Thread: well just got the 406 running only a few problems

Tweet

thanks for all the great info guys. yes Denny that was what i was trying to do. i am at school right now but i called my dad and he is going to try to way you listed earlier about adjusting the valves when both are closed he is gonna try that and i have made an appointment with a local carb guy to have the car looked at. im just really trying to get this thing right for Fun Ford next weekend at Commerce GA my buddy is going to run his '67 Fairlane that they just put a 427 in. that thing is making 765hp and 800ft lbs at the wheels there is no way ill be able to keep up with that but im sure my galaxie wont make me look bad either. i drove my 406 down the road yesterday and even with it not running good it was still fast compared to the 352. im just so excited to have this motor, it is just different around here no body has 3 deuces and solid lifters or even FEs for that matter most of the kids my age around here dont care about anything like that they would rather see a honda or some brand new sports car but all the old timers cant get enough of it now all i need to find is a '62 galaxie to put the 406 in then i will have my dream car haha but you guys are right i really want to learn everything i can and im really thankful that you guys are helping me and are willing to share some of your knowledge i hope that i too can pass it on to someone else one day.

yes just remember.... those imports are worthless junk and only drop in value..... and they are built very weakly.... i had an eclipse rear end me at about 50 mph while i was stopped at a red light in my 69 galaxie i just recently sold.... his car looked like a crumpled ball of steel, my car had a small dent on the bumper

yes they are......this isnt exactly a ricer story but i goes to show that you dont have to spend much money to go fast. my firend just bought a new GTO and paid like $35,000. i paid $3500 for my motor and $800 for my car so all in all i prob have like $4500 in the whole car we went to an old vacated air strip up here today i had to limp over there bc of my car having it problems anyway it runs fine a full throttle so we lined up and i dominated him to 100mph!!!! thats really syaing something for this 406...it is the real deal hopefully i can have it runnign right when im just cruising around for fun ford this weekend and then ill be sure to get you guys a time slip...i ordered a carb kit for my inboard carb and then a new #2 power valve since the one in there is like a 6.5 which from my understanding doesnt work well with big cams how does that sound to you guys?

Yup, you're going to find a whole new generation of folks who have yet to be given lessons in the performance potential of FE engines. My pride and joy at about your same age was a '56 Ford 2 door Sedan with a 406 Tri-power 4 speed out of a wrecked Galaxie.....The first 64 1/2 Galaxie that hit the junk yard. Had a friend of my Dad's worked there and he got the engine and trans for it. Lots of folks laughed because we paid way too much for it.....$450.00-----I still have the tri-power and heads. Could probably sell them for 4 or 5 times the amount I paid for the entire engine and transmission....(41 years ago) Stuff like this always makes me feel OLD!!!!!

Originally Posted by DennyW

Don't feel to bad Dave. I still have my hand help tach and dwell meter with the big plastic face, from when I was 16, and it works perfect.

Yup, and i still have my Snap-on Tach and Dwell that is on the cart and it works great. Oh well, got a couple of dual point distributors for the FE's too....If I could ever find a suitable project car, I'd like to put a bunch of these old FE parts back into service!!!! I have my heart set on a '57 Fairlane 500, 2 dr. hardtop. Would be a great home for all the goodies I've been saving.....

haha i think i am prob the only 18 year old kid with a tri-power FE haha i just like diffrent stuff its funny bc when ever my dad rides around with me in it everyone walks up to him and starts asking him questions his answer is i have no idea its his car ask him haha then they get a weird look on their face. i try not to show it off but man am i ever proud of that motor haha. i just cant wait until this summer im moving to Southern Pines NC and there is a dragstrip in Rockingham just down the road so ill be there every friday man have i ever got the drag racing bug now i just need to convince my girlfriend that drag racing isnt redneck haha

Originally Posted by tyler

haha i think i am prob the only 18 year old kid with a tri-power FE haha i just like diffrent stuff its funny bc when ever my dad rides around with me in it everyone walks up to him and starts asking him questions his answer is i have no idea its his car ask him haha then they get a weird look on their face. i try not to show it off but man am i ever proud of that motor haha. i just cant wait until this summer im moving to Southern Pines NC and there is a dragstrip in Rockingham just down the road so ill be there every friday man have i ever got the drag racing bug now i just need to convince my girlfriend that drag racing isnt redneck haha

Well, if not, get a new girl friend.....

