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232 low revs

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FSJunkie View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote FSJunkie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/01/2019 at 5:50pm
Originally posted by tyrodtom tyrodtom wrote:

The 232 I was dealing with was one year old and had about 15,000 miles on it.

The engine you were dealing with were how many decades old,  and had how many miles on them ?

That age can make a lot of difference.
One had 50,000 original miles and the other had 110,000 original miles.....until I rebuilt it myself to stock specifications and have driven it 40,000 miles since. The springs still tested within 5 pounds of new springs and within the original specifications when I rebuilt it. They were 90 pounds closed, and 160 open as I recall off the top of my head.

A 232 will rev to over 5000 before the valves float. No problem there. The engine can mechanically do it. What I mean is there the power curve begins to drop off around 3700 RPM and by 4500 RPM there is no point in going further. You get more performance if you upshift at that point.

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1972 Wagoneer
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tyrodtom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/01/2019 at 6:30pm
one way you can tell if it's valve float or not is by putting it in neutral,  no load on the engine at all.

Rev it and see how far it will rev before it tops out.   You can detect valve float easiest by taking the air filter off and exposing the carb intake.   When the valves start to float,  you'll see a mist of fuel coming out top of the carb throat.   That's the valves bouncing as they close and leaking compression into the intake.

 I've  seen  more than one sadly neglected old engine float the valves at less than 4000, ( slant six,  Ford 6, QAMC 360, Chevy 350)  never as low as 3300,  but who knows.

  I've known several people to overhaul a engine, do the bottom end right,  but only take the valve train apart, clean it, put it back together without checking valve spring heights, or pressures,  and still call it a overhaul.

   I've also assembled some engines with new supposed to be OEM quality valve springs that didn't meet the required spring pressures at the required heights.  
66 American SW, 66 American 2dr, 82 J10, 70 Hornet, Pound, Va.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tomj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/01/2019 at 10:49pm
many things are possible.

diagnosis and measurement will tell you which things are actually a problem.



no way on earth i'd W.O.T. any engine in neutral to "see where it tops out". that's just harmful.



Edited by tomj - Apr/01/2019 at 10:51pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tyrodtom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/02/2019 at 6:38am
Been doing it for 50 years or more.   I haven't harmed one yet. 

I don't just jamb it full throttle,  I gradually increase throttle until I hear the first valves begin to float,  no need to do it until they all float.
Hood open and using a stick on the gas pedal,  so I still see the tach. and hear the engine well,  
Or with someone else inside watching the tach. and on the gas pedal, and my head under the hood listening.
66 American SW, 66 American 2dr, 82 J10, 70 Hornet, Pound, Va.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Greyhounds_AMX Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/07/2019 at 9:43am
Check the exhaust manifold heat valve. They can easily get stuck in the "closed" position, as that's the normal position for a cold engine. If the engine sits for a while and some rust builds up on the shaft then it won't open, and your exhaust manifold outlet is restricted down to about 25% of what it should be.

Unless you are 100% confident that it's operating correctly all the time, I'd wire it open. Most of our cars are seeing summer use only anyway. There's enough heat from conduction coming up from the exhaust manifold already IMO, but only once it's warmed up of course.

No more banana in the tailpipe.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote FSJunkie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/08/2019 at 1:09am
My 232 runs like absolute garbage for the first five minutes with the heat damper blocked open. I mean backfiring, bogging, terrible running garbage.

Runs perfect with the damper functioning as it's supposed to.

Just throwing that out there.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote farna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/08/2019 at 8:37am
Yeah, takes it a few minutes to warm up. Same as the later models with a burned out or disconnected heater element.
Frank Swygert
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