1978 Supercab

Hello my name is John and Im a doofus. Last May I stumbled across a 1978 F250 4x4 being sold on craigslist locally. Body in great shape and the hi rise valve covers sent me to my pocket for the cash price of $1400. I have not been able to drive the truck regularly and do not wish too unless it becomes mandatory, which it might here soon.

The seller was an auto resale guy who used to own a used car lot. Information he had on the truck was scant, he did mention it had a special set of heads on it, Dove something or other. I stupidly, doofus like, did not pay much attention to it. Driving home was the wake up call because sitting at a light I got into the engine a little too much and laid some rubber. Guess I need to learn that throttle a little better. Next light I was watching the RPM gauge on takeoff when I laid a little more rubber between 800 and 1200 rpm. Engine makes great power in motion at 1800 rpm.

Iv read the many forums concerning the style of heads I have and made a few contacts but my limited experience is the major problem. I do not know much about setting the timing to 6 degree advance as recommended. I don't know what it should sound like. The carb is huge. Looks like it holds half gallon of fuel in the floats. Fiddling with the idle on day I manually opened the butterflies and watched the fuel filter go completely dry. Im now understanding not to attempt a lean off for fuel mileage because that simply isn't going to happen. I need to mention this 460 with those heads runs like a banshee set on fire without any ping or knock. I used a zinc additive and the lifter noise has been reduced to cold start for a few seconds then disappears. I know nothing of cam, timing, size of exhaust tubes on headers and so on, all I know is that I really do not want to wreck an engine that's been in this truck for quite some time and is still putting out lots of HP and torque.

Any and all help is appreciated. When I figure pictures out I'll post a few. My main problem aside from being a doofus is the master cylinder is less than a quarter inch from the brushed aluminum Ford SVO valve covers. Timing isn't too far off, she runs good and starts everytime I ask and that's something I'd rather not fool with too but I need to get it set properly.

460 with Edelbrock 1813 1323 carb, RPM intake. C9VE-A is marked between cylinder 2 and 3. Headers, not 3 inch, guessing 2 and 1/2 pipe all the way to muffler. Mallory coil with MSD 6200. That's all iv got right now but I know I need to get a cold crank compression test which Im working on. Cause Im a doofus, buying the test gauge isn't something I'd know how to operate but il try.

Thanks for reading and hello.

Howdy

Hey Dave, Great site this is. The info already has me going a million different directions tomorrow. I do have a fella from Tacoma who has offered to help me tune once I get that static CR for him. Problem with is, me having to perform the tweaks or adjustments....

Welcome to the site

The C9VE heads are 1969 model heads they are the same as the dove c heads you can look above your starter and see what the block is with the c9 heads I would run 92 or 93 octane gas. It sounds like someone has already been into the engine before with intake change and other stuff.

Pull the plugs,screw it in, hold the throttle open,pull the coil wire, and crank it.. Record the number and move to the next cylinder..... They should all be fairly close to the same number.

Dave C. wrote:Pull the plugs,screw it in, hold the throttle open,pull the coil wire, and crank it.. Record the number and move to the next cylinder..... They should all be fairly close to the same number.

huh:?:  

Welcome to the site:)  The best advice is do alot of reading and use the site search. Ask any   and we will do our best to help you. 

Wasnt he asking how to use a compression guage?  

Ok it looks like the orginal post lacked a few engine details I now have, nothing fancy but it does point more in that direction getting my numbers nailed down, establishing where it should be on timing, gas, and then finding out more unknown details.

The Intake is an Edelbrock RPM Air Gap model. I learned this by reading about the differences in the RPM versus RPM Air Gap. Air Gap is a dual plane hi rise that caters to hi rev and hp. That carb is a favorite of many and edelbrock have this little bible setup outlining minimum requirements and details concerning set up.

Also pulled a valve cover off and found some delicious looking roller rockers.