6 in a row makes it go, but 5 is all that are hitting on the 72 Grabber I just bought. Did a complete tuneup and still could tell it was dead on 1 cylinder. Performed a compression test, #5 cylinder no compression. Popped the valve cover,, pushrods are moving. Will pull head tomorrow. This is the first 6 banger Ford I have ever owned. Kinda fun working on something different. Will most certainly keep this car original. I have always thought straight 6's to be cool, have owned every other domestic 6 banger, just never a ford. Dan
Although I know its more expensive to get less performance, I 've always like the 6 with 3 1 bbl carbs and split headers. Definately different.
Out of all of the 6 Mustangs I had owned, all but one was a 6 cylinder. They are tough little engines. My last Mustang had close to 200000 miles on it and it was running on 5 cylinders when I traded it for my 77' Maverick. It had a hard time climbing hills, but it always started no matter what the weather and just refused to die. Did I mention that they are SO easy to work on? Give that baby a rebuild Dan, and it will probably run forever.
No compression is usually a stuck open valve. Do you have access to a cylinder leak down testing adapter? If you do, toss it on before pulling the head to try and narrow it down. If that car sat a long time someplace a valve may be stuck. I also seen them with a piece of debris caught in the valve seat and that held it open. Is this the yellow/green ebay Grabber?
An older mechanic in my area told me he bought a old chevy pickup from a guy who was always needing money. The old truck looked fair but had a dead miss in it. He changed plugs, wires, dist cap, rotor, adjusted the valves, all to no avail. He decided that the head gasket must be blown so he pulled the head off. When he got the head off, he discovered the problem....somebody had driven a hardwood block into the cylinder! Apparently the engine had seized the piston at sometime and the guy did'nt have the money to get the block bored so he drove the wooden block into the cylinder to seal it off and then cut the rod off and left it attached to the crank to keep oil pressure! When the mechanic asked later how long he had been running the truck on 5 cylinders, the guy told him about 5 years! I hope you don't find nothing like this in yours, just thought I'd pass it along so you can say that 'I've heard it all now!"
Hey Dan how about some pictures of the new car!!! Also didnt we hear this same thing about leaving it stock from a guy named John Ford!!
but johns is not a grabber ...and it cost about the same to swap to the v8 have more power and won't use much more gas then the 250 running on the freeway i said i would never put another 351w in one and my 69 1/2 is getting one and i'm not cutting the towers to put it in ..ill pull the valve covers when i need to get to the plugs
Yes, this is the car that was just on ebay. Seller claimed it ran real good. lol, even talked to him about 10 times on the phone. I dont think he knows much about cars. The old me would just toss the existing motor and drop in a v8. I like the fact of having something different with this one. I do think it is a stuck valve, will locate a cylinder leak down tester today and check that last detail before I proceed with pulling head. 1 pic from the ebay auction, will post more later today. Dan
dan, when i bought my '71 it too had a missing cyl. (i think it was #5). it was a stuck valve. the pushrod will work if it is stuck open. what i did was tap the rocker arm with a blow hammer . that broke it loose. the spring just couldn't push it closed...frank...
Frank,, I had that same idea today. Glad you mentioned that, I will go and try it. Took some pics. Hood is bad, dont know if it shows in pic. Car overall is very solid with the exception of cowl vent area, right door and right fender low. I think I will repaint it and do the stripes correctly.
