Could anybody help. I have bought a car and it has 360 engine in. When it is warm or hot it back fires and sets fire to the petrol in the carb. I am not sure what year the engine is and it is my first American engine so I am not familiar with these engines so any help would be welcome. What temperature should these engines run at? Thanks Alan.

 

Welcome to the forum.
You're car may be running too hot and boiling the gas in the carb. What intake manifold are you running ? Maybe heat risers clogged. I think we will require some more information. ie: what intake/carb combination etc etc. Is the timing correct ? Are the plug wires in the right order ? We will try to help.
You came to the right place.

 

Thanks for your help, It could be running hot do you know what the normal running temp should be, not sure how to check the heat risers, the plug wires are in the right order, inlet is a edelbrock not sure which one carb is edelbrock 500 not sure if the timing is correct.

 

How long does the car run before the backfires start, and is it running fine before that ? Do you know what ignition system is on it ?

 

The car runs fine for about 20 mins then it will either stall and when you turn it over it will backfire and ignite the petrol or it will splutter pop and ignite. Do you know how to set the timing.

 

Thanks for your reply Ryan could you tell me if when yours backfired it ignited the petrol?

 

You will need a timing light and you'll need to know where the timing marks are on the crank pulley. Sorry for asking but how mechanically inclined are you ? If you can borrow a timing light I can "talk" ya through it.

 

I know the basics I found the timing marks on the pulley and on the block and can borrow a snap on timing light.

 

Here's a crude explanation Alan.
One of the cables of the timing light goes around the plug wire of spark plug of cylinder number 1 (I think that's on the driver side, the one up front, but check to make sure). With engine idling, aim at the harmonic balancer, the little disk of about 1 inch thick that's rotating under this sheet metal piece. You will see a little horizontal groove on the harmonic balancer flashing and appearing motionless. If the little line is below the zero mark, that means you are before TDC (which is where you should be). Now, if you loosen the distributor and rotate it a little, you will see this mark moving up and down. When you rotate the distributor clockwise (the little vacuum advance module is moving towards the front of the car) you are advancing and you will notice the mark is dropping.

 

This may help also.

 

Another crazy question Alan; is there a thermostat in the car, if there is what temp is on it and does it work ? you can test it also. I am trying to think of everything bro..

 

Your timing could be too advanced like Polar and ryan said. Since you have a carb on the 360 that tells me you have a LA (non-Magnum motor). You should be running a thermostat from 180* to 195* F. No higher than 195*. I would probably install a 180* thermostat since you have some aftermarket parts installed.

 

Polaradude thanks for that I will try it when I get a timing light, should I take the vacum pipe off when I check the timing? I just put a new thermostat in but I am not sure which one it is. Not sure what year car the engine came from. Can anyone tell me what temperature should these engines run at?

 

Yes, disconnect the vacuum hose from the dizzy and plug it.

As far as the temp goes, as long as you have no air pockets and everything in the cooling system is working properly, it should run at whatever temp setting the thermostat is that you installed. It shouldn't get above 200* though.

 

I think it went up to 200 F may be just over. How would I check for air pockets?

 

As long at the radiator cap is the highest point in the cooling system, then they will work their way there. It would also cause the temp to go u p in the system. If your at or around 200* (within 5*-10*), you should be good.

 

Ok next thing I will try is the timing how much below tdc should it be?

 

you should try to advanced it past tdc
try 5 degrees then go from there

 

Ok I will try that.

 

Let us know how everything goes Alan, you know where we are.

 

Ok wont be doing it for a few days but will let you know. Thanks for all your help.

 

By the way, what's this motor in ? You should post a pic or two.

 

i'd like to see some pics

 

The motor is in a 1959 Ford Popular 103E I will try to add some pics.

 

1959 Ford Pop 103E running a 360 with a 904 auto.

 

WOW
looks awsome

 

Wicked car, thats real cool.

 

Glad you like it . I wasn't sure about putting pics up although it is mopar engine & box not strictly mopar so I didn't know how people would react. Only problem flames are a bit to real when it backfires.