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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / RPM

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Posted By Discussion Topic: RPM     sunflower 05-15-2011 @ 10:26 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 108 Joined: Feb 2010 How do I know what the RPM of my car is at idle,is there a guage to tell me? I hope this is not a dumb question. Also a friend of my lost the key to his ignition on his 38 Ford can a locksmith make a new key and does he have to remove the column drop, what is the procedure? Thanks in advance sunflower. CharlieStephens 05-15-2011 @ 11:10 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 882 Joined: Oct 2009 For a one shot on the RPM go to a good garage with electronic tune up equipment and they can check it out for you. Find a friendly one that will give you a good price rather than the standard charge to hook up to the computer. For the long term buy a tachometer, but why spend the money? If you included your general location in the body of your post or in your profile someone might recommend a local locksmith. Check on local Early Ford V8 Clubs in your area for who is good for the early Ford locks. Call the locksmith they can probably work on it in the car, Charlie Stephens supereal 05-15-2011 @ 12:43 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 Usually, a replacement lock cylinder is considerably cheaper than a locksmith. New cylinders and keys are about $20 at C&G (800-266-0470), and they come with a new break off pin. The old pin that holds the cylinder in place has to be removed by drilling it, then pulling it out. As for tachs, watch the swap meets. Many of the old six volt tach/dwell meters show up now and then, and are usually inexpensive. As for setting idle speed, back off the idle screw on the throttle shaft and lower the speed until the engine is running slowly. Adjust the idle bleed screws on the carb by turning them in, one at a time, until the engine begins to stumble, then back out until smooth again. If the engine hesitates when the throttle is increased, increase the idle speed with the throttle shaft screw. TomO 05-15-2011 @ 5:20 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7244 Joined: Oct 2009 You can connect a dwell / tachometer to the condenser terminal of the coil on the 37-41 distributors or the coil terminal going to the distributor on the 42-48 distributors to check the RPM. If you do not have a dwell /tachometer, your car should idle at 5-7mph in 3rd gear. Tom JM 05-15-2011 @ 9:14 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 822 Joined: Oct 2009 On your friends 38 with lost ignition key; something he may want to consider doing is removing the door lock cylinder on the passenger side and have a key cut to the numbers on that cylinder since it would have originally been keyed the same as the ignition lock. Removing a door lock cylinder is much easier than removing the ignition cylinder. If that doesn't do the trick then you will need to remove the ignition lock cylinder and have a key cut to its number if it is different than the numbers on the door lock cylinder. Having a good automotive locksmith pick the lock would probably be more expensive than having a key cut to the cylinder numbers. JM sunflower 05-16-2011 @ 8:33 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 108 Joined: Feb 2010 Hi TomO, would you know where to connect the tach on a 35Ford is it the same for the 37to 41 connection? thanks. supereal 05-16-2011 @ 9:27 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 The condenser terminal and coil input terminal are at the same place in the circuit. The tach measures the impulses provided by the ignition points. TomO 05-17-2011 @ 7:56 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7244 Joined: Oct 2009 Sunflower, the reason that I did not mention the pre-37 distributor is I don't have one handy and am not sure if the connection is accessible. The connection has to be made at the point where the points receive their voltage. On the 37-41 this is at the condenser terminal. Tom sunflower 05-17-2011 @ 10:23 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 108 Joined: Feb 2010 Thanks to all that responded very helpful info,this forum is the best.sunflower

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