I've got the stock convertor in there. TA lists the cam as working with that so kept it. Thanks for the specs. 16 degrees of mechanical sounds good. I was thinking 20. I wish I could get the vacuum to work at a lower pressure so it'd stay ON when I put it in gear. Yea, I wondered about the ported vacuum port. The one it's on is ported, if I've got that right. The car originally had the two ports going to a thermo switch. Maybe the other one is ported. No additional milling was done to intake or port-side of heads. At 0.020" off each I'm thinking it didn't need it. I'll re-torque the intake. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm probably heading that way. Thanks for the confirmation. Still hoping to make the stock set-up work. I have no experience re-curving a distributor and may take it in to be done.
Wow. Found my cam card and I actually got the TA_290-94H 455H.491"-226'/.502"-235',112' I've tried a few things but no luck yet. Swapped some vacuum lines to no effect. Still revs high when in neutral and stalls when in gear. I'll be looking for a plain old vacuum leak. It looks like the mechanical advance isn't working right when I rev it and watch with the timing light. I picked up a mechanical advance curve kit and may put that in. Just gotta work though the problems.
Most of the stock distributor springs don't allow the mechanical advance to max out below 4000 RPM or higher. Lighter springs will help in setting the total advance as they allow the mechanical advance to be all in at a much lower RPM. HEI's can have too much mechanical advance built into them. If that is the case with your distributor, it will limit how much initial advance you can run, and that will hurt the idle in and out of gear. Make sure the Q-jet you have is a big block Q-jet.
If your Q-jet has not had the idle circuit modified, that could be your problem. I needed to do a good bit of work on my '76 Q-jet with the much milder TA 212 cam that was showing the same symptoms as yours. The Cliff Ruggles book does an excellent job of showing you what do and what sizes to make everything. I am not perfect yet, I don't think, but I am very close and it behaves as it should now. I also found it neccessary to run more initial advance. I ended up with the lightest springs in the mechanical advance. Hope this helps.
Well, crap. I tried to put in the Mr. Gasket mechanical advance curve kit (929G) and it doesn't work on my distributor. It works with the "E-clip" version. The shaft on mine is staked to the advance cam or ortherwise attached. No clip to be found. It was on a '74 455 engine so a very early unit. So back to the drawing board. Yes, might just get another unit so I can re-curve it. The advance arms (weights) in the kit are much smaller than the arms in the stock unit so I didn't want to try just swapping springs. Well... I might try putting in the stiffest ones just to see what'll happen. I'm starting to think I've got it plenty messed up. Not enough base advance and way too much idle screw to compensate. Looks that way right now. I was running out of adjustment so moved the wires around the cap two spots and moved the distributor that way one tooth. Having a hard time getting the aftermarket wires to all reach from dist to plugs nicely. I'll be looking for a diagram on how to mount the dist and attach the wires. Right now the electrical connection points straight across (driver right) and that's between wires #4 and #3. Not seeing how to select the wires to have them all good lengths. #2 goes from the far left side of the dist now and it's tight and there doesn't look to be a wire to swap in that'll work better.
Glen, I have the same type of dist, if I remember correct the original weights gave a total mechanical advance of 20-22 @ 2600 rpm with the lightest springs in the Mr Gasket kit. I run like that with 10 initial advance for a total of 30-32 and manifold vacuum adds to that.
Not all distributors were the same. Unless the actual distributor part numbers are the same, you cannot assume they have the same amount of mechanical advance. Big cap HEI's frequently had a lot of mechanical advance built into them, as did Buick point distributors in the late 60's. The early 70's Buick 350 distributors had very little, 12-16*. Those are ones I look for. You can run a ton of initial advance with them. Glen, give me the part number of the HEI you have. I have a 74 Buick chassis manual. I may be able to look it up for you.
I might try that. I suppose I could try to measure the spring stiffness and then estimate the performance of the new springs vs. the old. I've got that chassis manual, too. I'll have to look and see where the model is stamped. Or does someone know? ---------- Post added at 05:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:43 PM ---------- I made some progress with the tuning today. Seems I had not enough advance and compensated with too much idle screw. I got that changed so 4* of static advance. Cranked the idle screw out a bunch. Idles in gear OK, maybe a bit slow so may add some idle screw. I took a video of the car. It's in an apartment garage. Nice woman tried to buy it off me. Usually happens at gas stations. [video=youtube_share;UOSDEQTklpc]http://youtu.be/UOSDEQTklpc[/video] It sounds worse in person. There's no extra tapping or anything when just turning the engine over or cranking it. I'm thinking it's an exhaust sound but can't decide if it's one cylinder, and likely an exhaust valve, or something else in the exhaust. I can't feel exhaust shooting out anywhere, but that'd be too easy. Not really sure. It doesn't seem to come from any one identifiable spot. Maybe louder on the left than the right. Sometimes I think it's coming from the front of the engine, too. In the video I walk around the front of the car. No real difference.
