You have a very well preserved survivor.

BEFORE any upgrades, please take extensive photos and save all take-off parts so as you can share the assembly details with others. I would think there are quite a few restorers that would like to document what you have.

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A lot of excellent information and a lot of choices in all the above. You did state the distributor was sent out to someone who had a Sun machine which produced no favorable results. Maybe?? the distributor isn't the issue. I noticed the vehicle has vacuum operated power brakes along with the usual vacuum lines for the wiper system and the heater control valve. Have you tried temporarily blocking/plugging all those vacuum lines to see if a vacuum leak might be a contributing factor? The spark plug wires are the early carbon "Sipcon" wires that were like most all early carbon wires, not very reliable, even in the day.  Coil, condenser and points?  Also, if I needed to set up a Load-O-Matic and didn't have a distributor machine, I would try using a vacuum gauge and a hand operated vacuum pump plumbed to the vacuum diaphragm. It would be a pain but with a timing light you might get a good idea of how the distributor is functioning.  Just my 2cents, welcome to the site and good luck....                     Very nice Mercury - when able, share some more pics of the car.

64F100 57FAIRLANE500

I have put a lock on the duplicate post that’s in the ‘Street’ section to prevent responses to that particular post.  That should help to eliminate two sets of replies for the same topic.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Being a solid pulley in your case is expected to have the TDC mark reasonably close to where it is supposed to be.  The rubber mounted dampers are prone to slippage at the timing marks and that does pose a tuning issue when that happens.

I only mention the rubber damper as it was unknown at the time if the engine had been upgraded to newer parts or possibly even another engine during the last 70 years.  I bring this up due to working on a 1954 Ford Y for a customer that ended up being a 292 with the ’54 timing cover, distributor, oil pump, water pump, fuel pump, etc.  Externally, the engine looked like a 239 without delving into specific block and head casting numbers.  That engine was then upgraded with the 1955 and newer parts to make it more road friendly in the event parts were needed to be replaced during a road trip.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Without the aid of a distributor machine, your timing light can be used for determining your existing ‘no load’ distributor curve.  As a general rule, adding shims reduces the total amount of timing and taking shims away increases the total amount of ignition timing.  From what you are describing, you need to add shims assuming of course that this an ignition problem.

As mentioned by John (Hoosier Hurricane), upgrading to a newer distributor, oil drive, and oil pump would help to simplify working on the ignition curve.  If retaining the model 2140 Holley, then the same modifications performed to the Holley 4000 carbs to make them compatible with the later model ignitions would be doable.

And as Ford Deaborn brings up, the issue may be something other than the ignition.  Has a compression test on the engine been performed?  What condition are the spark plug wires?  Are you using ethanol blended fuel?  If so, try running a fuel with a reduced ethanol blend or no ethanol at all and see if that helps.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

If one modifies a LOM style carb to signal a DUAL ADVANCE DIST, is that modification permanent or can it be reversed if wanting to later revert back to LOM (restoration purposes)?

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'ya know ...

Back when, it (TUNE - POINTS REPLACEMENT) paid flat rate to remover the DIST and set it up on a DIST MACH as to dwell, point tension and correct advance. You know as well as I do that it rarely happened. The TECH threw in a set of points and condenser and drove it out.

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That’s a ‘Yes’ on being able to reverse the modification on a model 2140 or 4000 Holley 4V carburetor and be able to go back to the Load-O-Matic (LOM) distributor.  That carburetor modification for using a later model mechanical distributor simply blocks the venturi assisted portion of the vacuum signal to the distributor.

Removing the freshly installed nipple and plugging the hole at the outside of the carburetor would be one method for reversing the modification but if it’s a standard shift vehicle, then the modified screw in the bottom would need to be replaced with a long stem version along with installing the small plastic ball that sits on top of that stem.  If it’s an automatic transmission equipped car, the modified short stem screw at the bottom of the carburetor can stay in place.  An optional method is to remove the short stem screw at the bottom of the carburetor and simply drill a small hole through both sides of the tube used for the new nipple, replace the screw, and install a rubber cap on the exposed end of the nipple on the outside of the carburetor.  Either of these scenarios would restore the original vacuum signal assuming the spark advance valve is also in place.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

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... hmmpf ...

Actually read the TECH ARTICLE and now I understand.

Never actually needed to know before ...

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