I hope the valve covers work for you. I made some great ones with big 1" breathers for a dragster. Really tough to keep them straight and keep them from leaking. I did an internal bent flange and even put tube between top and bottom to keep pressure on the gasket.
Fingers are crossed that you found all the problems.
Today was a decent day, rain stopped and there
was some sun.
I got it to crank and run but it stopped abrubtly.
As before it ran rough so I redid the valve lash.
Again it stopped dead....unerving me.
I have now gone back to 1.5:1 rocker arms...
Tomorrow weather willing I'm trying again.
Pretty much at the point of despair with this, losing my confidence fast.
Never have I come up against so many difficulties doing this easy job.
This morning I "started" the motor, loud banging from the left side of motor.
Stop motor think........engine mounting bolts lack nuts and tightening.
Did that.
Again upon cranking the same banging.
Out come the plugs....all wet.
Off with the valve covers.
Standing there observing the rockers, both sides I see all the little buggers are level.
Only the exhaust on number one is dipped a little.
No sign of oiling to the rockers either.
AND the locking screws are at varying depths which passed me by when setting the lash.
Plugged off the fuel lines, spark plugs out and cranked the motor.......
Then I went back and did the lash.
This time I had some resistance in all the lifters as I tightened them down.
ALSO I found there was a pushrod out of it's lifter cup.....which gave the deeper
locking screw.
I thought I had the trunnion upside down but I checked that.
An upside down trunnion will give you an elevated rocker arm.
Now the car runs.....iffy but weīre getting there.
Vacuum gauge says thereīs no vacuum, thatīs a new one but maybe itīll fix when
I re install the distributor and get that right too, rotor needs moving a toothy or two.
Iīm still trying to get warm.....boy was it cold today.
Forgot......plug wires all in order, checking them every time they go back on.
Vacuum gauge says thereīs no vacuum, thatīs a new one but maybe itīll fix when
I re install the distributor and get that right too, rotor needs moving a toothy or two.
Iīm still trying to get warm.....boy was it cold today.
Forgot......plug wires all in order, checking them every time they go back on.
This is where you find out your distributor has bad rotor phasing and where I constantly get stuck. If you put the vacuum gauge on and adjust the timing you will get 15 psi if you do not have vacuum leaks. Its not the tooth, its where the rotor is pointing on the cap when it fires that is retarding your timing. You are supposed to take an old dizzy cap, drill a hole in it, use a timing light and let the light flash on the cap when that plug is supposed to be firing. You turn the distributor and you will constantly be off. MSD sells an adjustable rotor. I will use it when I reuse this MSD distributor on the next motor. When we went sniper with timing control we had to go to their dizzy so it can be adjusted with the handheld or laptop.
It is also why you most probably had all the crud on the valves since its firing when a valve is still open and running like crap.
You need to trust a vacuum gauge and not trust the timing light, because the timing light is probably going to tell you you are at 40 degrees at idle, but you really are not.
Hereīs where it all went pear shaped, and itīs right back at the beginning with me ordering parts.
I ordered the cam, instructions told me I needed to order Edelbrock springs for roller cam.....did that.
The instructions told me I had to purchase their timing chain too or Iīd be taking a big risk.
I didīnt, I ordered a Comp cams timing chain and installed using my Camaro manual.
The factory installation is cam gear locating pin to the left, dots lined up, number 1 piston at TDC.
Well now Edelbrock does it different, just checking their timing gear instructions which ISHOULD have
done shows they put the locating pin on the cam gear to the right.....
So now I get to go right back in and fix it.
Does it matter if I rotate the cam clockwise or counter clockwise to get the locating pin in the proper place ?
Does it matter if I rotate the cam clockwise or counter clockwise to get the locating pin in the proper place ?
Malc
In my opinion - it makes no difference which direction you turn the cam to get the dowel pin where they say in needs to be.
Are you ordering their chain set now?
Do you have a degree wheel?
As much grief as you have had, I might just be distrusting enough to verify the intake centerline to determine exactly where the pin should be.
I'm very angry that they produce a part that differs from the norm so you are tied to them.
There is no reason,apart from profit, to install that
pin on the nose of the cam different to the norm.
As far as I can see I just rotate the cam 180 degress.
This is where it gets confusing. If you turn the crankshaft 1 turn the pin will be on the other side.
Now the number 1 piston is up TDC the cam is timed correctly. 1 more turn on the crankshaft will put the pin 180 degrees away from it.
So it does not matter which side the pin is on. What does matter is where the rotor in distributor is pointing it should be just before number one plug wire at TDC when on the compression stroke. If the distributor was 180 degrees off it would not run at all just backfire. The best thing at this point would be to put a vac gauge on a port that definitely has manifold vacuum the turn the dist to highest vac around 18-21 then back it down 1. If you don't back it down it will ping.
Edit: If the vac keeps going up and you run out of travel on the distributor then the dist needs to come out and move it one tooth the opposite way of the travel. In other words if you turn the dist counter clockwise and hit the manifold the rotor needs to go clockwise 1 tooth
Last edited by wrenchn2; February 9, 2018, 05:02 PM.
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