I'm absolutely estatic that an 18yr old can have the desire to own some real muscle.......Way to go. and when they tell you it can't be done (NO matter what) stay the course. It's nice to hear about your experiences.

i think ill keep the girl she has started asking me questions a lot about my car the other day i was like why do you keep asking me all these questions about cars and she was like bc you like them so much i figured i would try to learn about them too so thats cool im sure i can get her worked into the dragstrip haha. i cant wait for fun ford this weekend too bad none of yall live in georgia you could come out. i love fun ford weekend last year it was me and my buddy in the 67 fairlane in my pictures and i had my 406 in it. it was running a 13.00 at 107mph. many a 5.0 got stomped that day and we got stomped by many a 5.0 haha but we got beat in style, most of the guys there didnt even know what an FE was let alone a 406 it just kills me but whatever its cool they can have their 5.0 and 429s and 460s ill take an FE anyday my main reason for not liking small block ford and the 385 seires is the timing chain cover man those things are a pain the only downfall to the FE as far as working on it is having to remove the rocker arm shafts to take the intake off but i can live with that. i have flowmaster 40 series mufflers on it now but i just dont like the way it sounds i want it to sound kinda old school i know that sounds dumb but what kind of mufflers did you guys use back in the day wow that was a dumb question haha

You need to use a vacuum guage to find out what P.V. is the proper one.
With a c6 and a loose converter I would check vacuum in gear.You want the valve to open when you stand on it, not while it has no load on it. The
duration of the cam affects this, at least the vacuum you'll have. Maybe closer to a 3.5 or 4.5. The guage will help determine this. Hope you got the
valves set right, you've had some good coaching on this site. They proly
know what you need. Only the center carb has one if I remember right.
Haven't used that set up since the 60's. Good luck. BTW that car with all the
weight would proly like tha cam advanced to 4 degrees.
Ron

yah i advanced the cam 4 degrees i figured that would be a good idea it is supposed to help with low end torque right? i ordered a 2 power valve and bought the 4.5 at the store and tomorrow im gonna check the vaccum and see which one i need and put it in there and also take the middle carb apart and clean it hopefully that will solve the problem if not im gonna take it to the shop.....i hate having to take tings to a shop i cant stand not being able to figure out problems on my own

just so ya get your question answered.... most guys for mufflers back then used glass packs, factory mufflers that were hollowed out, and no mufflers at all

i think im gonna have to get rid of the flowmasters but i just am having a hard time doing it bc of how much they cost but everyone has them they are so plain

Originally Posted by DennyW

Yes, you are. I don't adjust the valves like that. People say to do it that way, but, as you see, it's off.

Bump the engine, or turn it, consentrate on one cylinder at a time. In other words, take each cylinder as the only one there. That leaves you with one intake, and one exhaust valve to deal with.

Turn the engine and watch the valve movement. Exhaust valve opens and then closes. Intake valve opens and then closes, STOP. That's when you adjust the intake AND exhaust for that cylinder. Then, you do the next cylinder to that one, and so on. Now, you will get them right.

When you said exh opens, then closes. intake opens, then closes. I'm just wondering how you could adjust the exhaust if the intake is closed. wouldn't the exhaust be open? Just wonderin

no there is a point in every cylinders rotation when both valves are closed this would be after the intake opened as the pistion is coming back up on the compression stroke both valves would be closed until the pistion reached the top of its stroke then the spark plug would fire pushing the pisition down at this point the exhaust valve would open and the pistion would strat to travel back up pushing the exhaust out of the motor.......im pretty sure thats right