bacelaw

This is really interesting and could help lots of people with the same upgrade. Do you have some pics and more details of what you did and how you did it?

If you cannot get the idle to adjust down lower than 700, you must have a vacuum leak or the throttle plate isn't closing (or both). Most likely areas are intake manifold gasket, carb base, and the throttle arm inside the carb itself... With no air leaks, she should idle way down under 600 without issue.

What is your idle rpm? You should be able to idle her down to 600rpms or less no problem. You may want to revisit vacuum leaks. The idle screw should change rpms with very little movement of the screw- unless you have vacuum leaks at the carb throttle plate arm, at the base of the carb, and/or intake manifold.

The 41 plymouth master cylinder doesn't have a hoop on it for the pedal mechanism...on the 41, the master is totally separate from the pedal assembly....fyi

When you adjusted the valves, was the engine hot?

If she idles down at 600rpm smoothly, I think you can rule out any major vacuum leaks. So, it's got to be fuel delivery (fuel pump or carb) or ignition related. I bet Keith would suggest testing fuel pump pressure. If that checks out, and you said the carb is new, and the gas is fresh, it must be ignition related or timing. Does the vacuum advance and mechanical advance on the distributor function as they should? It's possible you have a bad/new condenser out of the box.

Thanks everyone. Now that I have an extra rebuilt engine, I know I'll never need it - out of spite, my original engine will outlast me. I'm going to disassemble, treat the bores and crank with penetrating oil (or similar) and store everything inside the heated basement. I know the conventional wisdom is to keep the motor complete, but it's easy to tear down these flatheads...once the crank is out, the pieces are much easier to move around. Thanks as always!

Hi all: I have a fresh rebuild 230 flathead. I don't plan on installing it for years. Would you rather store it outside in a shed (complete), or disassemble and keep parts in a heated basement shop and treat the bores with penetrating oil?

I'm not trying to be negative, but don't new shoes arc to the drums automatically after some miles? When we got new shoes a couple years ago, we just drove the car, then re-adjusted the brakes after several hundred miles.

You might be overfilling it. The book for my wagon says 1/2" *below* the top of the resevoir is the maximum.

Sent you a private message

I have an extra, in MA...other than Ebay, may be tricky to locate.

I think the actual price is $280.

I think a carb spacer between the intake and carb, a fiberglass type heat shield wrap around the steel fuel line, routing the fuel line farther away from the hot manifolds, are all options that should help vapor lock or boiling fuel.

This forum is the best. It's a spectrum if you ask me - there's a perfect rebuild on one end, a ring and valve job on the other, and everything in between. From everything I've read, I bet with new rings that motor outlasts all of us. You have good oil pressure, decent compression, and you don't want to pull the motor - so try to repair that cylinder wall, new rings, seal the valves better and do the PCV upgrade. Drive and smile while you rebuild the spare.