it up thru each gear to the next. So I drive conservatively and the gas gauge goes down a lot slower with the dizzy upgrade and I don't have a vacuum advance to speak of at this time. That could be discussed more later if you try to go to the DSII upgrade.

Cap

 

I have driven several times to the Oregon GTG up at Fabman's up in Condon, Or. have to pull three hills one is a pretty good hill that have to downshift into 3rd. With my 223 I can drive at 55/60 MPH on the flat, it winds out pretty good.

 

If you can find the mods for the dist Rob, you know I'll do any machine work you need!

 

Your the man.

 

Thinking this...
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/distributor-mod-for-ford-215-223.748185/

 

Hello to you Fabman. Guys, I did some searching this afternoon for bit. It is doable and quite a bit posted on it. Did not copy any links at that time as I had to get away. Will look and read a # of them tomorrow and copy a few links down.

 

Thinking this...
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/distributor-mod-for-ford-215-223.748185/

That is a good one, there are others to read out there.

For virtually no money, the cost of a fitting, it would be good to get your current set up working as it should and see if you get better performance than you have. Just a bit about update if and when you choose. As well as the dizzy and it's mod, you will have to get a Control Module to mount and wire up. The newer dizzy will have advance that uses a ported vacuum signal from the carb. Your L-O-M carb cannot do that, it doesn't have a port for that purpose. So most people will go for a newer carb that is capable. So there is the option of using manifold vacuum if you L-O-M carb is in good shape and no problems with it. As the carb on my truck was in great shape. I was not going to buy another carb when mine worked fine. I put a 1/8 th pipe plug in the port on the carb, then I removed a plug from the intake manifold, it could be 1/8th or 1/4 pipe thread and installed a fitting to slip a rubber hose on. You could plumb it to use your original steel line for a neat, stock look.