1963 T Bird

[MFranz]

Father In Law has a 1963 T Bird that has sat in his garage for a lot of years. He has in the past started it up maybe once or twice a year. It has about 2000 miles on a rebuilt motor but has been parked for the last 10 years or more. The last time he fired it up there was a lot of black smoke. The synthetic oil is also very black and only has about 1000 miles on it. When he looked at the carburetor recently it was dry. Could the black smoke be from gas in the oil? Could that be the reason for the oil being black? If gas had dried up in the carburetor could varnish clogging up the carburetor be the source of the black smoke?
Motor is a 390, Transmission is auto. Apologies for the long post. He is trying to get his T Bird ready to sell and wants an idea where he stands with it.

 

[goodguys75]

just run it for a while and see what happens....

 

[BDaugherty]

Fresh oil, fresh gas, and then run it and see what happens.

 

[PMould]

how about the automatic choke sticking? its been closed a long time. pete.

 

[B.G. Smith]

You are getting way too much gas, could be the choke stuck as noted above but is probably the carburetor gummed up. The excess gas is causing lots of soot and that is turning the oil black. Probably goi9ng to have to rebuild the carb, a tear down and cleaning of carb for sure. bg

 

[TFucili]

Depending on the carb on that particular setup, choke pull-off could be a culprit, but a bad power valve can really dump some fuel.

 

[goodguys75]

nothing a good foot tune up cant clear up

 

[B.G. Smith]

Depending on the carb on that particular setup, choke pull-off could be a culprit, but a bad power valve can really dump some fuel.

Yep, the power valve diaphram could be goe. If the car has the 390 v8 the carb is probably a 4160 Holly, .

 

[rscurtis]

An old Holley equals fuel leaks for sure. I used to have a 427 Galaxie with TWO of them.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Fresh oil, fresh gas and 1 quart of Dexron in full tank. I used to put Dexron in my 82 Buick tank kept the orignial carb going for 97,000 miles(every oil change). My 78 ford van with 4 barrel carb got a dose of Dexton every oil change also. Quit using Dexron when I purcahsed my 88 ford van because it was port fuel injection. I still put a few drops in my lawn mower's tank once in and while.