Tonight, I added coolant to the radiator and then started up the Mustang. The Mustang started fairly easily and I quickly checked the timing to find it was at 15 degrees BTDC which is fine. I let the engine warm up and started checking for leaks. Once I found the first leak, I turned it off.
I noticed the fuel line to the carburetor was leaking at the carburetor. I fixed that and found that the power wire to the electric choke was broken off at the connector so I fixed it. With these fixed, I started it back up again allowing it to come to operating temperature.
The A/F ratio was incredibly high at idle (11:1). I checked and the idle screws were 3.5 turns out which is unheard of but was needed with the previous intake leak. I found that I could get it to 13.5:1 when .75 turns out. I could do a little more to set better but I left it at that for now to drive it around the block.
I drove it and the A/F ratio is good but a little rich under heavy throttle. I'm surprised at how smooth the engine runs now compared to before. It is much smoother at idle and while cruising around which is nice. There is more power. When I get on it, I don't smell oil burning either which is nice.
I parked it and found coolant leaking from the thermostat housing. I found the bolts were not very tight so I tightened them and cleaned up the spilled coolant before it could damage the newly painted parts. I hope this does not leak any more as it has since I purchased the car and I think the problem is the old thermostat housing.
After the car cooled down, I torqued all the intake bolts back to 20 ft/lbs. I'm calling this project done. I've very glad I decided to do it. I mostly wanted to do it for the looks but I was also curious if there was a leak. Fixing the leak I found has fixed many small problems and was well worth the time.
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