I have a 56 Bird, with T-pot & load-o-matic with the famous off idle hesiation. T-pot sent off to Pony for the big $ rebuild, still the same. From searching the forums it appears I should go to a 64 F100 style dizzy & a 57 intake with Holley 395 or similar carb.

My question is can I do this in stages? Dizzy first, intake/carb later when I can save the money? If so, how to hook up vacuum advance to 56 intake?

cheers!

Do consider finding a replacement distributor - just as Mark suggested, a '64 truck 292 item is the best to ask for. It won't be able to drive your tach - so you may have to get an electric unit to subsitute into the dash. Plumb a connection to the wiper vacuum / power brake port at the rear center behind the carb.

Look for a deal on an ECZ-9425-B four barrel intake manifold - ebay is not usually a good place to shop these days - I've seen some better deals on Craig's list. At a glance, it can be seen to have the characteristic Holley 4150/4160 base gasket shape.

This car has been in the family since 57. It was my Mom's car, she passed it on to me a few years ago when she passed on. It was the car I learned to drive on many years ago. Since I have had it, I have re-done the interior & have been working on the exterior. Now I want to work on the engine some. My goal is a bit better performance & drivability (hence the later dizzy & intake/carb eventually). She also tends to run on the hot side despite the CASCO high volume water pump & smaller pulley. I assume it's crud build up in the rear water jackets, so I want to attack that in the future with a very mild performance rebuild (heads have never been off the car). Something like a cruise night cam.

Current initial timing is ~8 degrees.

The over-heating difficulty is indeed a hint that all is not well with the dual diaphragm advance system. I'm not up to snuff on current pricing - but the vacuum pot replacements may cost as much as the later re-built distributor.

I do have the 6 blade fan already & have been looking (drooling) at Mummert's site. One could spend a lot of $ there for sure. The hot rod rebuild kits look interesting if I can find an engine rebuilder locally with some Y-block knowledge & not ridiculously expensive. I see on some intake searches here that Mummert has his own intake, but don't see that on his web site yet. I am looking at ePay for the B style intake, but see high prices there too.

I did order the 64 rebuilt dizzy from Autozone. I have a Pertronix 1282 for the ford-o-matic, but see the 64 dizzy takes the 1821. What's the difference? I am still looking for a good place for the Holley 390. Couldn't find a web site for the Arizona shop.

I need to keep looking around for the B manifold & thanks for the advice on putting a wanted post. I will do that.

Any opinions on the adapter plates I see to use a newer Holley, or that defeats the gains? The 390 CFM Holley #8007 appears to be brought up in many posts as a good combination. Of course I see those are also more $ than many others & have a manual choke. Any other recommendations?

Overheating is a symptom of retarded spark timing, ie improper spark advance from your load o matic.

Very important that a fan shroud be used on a Tbird. Do you have one?

Easy way to check the diaphragms in your load o is with the engine OFF, connect a hose and a hand vacuum pump and try to hold a vacuum. Or suck on the hose. Remember that distributor rolled out of the factory over 40 years ago. Time for some maintenance. Pete

BrianL (10/28/2009)

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I see the Accel is cheaper vs. Pertronix 1282. Similar performance & installation? I searched for dizzy removal tips & see often they are stuck. So I will soon find out in my case

I need to keep looking around for the B manifold & thanks for the advice on putting a wanted post. I will do that.

Any opinions on the adapter plates I see to use a newer Holley, or that defeats the gains? The 390 CFM Holley #8007 appears to be brought up in many posts as a good combination. Of course I see those are also more $ than many others & have a manual choke. Any other recommendations?

welcome to the site and i can say the Y is new territory to most machinests' here in the pacific NW ( i'm about two and a half hours drive south of you) so do your homework here and keep tje Y alive..

When I say she likes to run hot, it never actually pegs the gage, but is close. Intake manifold paint on the crossover also burned off, so I believe when I do find a B intake, I will go for the truck gaskets with the smaller hole. I heard that helps there. I am looking around the web now for rebuilt Holley 8007 or 1848 prices too.

I am not opposed to a non tech drive dizzy & trying to swap out the tachometer in the dash in my search for a bit better performance & drivability. I have seen in some of the searches several who have commented this is possible, so I will definitely try that later. For the purists out there, I'll keep all the original parts.

On the engine rebuilder, there are two local shops who have acknowledged Y-block experience. Both aren't engine pullers however, so want me to pull it out & deliver. I am not quite to that decision point yet & that sounds like a serious amount of work.

Good thought about the slipped damper ring, but Brian has a T-Bird and the timing marks are on the pulley, not the damper ring.