Manifold Adapter Lives!

[rhinosoft]

Hi everyone,

my last post was around this time last year when I installed Jay's intake manifold adapter but had to abort since I seemingly over torqued one  bolt and cracked the water jacket - yes my fault.

Well now I have had the adapter repaired and tested and now installed on the car, see images below.

Seems to run like a charm but need to tweak the distributor settings and the carburetor as well as it is not perfect. Also I cannot drive the car yet since I had to rip out the accelerator arm, the kickdown and of course the accelerator itself. The reason for this is the adapter and Cleveland manifold have moved the mounting points so high that I only have HALF the leverage and ipso facto - half throttle maximum.

Would any readers out there who have replaced their throttle with a Lokar or similar please offer any feedback? I have not purchased the throttle mechanism yet (thinking of http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/361379932349?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT ) but the Thunderbird is a pain as the firewall is double skinned!

Here are my specifications now:
- Mallory mechanical distributor, setup like Faron did with my Duraspark and fired with a MSD 6AL
- 4 barrel Cleveland manifold
- Demon Carb, 650 cfm
- everything else the same as before

Also, thanks to Brent, I found this on an old Forum 54 post from years ago and following this the engine fired first crank - saved a lot of fussing around!

If you're not sure of the firing order and distributor, here are some pointers:

Firing order is 15426378, CCW.

Passenger side cylinders are 1-4. Driver's side is 5-8.

Make sure that #1 is coming up on the compression stroke (you can put your finger in the spark plug hole, or you can pull a valve cover and watch the rocker arms), and stop when the pointer is pointing around 25° BTDC. Once that happens, make sure the rotor is pointing at the #1 spark plug wire. At that point, give her a crank.

[jayb]

Graeme, glad to see you have it working!  Regarding the throttle linkage, I have had success with the Lokar throttle pedal assembly; it replaces the whole accelerator pedal and gives you a nice installation that is very flexible.  But I've used a different one than you linked to, the one I've used is below:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/lok-xfmg6098/overview/

Good luck on the installation - Jay

[rhinosoft]

Thanks Jay,

I did purchase one of the throttles you linked to but I am stuck since the firewall is double skinned down about half way.  Maybe I could cut out that section but with engine installed it's not really possible.

Will post back once I get this sorted.

Graeme

[jayb]

The pedal I linked to actually goes through down at the floor level, right at the hinge point of the pedal; are you double-skinned down there too?

[rhinosoft]

Yes, unfortunately..

 

[newfalconowner]

im using a throttle pedal  from a 70s maverick, that bolts to the firewall, and ran the cable thru the original hole in the pedal but did modify it abit to fit the braided cable end. dilled a hole in the firewall for the cable, and shortened to length.. I have the motor out right now but can take a picture of the pedal setup if you want

[rhinosoft]

Thanks for the image - I wondered how the Lokar bracket would work if the cable was inserted at the angle. I guess you just have to ensure that the inner wire does not bind at all.

Ford Maverick - I don't think I have ever seen one in the flesh??? I will install a Lokar pedal - similar to the one I linked earlier. This one has the lever point located up high and is attached by a couple of 1/4" self tappers which I have since the original brackets used the same size self tappers.

I hopefully will have it working on the weekend and will update this post then..

Thanks again.

[newfalconowner]

same idea as the lokar pedal, and same mount setup just not as shinney

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FORD-MAVERICK-GRABBER-GAS-THROTTLE-PEDAL-WITH-PIVOT-BRACKET-OEM-/111952060494?fits=Make%3AFord%7CModel%3AMaverick&hash=item1a10dce04e:g:WY8AAOSwAvJW-xn8&vxp=mtr

[Heo]

Looks like the gas pedal in my 66 Fairlane as i remember it

[rhinosoft]

Ah, yes I can see now that it would work for sure. I really want to get the car going this weekend so shipping and exchange rates to Australia would really cruel me...but still much cheaper than Lokar and sandblast and paint would work wonders.

Thanks for that.

[newfalconowner]

think any late 60s to 80s use the same type of pedal layout.

[57 lima bean]

Pedal pads are upside down.Is this a Canadian thing?

[newfalconowner]

lol I never even relaized that when I put them on, thanx

[gdaddy01]

mine keep coming off , so might try putting them on upside down .

[rhinosoft]

Just a final update on the manifold adapter, as I said before, the throttle and kickdown rod did not achieve full throw so I replaced them with a Lokar setup.

Took me a while to get there, the Thunderbird has a double skinned firewall so had to use self tappers to hold down the throttle pedal mechanism - hope it holds up! Also made up a 1/2" spacer to get more leverage from the pedal. Not 100% happy with the pedal but should get used to it...is a lot higher than I would have liked but any lower the throttle would not have opened fully. I can look at moving it up the firewall if I don't like it later.

Have not taken car on the road yet, not sure if the distributor is setup correctly as it backfired a bit and I can't remember what I asked the distributor guy to set it up for!! Shoot!!


Damn hole in the carpet where old pedal resided!


Shows the height compared to brake pedal



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