Ignore my comments & questions. everybody jumped in just before me & I didn't check again before sending my post.. sorry

Paul

I will just start with the G- heads.  A have a set I am going to have checked out and I will keep you informed.  Thanks again for all of your input.

I'm probably the newest of the noobs to this site and hope I don't step on someones toes here but this p/u power issue caught my eye. I hope this isn't a power perception problem. I used my brothers 57 F250 for several years on my construction sites. I have a tare slip showing a net 2,249lb load of gravel on a recent job. I put this truck at the bottom of the site and hollered to the crew to watch, I put the truck in 1rst, got it going and stepped out of the cab and walked along side as it idled up the very steep road grade. This is just a properly rebuilt dead stock 57 F250 292, truck 4 speed. Will it pull a 7K boat over Stevens pass at 90 mph, no, but it will pull the hill.

Dan in Seattle

I agree with BMDC, That 272 should have all the low end torque you need, I have an F500 with a 272 and I am not looking for gears up hill. The Y's are known to just lug up a hill in high gear with just a crack of the throttle.

Do you have anything else dragging to slow you down, a dragging brake, bad bearing somewhere, its little items like this that will rob your power most when going up hill but you may never feel them on level ground.

You also say you advanced the timing as far as you can, too much advance will show up mostly on hills and a loss of power will result.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

If his engine has compression and is properly tuned, in stock setup it may make 140/150Hp and 200-220#tq at the tires but his 4 wheel drive truck may weigh near 5K# with him in it so he may be expecting too much. My 57 F100 shorty weighs 3650 with me and my built 292 4 bbl/T85OD/4:11 posi in it and it'll tear yer head off.

Dan in Seattle

I checked anything that would drag and couldn't find anything.  It accelerates great on the straight away but put it under a load and it slows right down.  I think total timing, vacumn and centrifugal was in 30's max.  I would have too look again where I wrote them down to make sure though.  I have a stock 58 3/4 ton with a Napco add on axle with a 272 with G heads and I am redoing the brakes then I want to drive it around.  I would like to see how it performs and compare.  I went to the machine shop yesterday  and will take the G-heads down to get cleaned  and checked out next week  to see if they are usable.  The blocks look good, and are 1 inch thick so I don't think they have been machined down.

Whoa there, you mean it actually loses power? I'd suggest not spending any more money until you nail this down. The very first thing I'd do is make very certain you have a working mech advance distributor, then make sure the carb works correctly, set everything including timing to stock settings. Don't trust the timing marks either, carefully rotate to #1 TDC and prove the mark.

Dan in Seattle

How about fuel delivery? You may have a blockage the is small and only affects the engine when under a load. What if you run fairly hard through the gears on a flat surface? If it slows then the problem could be in the fuel system. My 56 with a high performance FE pump and a McCullouch supercharger would run out of fuel at high RPM in second gear. I had to put an electric pump on it to keep up.

Not saying you need an electric pump, just that fuel can also cause the loss of power feeling. I've even seen rubber fuel lines with a tear in them that acted like a flapper valve when demand increased. It would pull shut and block the fuel flow.

Try putting a temporary fuel pressure gauge on and run it where you can see if from the cab. That should tell you if the pressure is dropping. It is not recommended to run a fuel pressure gauge in the cab unless you use an Isolator. This keeps actual gas from flowing in the vehicle.

Anyway, I think fuel is worth looking at. Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

I can floor it on the flats and it picks up great but when I take a hill it just slows down, it won't maintain speed.  Forget carrying a load.  I did check out the fuel issue, it has new lines, a clean tank, rebuilt fuel pump and rebuilt carb.  I initially found a problem with the rebuilt distributer which I found the centrifugal advance was blocked not allowing advance. Since that fix it runs better.  I checked vacumn and centrifugal and combined advance and was within specs.  I replaced carburetor with a rebuilt one.  My personal feeling is the weight of the truck, low flowing heads, restrictive exhaust are all adding to the problem. I was told by a mechanic to disconnect the muffler and see if it makes a difference.  If it has more power the exhaust could be part of the issue.  Do you think if I disconnected the muffler there would be a chance I would burn a valve?

Oh, I forgot to say I did check TDC with #1 piston and is right on the mark.