A car I am working on had the power valve go out on a Holley 715 CFM carb.
Idle mixture screws seated shut, but engine still running, usually tells the tale of a bad power valve.
I searched through my stash of power valves.....eleventeen 6.5's, and at least one of each from 2.5 up through 7.5.....but no 8.5 like the factory specs used....Dang.

Off to the auto parts store....which turned into stores, and here is how things went.

My local O'Reilly's: The two guys working there did not know what a power valve was but they were able to look up the proper part.....after I told them it was for a Holley carburetor, and after I told them the part number would probably be 125-85.
I began the whole exchange by literally asking, "Do you have an 8.5 power valve for a Holley carb?"
Neither of them knew they had power valves hanging on the wall directly behind the counter....Unfortunately they only had a 5.5 and a 6.5.
"Thanks for your help" and off to the next store along my way to where the car is stored.

Almost across the street from the O'Reilly's is an Auto Zone: I pop in and the counter guy asks me "what are you looking for?"
I tell him, "I would like an 8.5 Power valve for a Holley carb"......long pause, and deer in headlights look, followed by, "a what?" We talk a bit....

He taps on the keyboard for a while and then asks if this is for the driver side or passenger side?....You see, his computer, when filled in to search for "Power Valve" went to some front suspension parts for a Volvo.
I spent some time explaining what a power valve was, what it went into, and where to look in the computer.
Finally he was able to access some power valves, along with about 15 other items that had NOTHING to do with carbs....we weeded through the chaffe and eventually he was ready to order a 4.5 power valve for me.
Not because it was the part I was searching for but because it was the top listed power valve on his page.

I spent a bit more time explaining the power valve numbering system and how it correlates to a vacuum signal.....which he did not understand even after the explanation.
Then he took me to the "performance section" in the store, which consisted of a few peg hooks of SPECTRE chrome stuff and a couple see through fuel filters, but no power valves.
"Thanks for the help and have a great day" and off to the next store along the way.

NAPA: I walk in and the guy is on me immediately asking what I am searching for.
I say, "I would like a Holley 8.5 power valve" to which he answers...."A what valve?"
This time I jump right in and try to skip all the build up by saying.
"I am working on a Holley carburetor and the power valve in that carb has failed"..."I need a new power valve and 8.5 is the version I am looking for." "I am pretty sure your part number will be 125-85 because that is the Holley part number."

Tipity-tapity on the keyboard and soon he asks, "what is a power valve?"
To which I answer, "It is a part inside a carburetor"
"What kind of carburetor?" he asks and I say, "Holley".

He types for a while and then he asks, "what car is this on?"
I say, "It does not matter when it comes to power valves but it is a 1966 Shelby GT-350".
Then he asks, "who makes that?" Keep in mind this was a guy old enough to look at least 30.
Of course he can't find this car in the computer so he asks a few more questions but then I ask him...."Are you able to look up Holley carb parts like gaskets, rebuild kits, floats and such things?"...."They may be under your Keystone listings."
He just stares at the screen and then says, "I think so".

At that point I said, "Hey, thanks for your help and you have a great day."
In a moment I am sitting in the parking lot realizing things have changed far more than I understood. Then I thought about calling a friend to see if he had any 8.5 power valves......Nope, like me he had everything but the 8.5.
He did suggest I try the O'Reilly's on Robert street because they still carry some performance parts and Holley stuff....Thanks man, and have a great day.
Off to the next parts store along the way.

O'Reilly's on Robert, which used to carry a LOT of performance parts, but now their selection is relegated to one sheet of pegboard....which is now about 80% more than anyone else carries.
As I walk in the guy asks me what I am looking for and I tell him.....same story, no clue, no ideas, until I ask if they have any carburetor parts in the store.
He directs me to the "performance section" as he is saying, "I don't think we have any of that stuff in the store".
They had some power valves, and some Edelbrock carb stuff too!.....but no 8.5's.....Dang.

