Black crud in last two head bolts

I redid the compression test the way you recommended SinCity and it shot up to ~130psi across the cylinders, thank you for that info!!

So I made my own adapter plate. I'm now having problems getting fuel into the bowl. The carb I have is a weber 32/36 knock-off. (That may very well be the problem itself)

The fuel pump works fine as I'm able to get fuel into the original carb fine but when put the new one on, the bowl stays dry. The float needle is completely open.

If I open the carb and fill the bowl with fuel it will start and run fine but still won't fill from the fuel line and empties out. Is there such a thing as too high a pressure from the pump where it won't fill??? Or maybe I have the carb set up wrong? As usual advice is appreciated.

It sounds like there might be debris in the fuel inlet on the carburetor... or some type of blockage anyway.

If it's a knock-off, could be something dumb like a fuel passage hole not drilled fully from the fuel nipple to the fuel bowl lol.

The fricken float was installed upside-down..... I flipped it over, set it to the recommended stops, plugged the fuel line back in. Three cranks and it fired right up...of all the....

Thanks for the suggestions all. Now that its idling i need to make a throttle cable as the existing lever systems don't easily connect to the new carburetor. I had a guy from AutoZone suggest finding a 80's Toyota truck and pull the cable from it. Have any of you done something similar?

Little by little I'm getting closer to being able to get little red back on the road.

CRAP!

Got everything back together, exhaust holes plugged, intake plugged, oil, coolant, weber carb, throttle cable conversion. Recheck compression, 130-135psi. Fired right up idled nice, took it for a spin around the block, parked it. Restarted no problem.

Went to go 2miles to fill up with fresh gas and 1 mile into it, it started to lose power and a serious rattle started clanking, clattering.... Sounds to me like I'm losing a rod/bearing....

FUUUUUUUUUU********KKKKKK!!!!

Managed to baby/limp it back home and park it. Started to look for bottom end piston/bearing/rod rebuild kit. Is it worth it or should I bag it and look for a Pinto 2.3L? Thanks for your input all.

Frustrated.

I think I'd go back and check your chain and sprocket timing. It sounds like it jumped back one tooth or something. You may still have saved your motor by not trying to run it with the alignment off. I think the chain motors are interference so that noise was pistons hitting valves.

I don't know how you got your adjuster pulled back but usually anytime I had an engine with one I had to use a vise to collapse the adjuster and then use a thin rod (like a 2.5 mm allan key) to hold the tensioner block in its case until I had the unit installed on the block.

To add to my previous post. Your engine wasn't making clattering noises before you opened it up to replace the head gasket, so it isn't likely bottom end parts are going to be needed at this stage. I think your underpowered issue and low compression issue are both related to valve timing being off and I don't think you need to give up on your motor quite yet.

Thank you for the advice! I'll take a look at the chain. I haven't started it since parking it Monday. It did clatter before taking the head off, I had thought it was doing that due to the blown head gasket. When I had the head off I pushed on the top of each of the pistons just over TDC to see if they would shift, indicating a loose bearing, but didn't feel or see anything. I saw someone suggest doing that on youtube, I could have been doing it wrong however.

Just a question, If it idles and revs nice while it's not under load wouldn't that mean the timing is ok?

As far as the timing adjuster I found a little notched indexing lever that when depressed will allow a small gap where you can shove a .062" pin in there to hold the adjuster inplace until you put the head back on.
Thanks again! Hopefully pics an vids coming soon!

Someone had a 2.3L ford engine up on CL with supposedly low miles. Not sure what year it is and I'm not sure what year 2.3L are compatible with the MA engine/transmission. I've looked on the site here but I'm a bit confused as the Kia swap looks to be only for the post 84 B's. Any links/threads to reference that I may be missing? Thanks all!

As far as I know, the 2.3 is a Ford engine, and needs to be mated with a Ford transmission. I'd look into your noise problem first, determine if it is an easy fix or not.