New guy from rural upstate NY

Howdy folks! I'm a new member from rural upstate NY. Last week I bought a 1972 Gran Torino 4 door. Being a classic car guy, I've been eyeballing this car for well over a year. A few weeks ago, I ran into the previous owner and he said "I still have that Gran Torino for sale, and I know you like those old cars!" To which I replied "Is the price down to $2,500 yet?"  He said that would do, so I told him I'd talk to the Mrs and come have a closer look. The car has some bondo on the lower panels, but it's rock solid with a clean frame and pristine floor pans(I always look at the underbody first on any classic car). Shifting my attention to the inside, I saw the odometer read 34,1xx miles. I thought to myself that it had been rolled over 100k, being a 47 year old car. Then I looked at the seat, steering wheel and pedals and came to the realization that it's got 34 thousand original miles! The interior is absolutely mint. Now, you would think that scoring a 47 year old car in great shape with only 34k is pretty awesome, right? Nope, it gets better. When I popped the hood, I couldn't believe my eyes. Sitting between the (extremely clean) fender wells lies a 351 Cleveland with a shiny Edelbrock intake topped with a carter style carburetor. Wow, I did NOT see that coming! I took it for a short test drive and checked out the function of everything. There was some issues. The transmission shifted super late and constantly kicked back into 2nd gear if I so much as looked at the gas pedal. It was a 90 degree day, and the heat was stuck on nearly burning my eyeballs out of their sockets. The engine ran like trash, even though I was told that it just had a tune up. The wipers don't return to the bottom position and the windshield washer doesn't work. Being that the transmission didn't slip, I figured I could get things straightened out to make a decent daily driver. First thing was that transmission(okay, that was right after I threw a ball valve in a heater hose so I don't burn to death). I drove the car home last Wednesday, mostly in 2nd gear because the C4 told me so. Luckily, it was only a 4 or 5 mile drive with lots of hills. I has assumed that the vacuum modulator was the culprit, but everything tested fine with my vacuum pump. The modulator holds vacuum, and the line going to it provides a consistent 13" of vacuum. I drove it to work the next day because I don't believe in trailer queens and my cars are drivers. At my morning break, I noticed the kick down was just hooked to a plate  that bolted to the carb linkage with no slot to allow for adjustment. On my lunch break, I whipped that sucker out, grabbed a drill bit, and headed for the drill press. A bunch of holes and some filing later, I had a slot. I put it back on the car, bolted it on about 1/2" shorter, and viola! A proper shifting C4. Alright, making progress on day one! On the way home, I noticed that my eyes were still burning even though I blocked off the heat. This thing was running super rich. I got home, grabbed my timing light and dwell meter, and set out to do some tuning. Well, that didn't pan out so well. I can't see or feel a mark on the harmonic balancer, and the distributor is seized in its current position. So, i figured all I can do at the moment is check the mixture screws on the carb. Holy crap! 2&3/4 turn out and 2&1/2 turns out. Gee, I wonder why my eyes are burning and this thing runs like a pig? I seated the screws and backed them out 1&1/4 turns. OH MY GOD. All of a sudden, I have tire melting power at my disposal! Cool beans. During the week, on the days when it wasn't pouring cats and dogs, as soon as I got home with a hot engine I grabbed a candle and crammed it in where the distributor seats. I've used this technique in the past on exhaust manifold bots with good success. The wax melts, and the capillary affect draws it into the threads to make stubborn old bolts slip right out. Well, I tried again today, and that distributor just won't budge. Not having a timing mark, I can live with. I can time by ear pretty well. My other daily driver is a '72 Buick with a 4bbl Buick 350. Though the timing is out of spec, I have great throttle response and obtained almost 17 mpg in a 4400 lb land yacht. I'm handing this Ford over to the wife on Monday, so I'd really like to get it that distributor freed up to tune it in. Any advise you may have would be greatly appreciated. I've heard that this is not uncommon with 351 engines, but I've had lots of classic cars and never ran into this problem before. This is my 1st 351C powered classic.

wow, i couldn't agree more!!! love most all the classics, hate new disposable junk with a passion yeah 1 of 2 of my newer 90's cars had sensor over fueling issues, finally swap on an edelbrock 4bbl intake and a small holley carb and a stand alone HEI best thing i ever did!!!

"old cars till the day i die!!!!"

there has been some pic issues uploading from a phone lately i've heard???

welcome BTW

 the dist. issue.... that's common on those clevelands, i just spent a while doing the same thing on one just to swap in a points dist. just to ground fire it ... soaked it with PB blaster for a couple months didn't help much i finally used a torch carefully to heat it some letting the heat soak in then more heating... never did turn but i got it to slowly come straight up driving a pry bar between the dist. base and the intake, carefully heating spraying and wedging the bar forcing it up and out once out i sanded the hole in the block with 80 grit and the same on the dist. to remove the corrosion!