I have an 86 f150 with a 351w....runs like crap since i got it cheap. A few things i noticed were a capped off pcv port on the base of my holley 4160. A hose that seems in position to connect to the pcv port is plugged and following the hoses to the charcoal canister there is a missing cap or hose on top of the canister. The truck starts very hard if at all, backfires and smells of fuel bad when it does run. Any ideas would be appreciated, i have checked the timing and its on. Thanks

 

Overall, these things aren't necessarily related at all. You've named about 5 different problems.

Connecting PCV is a great idea. May solve some issues. Do it if all the parts are there and all you need is hose it sounds like.

Backfiring is usually due to water in the fuel. Change the fuel filter, additives are also available to remove water from the fuel but I can't attest to their usefulness.

Hard starting could be due to a whole mess of problems.

The fuel smell is probably that open port on the charcoal canister. Can't tell you where it goes without pictures though.

If you just bought it, do a tuneup. Won't cost you a ton and will eliminate some of the possible problems. I'll bet it starts a bit better once you're done.