Finally I make it to the car and I install the 7.5 power valve I have in my stock.
I tune the carb and everything runs really well again and the owner is very happy with the results.

Today I realized my old ways of going to the auto parts stores for carb parts are finished.
I know the stuff is old, and many of the parts are not regular fare anymore, but having no knowledge of a Holley carbs existence and no knowledge of a power valve?...even its existence? That seems weird to me.

I was especially troubled by the counter help...at two stores....that did not know about the performance parts that are literally hanging on the wall 8 feet from where they stand and work each and every day.
How can you be an auto parts store employee and not look around where you work?
How can you stand in a place for 5-10 hours per day and not be a bit curious about what is literally stocked within your view?

Again, I fully understand the cars and parts I am playing with are old, often 50+ years old, and I usually prepare myself for this prior to entering the store because I know something obscure like the heavy duty waterpump on my 428 is not likely to be listed in the computer......But not knowing Holley.....Even as a brand name?

Today I was in four different auto parts stores, and I dealt with 6 different employees. NONE of them knew what I was looking for.....even when they had an image on the screen it did not trigger any useful outcome.

I try real hard to purchase from local businesses but it seems all my carb business will be through Mikes Carburetor Parts from now on.

I am working on an Autolite 4100 carb for a 1965 289 small block street cobra that is missing the aluminum ID tag.
The carb body is marked (C4OFAL) and it is a 1.12.
Do any of you know where I might source a good reproduction?...I figure an original is basically made from unobtanium these days, or costs $52,345.
While I know the number system and other such things, I do not know, without question, what the tag numbers should be for this exact car.
Can any help with that specific information?

Thanks and have a great day.

Hello all, I am wondering where the market is on some items I wish to sell and figured you are probably the best gauge I know...even if it is for just a 460.

This is a complete throttle body style fuel injection system.

Edelbrock Torker II intake manifold with 8 injectors (Accel), fuel rails, AN fittings, a throttle body (3 valave style) and CSI aluminum spacer.

An Accel distributor, coil, ignition control box, fuel injection control box, and all associated wiring and connectors.

Everything that was on the running engine has been carefully removed, boxed and tagged. The only parts not here are gaskets and a fuel pump.

This is from the early 2000's.
If you can give me some idea of the value I would appreciate the help.
Thanks and have a great day.

I am trying to figure out an overheating issue with my wifes 2009 Fusion.
It has the 2.3L 4 cylinder and is currently at 180,000 miles...I purchased this car new and have taken care of it properly.

A couple weeks ago I heard her driving into the garage and the cooling fan was blowing full blast....which seemed odd as the outside temps were below zero F.
I asked her to keep an eye on the gauge...nothing reported until today.

I drove the car once last week and noticed the heater would fluctuate between blowing hot air and cooler air depending on engine rpm. Basically at idle the heater went away, but once you started driving it came back as normal.

I figured the water pump impeller was failing somehow and not providing enough water movement.
The temp gauge was working fine showing the fluctuations in temp and I could tell the thermostat was opening and closing with temp readings of the upper hose.

Today the car overheated on her drive to work, pegging the temp gauge, but not boiling over...again temps in the negative F range.

I worked on the car and decided to install a new water pump and new T-stat...The car has 180,000 on it so I guess it is time anyway.
After removal the old waterpump appears good, and the T-stat looks good too, but I did not water test that yet.

New waterpump and T-stat installed and not leaking, but now when I run the engine it still acts like there is no water movement in the system.

I had the bleeder valve open and I revved the engine between 2000 and 3000 rpm to move water and nothing. Nothing out the bleeder, no extra coolant sucked in from the fill tank, and the engine went into overtemp limp mode in the garage.

I can guess at some other things that might be happening, like a clogged radiator hose, but I really don't know at this point.

