If those cylinders are not getting any fuel, then it is definitely in the carb. Sorry,,, thought from your original post that you were getting good fuel to all 8 cylinders...

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Although this sounds like a stopped up main jet in the carburetor, blowing some air through the idle mixture ports is definitely easy to do.  Beyond that, check the gaskets under the discharge fuel nozzles and/or do a complete disassembly and re-cleaning of the carburetor body.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Thanks very much for the replys, from what most of you say i'll have a good look at the carb again tomorrow.

The plugs, wires, cap, coil etc are all tip top.

I pulled the plugs again and all I got was stale fuel smell from the 'dead' cylinders. I did squirt some Easystart down the left barrell and did notice a change with wide open throttle.

As you suggest i'll clean out the idle needles and see what happens. I'll keep you posted.

That last suggestion is a good one.Try it.

  

Definitely carburetor. With engine off, remove both idle mixture screws and give each side a good blast of air. Replace screws with fingers. Screw them in all the way and back out 2 turns. Should run on all cylinders. If not, repeat. After engine warms adjust to smooth idle.

Have also seen the same thing when someone added a PCV system and used the connection on the manifold, the extra air leaned out 4 cylinders. Moved the PCV to a carb spacer so it supplyed both banks and it was cured.

I have had that situation before and it is definately in the carb, one side of the low speed is plugged up, you may still see a squirt on that side from the accelerator pump but the idle circuit below the butterflies is what is plugged. once you bring it up to a certain rpm it will bypass that curcuit and you wont notice it, its only at idle and i could do the same thing, remove 4 wires without change.

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?

well...not to sound too simple, we all know you need spark, compression, and fuel for an explosion...

And from what your original post said, you have gasoline getting to those cylinders that are not firing, and it looks as if you have compression. How did you test for spark?

If it was me, I would get a gauge on test your compression on all 8 cylinders to see what you have.

After that, I would test for spark with one of those spark plug tester gizmos...

If after those 2 tests show all the "explosion" aspects to be true, then you must have a timing issue.

If you have unburned fuel in the cylinders, then you know in that cylinder you either have no spark, no compression, or the timing is way off. Don't forget that the cylinders are numbered 1-4 on the passenger side from radiator to firewall, and 5-8 on the drivers side from radiator to firewall..

hope we can help you. These things are always frustrating. One time I forgot to put all the plug wires in a firing order that went counterclockwise! Talk about a problem...I had the misfiring and towering flames shooting out of the carb until i got that one solved.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Did it run that way before you replaced those parts? If it didn't I would recheck the plug wires. Sometimes when we check & recheck things we still overlook the problem (dont ask me how I know). If it runs the same way as before you replaced the parts I would look at the carb again. Take a can of carb spray with one of those nozzles on it and try to aim the spray down the carb to one side of the throttle plates and see if it picks up. The cyls you mention that are missing point to a plugged idle circuit in the carb. My .02

Dan      Kingman Az.      86409

I would suggest rechecking the plug wires for correct order of installation.Its very easy to mix them up especially if you are using the original sparkplug wire brackets.If you are getting ignition and it runs I think  you can assume the Pertronix replacement ignition kit is working properly.