fine tuning the carb. and timing and black carbon

[72bumbee]

after the intake manifold gasket, I put the beast back together and it has been running good. I know the timing may be a bit off, because it catches a bit when starting. almost like it is pushing against compression for a split second. I have sort of been hanging out waiting for my guy who has the timing gun and the experience to take a gander at it and tune it and dial the carb down a bit. So here is the problem. I nosed the truck into the driveway today, and a couch I had been cleaning was sitting on the right side of the truck. I turned my rig off, and walked around to go into the house, and noticed that the exhaust pipe hade blown a spattering of carbon like gunk on my nice clean couch. Is this a symptom of poor tuning? or is something else possibly causing this?
Thanks,
Steve

[fordman]

black exhaust means rich running. (its not buring all the fuel that it is gettign into the engine.)

[flyboy71]

Get the timing in adjustment especially if youre unsure of it. Too far out of timing and the fuel cant get a complete burn. Be sure to cover the couch before you fire it up again

[72bumbee]

Thanks guys. Next stop, the timing gun!

[Montana71-F100]

Get a timing light with a dial if you can so you can check your timing curve. As long as you're at it get a dwell/tachometer. I don't know what engine you have but according to the 1971 shop manual for my my 360, the RPM has to be 600 because at about 650 RPM the mechanical weights in the distributor start moving the timing. You also need to disconnect the vacuum advance and plug the hose.

Before you set the timing, adjust the points (if you don't have electronic ignition). Using a dwell meter is much better than using a feeler guage. If the points are rough, the shop manual says they can't be set properly with a feeler guage.

I found an Internet site that suggests using a vacuum guage to set your idle mixture screws. Connect the guage to your intake manifold connection and move the screws until you get the highest vacuum and you're done.

I did all of the above and my truck runs great.

For tune up equipment, I like to use pawn shops when I can. I dropped my dwell/tach and I'm 60 miles from one so I bought a dwell tach off the internet for around $25. It only goes up to 2000 RPM. The next thing I want to do is check my timing curve and I need higher RPMs to do that. So, I'd suggest that when you buy a dwell/tach, make sure it reads higher RPMs.

[Vinniesempire]

power valve might be blown

[Montana71-F100]

I don't know anything about power valves so I did a Google search and found this:

One way to tell if your power valve is blown is to put your finger over the little tube that is part of the air horn. If the car dies when you do this, the valve is blown.

It came from : http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/ ... valve.html

[george worley]

I doubt your power valve is blown. If it was iy would run so rich it would load up and blow black smoke when it idled. It would run bad and only run better when you floored it. To check to see if it is blown you turn the two idle screwson the carb in all the way ,if it runs better it maybe blown. If it runs bad or stalls its good. Sounds like it just needs to have timing and carb adjusted.