Thread: [57 Thunderbird] Running Rough

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Welcome to CHR. Ken and I were typing at the same time, but I'm more wordy!

Based on my past I'd say that it's a pretty good bet that you sucked out a bunch of sediment out of the bottom of your gas tank when you ran out of gas. Hopefully you have an inline filter that caught most, if not all of it. If you haven't changed the filter that's the first order of business, and be aware that you may still have a buildup in the line from the tank, so a second filter change may be in your future. Blowing back through the line with compressed air towards the tank would be a really good idea.

If you don't have an inline filter then you probably plugged the screen on the inlet to the carbs, or may have just pumped the sediment into your float bowls where it's partially plugged the jets. After you soak the carbs you'll want to blow compressed air through all of the passages to be sure they're clear. Then after it's all clean and dry re-assemble in a sanitary area. Cleanliness is important at this step.

You probably already know, but it's worth saying that your center carb should be the only one with an idle circuit, with the two outer units serving as secondaries, only coming into play when you get into the throttle harder. You run on one 2-barrel for economy, then have four secondaries to come in when you need more power.

Good luck with the rebuild! While you're in there trace back every vacuum line to be sure that nothing blew off with the back fire, and if you find any hoses dry and cracking this is the time to buy ten feet or so of new hose and replace all of them, one at a time.