Has anyone dealt with this odd issue of coolant not flowing through the system?
Keep in mind I am guessing at the lack of coolant flow based on indicated temps, lack of temp in the upper radiator hose, and the lack of coolant from the fill tank being sucked into the system after it has been drained enough to do the work because I can not literally look at the coolant like I can on older cars.

Thanks for any and all help.

Hey all, I am looking for suggestions about good places to sell some 429/460 parts.
Ebay is out for me.
I have not sold much in a long time so I am not current where the better places are.

Years ago I was a very limited user on the 460Ford website, but it got so overtaken by popup ads that I left and have not been back.
While I am running up to date blockers, I would like to avoid a place with all that if I can.

I have not been on racing junk in forever either so I don't know how that is going today as well.

If you have any good suggestions I would appreciate a helpful nudge in the right direction.

Thanks and have a great day.

I have been working on a genuine 427 street cobra roadster over the last few months.
Many things have taken place and I am about 98% confident in the car now....Keep in mind I don't think these were ever 100% "ready"....even when brand new.

Anyway, I recently had a full undercar exhaust system fabricated
St Cloud Exhaust did an excellent job (thanks to Tim and James)

I was running a temporary straight pipe exhaust I fabbed to get through until the real system was installed.
I figured the carb tune would change a bit once the full exhaust was installed...and I was right.

I tuned some things, checked the gauges and meters, and while things measured good, the car just did not drive right....and the problems were getting a little worse each time I did something.
Hard to start, vapor locking a bit too easy, empty bowls after a fully hot engine sat for a while, stumbles and surges...but none of the issues were big, hard issues, just very subtle irritances and quirks.

Then things got worse so I made some things to be 100% certain I was setting things right.
This engine has LeMans bowls so I made a set of go-no go gauges to set the primary and secondary float levels....I know, without a doubt, they are set right and working properly...take that off the list.
I did the same with a bunch of other things too just to be certain I did not mess up, forget, or do it wrong somehow.

Then a thought hit me...what about the fuel supply line from tank to fuel pump?
I get the Cobra high up in the air, crawl under...and see a nicely made hard line the entire way, except for a 10" section between the feed and fuel pump.
This is an old piece of flexible line that was fabricated using fabric braided covered fuel hose and brass fittings. JIC/AN on one end and inverted flare on the other.

I pull it off to look at it and sure enough, the rubber is cracked, dried, but looking very nice because it has not been disturbed.

This old line was sucking air as the fuel pump tried to pull fuel from the tank.
No leaks, or even wetness, because it is sucking.

I fabricated a new flexible hose to fit the need and what do you know...The engine runs really nice now that it has a full supply of fuel and proper pressure.

What a tricky fault to diagnose due to no external signs of anything wrong.
What a doofus I was to keep second guessing myself and trying to "tune" around an unknown issue.

The Cobra now starts easy and quick, idles nice, runs well and boots and scoots nicely too.
The only issue I now have is a tiny bit of dieseling when shutting off, just a chug or two, but it is there.

All in all I can't complain too much though. I mean I have been driving around in a real Cobra while sorting the issues.

I live near enough to a local airport that I get frequent small aircraft flying overhead.
During the nice weather seasons I sometimes get WWII, and even a few WWI, aircraft passing by, at pretty low altitudes too.

Just this morning a local craft flew by, "Miss Mitchell" a B25, low and slow, and sounding about as perfect as anything.
It was early, for a Saturday, and I was taking care of some laundry.

Off in the distance I heard a sound, and soon I recognized that sound.
I drop my stuff and shoot to the door...hey, even flying slow Miss Mitchell flies by pretty quickly, out front I stand in the yard looking up like some kind of idiot kid...and I watch Miss Mitchell fly by...again, like I have seen 100 times before.

Never once does this get old.
Each time I am like a kid running to the ice cream man's jingle...and my wife teases me about it too.
There are many things that get my attention, but the WWII aircraft just seem to grasp my inner kid like little else.
Whenever I get to see, and hear, these fly by my day is just a little bit better.