QuestionThe car doesn't ever stall, just loose power. The fuel pump seems to be working fine also. Just now I was thinking that it might be something in the gas tank. Could rust in the tank be clogging the screen in the tank? Not sure. If the 144 is so slow, what about changing the gears in the rear end to provide more high end speed vs. low end torque? Would that improve highway driving, and if so would I have to change to a larger carberator (it has a single barrel now)? Also does this car have wheel cylinders in the rear, or just the front? Thank you again.
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Followup To
Question -
I am loosing power at highway speeds after about 5-10 minutes on the road. My ranchero has a 144 engine, straight six. My repair guy is giving me the run around. Also, it seems like the engine is running at a very high rpm to be going so slow. I know there is no torque converter on my standard 3 speed, but is there something else going on? I believe the guy who had the car before me replaced the trans. Is that an issue? My shop also just replaced the clutch plate and re-sealed my trans. It now shifts really stiffly and sometimes does not even go into gear. I brought it back for them to re-examine and I have not yet heard from them. Any info. you can add about this situation would be appreciated. I would at least like to be an educated consumer when I deal with them. Are there any common problems with ranceros/falcons of the 1960's that I should be aware of? Thank you for your help Dick.
Answer -
The main complaint with the 144 CU IN engines was that they were really weak, and really buzzy on the road. I recall driving these cars when they were new, and that is my recollection also.
Now if yours has suddenly gotten worse after you had some work done, there is no doubt some other problem has cropped up, but there are so many possibilities that I can only list a few without more guidance from you.
Have you tried coasting to see if the car has any brake drag? Put the car in neutral going down a hill to see if it seems to roll OK.
If you feel power drop off as it gets hot, perhaps you are having vapor lock. Does the engine actually cut out on you, or does it just get weak? If it actually seems to lose total power, you are probably having vapor lock - in which case either your fuel pump is failing or you have a bad fuel line from the tank to the pump.
The only explanation I can come up with for the hard shifting is that something wasn't put together right when they did the clutch work. You need to hold his feet to the fire until he takes it apart again to find what he did wrong - or else get the shop manual and do it again yourself! He might have had a problem installing the throw out bearing, or perhaps he didn't get the clutch disk or pressure plate back in correctly. If the clutch disk is having trouble sliding on the splined shaft, it could cause this problem.
However, none of that could cause the engine to lose power. I guess you should also make sure the choke is going all the way off as the car gets warm. I think your car has a manual choke knob, right? Make sure it goes all the way open (look at the top of the carburetor with the air cleaner removed) to see if the top flap goes completely vertical when you push in the choke knob. And tell your wife to quit hanging her purse on the pulled out knob!
Tell me more about what exactly the engine symptoms are - what you feel, what it sounds like, anything at all - maybe I can lead you to the problem.
Dick.
AnswerIt is possible that there is a restriction in the gas feed from the tank - the only way you are going to find out about this is to check the fuel flow rate and pressure at the fuel pump outlet. This is a complicated procedure, which I don't think you want to tackle. If you add a fuel filter in the line from the pump to the carburetor, get a tranparent one so you can see if there is crud coming through. If there is, you'll need to have the tank cleaned out.
If you put a lower gear ratio in the rear end, you are going to make the car even slower to accelerate, and the engine is probably too small to give you much more top end speed than it already has - you can bet the Ford engineers tried to find the optimum ratio for this combination.
Changing the carburetor is going to open a can of worms you don't want to get into. The original design picked the right size carburetor, you can be sure. What you need is a car with a bigger engine - sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the 144 Cu In engine was a mistake from the git-go!
The car has one wheel cylinder in each wheel.
Sorry not to be more helpful,
Dick.
