514 with a miss

I just bought a Ford with a 514 crate motor in it. I am new to Fords and at a total loss about this engine. The cam is the roller that came in it I assume. Anyway This weekend was the first time I've had it on the road and it misses like crazy. Even driving along at 3000 RPM it surges. Punch it and it misses. What am I looking at for problems?
any help would be appreciated.

Bad plug, wire, or cap/rotor? Maybe have a valve set a little too tight?

Would a cam failure cause this? a roller cam is all new to me and I'm not sure how they react when they wear down.

schmitty wrote:Bad plug, wire, or cap/rotor?

I too would check here 1st... Does it only do it under load...? I had a similar thing happen at Mega Ford Weekend last month... It would idle & free-rev great, but as soon as you put it under load it missed like crazy, and wouldn't get out of it's own way... Mine turned out to be the distributor gear retaining pin was shearing off... We replaced the dizzy, and it ran great then... Just pull the cap and grab the rotor & see how much rotation it has... It should be only about 1/16-1/8" of total rotation... Mine's alot tighter with the new pin... Good luck...








Doug...

I'd look to the items mentioned first- ignition stuff. Fouled plugs or cracked plug wire also. If it all looks good there check float level and overall carb condition internally. If a carb is really messed up it will cause missing.

Get you a ford guy to go over the tune-up, can't be to much, but the ford and brand-x are not the same when it comes to tuning.

342g wrote:Get you a ford guy to go over the tune-up, can't be to much, but the ford and brand-x are not the same when it comes to tuning.

the tuning within the same engine family is different , its what the build wants . so if you can tune X or M even Y , same rules for all brands , to much/ to little , just right

I just dropped it off with a friend that builds race motors and he was telling me that just letting this guy idle too long can foul the plugs on it and cause that problem, so he is going to go over the whole engine and check it all out. He also said ignition was something to check. I'm going to pass on to him the things you all sent me, and I really appreciate it.

No matter what those Chevy guys say .... I think you all are A OK

Steve

How do you have your dizzy setup

I've been playing with cars since 1958 and you throw me with "dizzy." ?

By the way; I like your Falcon. I've always like them a lot, even though I never owned one. I have a neighbor here that used to drive for Ford and in 1965/66 he owned a 427 Falcon A/FX, "The Strip Teaser." He also owned several Thunderbolts, that he drove for Ford.
That Falcon was sweet. When I first saw his car I was running B/Stock in a 66 Chevelle down in Florida.
Steve

Cobra Tracks wrote:I've been playing with cars since 1958 and you throw me with "dizzy." ?

I believe he's referring to your distributor.

that was what I assumed but I've never heard the term used that way.

Cobra Tracks wrote:that was what I assumed but I've never heard the term used that way.

Pretty common term on here...

Cobra Tracks wrote:By the way; I like your Falcon. I've always like them a lot, even though I never owned one. I have a neighbor here that used to drive for Ford and in 1965/66 he owned a 427 Falcon A/FX, "The Strip Teaser." He also owned several Thunderbolts, that he drove for Ford.
That Falcon was sweet. When I first saw his car I was running B/Stock in a 66 Chevelle down in Florida.
Steve

Thanks Cobra, Yea,us gearheads get carried away w/engine slang sometimes I was referring to your dist. setup

The first place I'd look is the carb to make sure it's not Lean..!!