That shop manual from 1973 was more right than my mechanic friend who said to ignore it

My buddy Mike has been turning wrenches for 30 years. Told me I didn't need to check the valve clearances on my 1968 Ford 300 straight six because they "never go out of spec." I trusted him because he's the one who showed me how to do a compression test. Well, I got the old shop manual in a box of parts from the seller. Pulled the valve cover after I couldn't get the truck to idle right. Three intakes were tight, two exhausts were loose. Adjusted them exactly to the manual specs and it runs smoother than anything Mike has built in his own garage. He came over, heard it run, and just shook his head. Has anyone else had bad luck following advice from someone who works on newer stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

jana_price14d ago

Gonna be honest. One truck running better isn't a big enough sample size. Maybe your idle issue was just gunk or a vacuum leak.

verac4013d ago

Three trucks over six months isn't enough to prove anything, is it. My buddy had a similar idle fix just from cleaning the throttle body once. A vacuum leak can throw everything off too, like a slow puncture in a tire. One data point from a forum post doesn't make it gospel. That's just how it goes with old trucks.