The part number is on the circumference of the distributor right under the cap mounting surface. All you need to evaluate a set of distributor springs is a timing light and tachometer. Video sounds like the crank is hitting the pan. Is the pan dented anywhere?
OK. I'll look when I've got some light. Larry, I'm an engineer. Can ya let me make this harder and use a calculator? The pan is in good shape. I thought the pan/crank clearance might be a little close at the front. Is that a common problem?
OK, if you want to do it the engineering way, have at it:grin: Yes, clearance at the front of the pan is tight, not an uncommon problem. Put your hand on the pan with it running. You should be able to tell that way.
I did spend some time trying to set the pan as far forwards as I could. Is there a better fix? Thinking to loosen the bolts and tap it forwards. Might spring a leak at the back. Trying to avoid yanking the engine again.
And it is! I couldn't feel it through the metal but when it sounded different when I put my hand a bit further back. There's no obvious bump. So how should I fix that? The engine otherwise is coming along now. I got the timing set to about 7* static timing and have dialed back the idle screw. It doesn't idle well in gear until it's fully warm but it does idle then. I did have it out on the highway for some full-throttle runs. Really pulling nicely. Need more carb tuning, but it's coming along well now.
Don't know why it would hit if the pan in not dented, but you might try a thicker pan gasket. To replace the pan gasket in the car, the engine has to be lifted. http://www.gesslerheadporting.com/g...5a6aa53a7d81bd038525710d0059b199!OpenDocument
Thanks for the idea and link. There's a "bump" feature on the pan at the front and the contact seems to be at the back of the feature. I tried to move the pan forwards as it looked close at the front, sloping part of the pan. Maybe I've shifted it 1/16" that wasn't right. I couldn't see and dimple and it doesn't make a noice when cranking or when I assembled it. Weird. I also wonder about the combination of parts I have in there. The block is '74 but I forget if the crank and pan are '73 or '74. During the rebuild I replaced the pan that was on it with a spare. The previous one was stripped and dented. Could it be a '73 crank with '74 pan? Or vice-versa?
Or... Maybe the pan I'm using now is off the junkyard motor I got in 1988. Could have been roughly handled and dented in a bit. I'm feeling an engine pull in my future.
It has nothing to do with 73-74 mix of parts. It doesn't take much damage to the pan to create contact with the crank. Seen and heard it many times. I'd pull it and see. Maybe buy a new one from TA if you are going through that much trouble. http://www.taperformance.com/products.asp?cat=185
Hmm. The pros of the hypereutectic piston sure do sound tempting; I've often thought about using these myself back when Poston talked them up without any cons...but then I learned about the cons and quickly changed my mind! It slices, it dices, it shatters under slight duress! No thanks. I would never suggest using hypers to anyone. There's enough dice-rolling with engines without adding an additional component to the equation. Nor would it tolerate much pinging over any length of time. You can only tap a window pane with a pipe wrench so many times without it shattering until that one day comes when you say, ha, this window pane is tougher than I thought! Then it gets tapped a little harder just one more time and it cracks. Why take that risk? Or any applications, for that matter. Really...millions? Are you sure about that, Paul? ---------- Post added at 08:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:14 AM ---------- Ok, you're an engineer, so let's begin where the engine last ran where it didn't make that noise...or has it always made that noise since you started it up? I noticed you were messing around with the distributor. The sound in the video (to me) sounds like a hard surface rubbing up against another surface. Not so much of a grinding or knocking sound, but like the sound a piece of metal might make if it were grinding up against hard plastic or aluminum. It's a rubbing noise with reverberations indicating that one or more surfaces is flexing and gripping, like your fingers do around a wet glass when they slip. Front of engine, moreso on one side. Check your distributor weights to see if they're rubbing up against something. It would get louder as you revved it, and make no sound at all if you turned it by hand, meaning it has to have something to do with centrifugal force pushing something outward against something? Have you tried taking the distributor out and seeing how easily it turns by hand? Bushed bearings can make this sound if too tight or insufficiently oiled (ever hear the sound of a bushed fan bearing in a computer?---it can sound just like that, only on a smaller scale). G Edit: Heh, nevermind. I guess it helps to read further down the thread, eh?
Yeah, but thanks for getting in! So it's doubly solved now. I looked at the old oil pan and it's smooth up in the front. Like the pics of the TA oil pan. (Thx, Larry) My guess is that the engine was dropped or rested on the pan with the crank turned so the first counterweights were down. Didn't scrape when assembled and no sound when cranking. Noisy when running. Odd. The old pan has a stripped plug and the sump is crushed a bit from going over a cement block. Couldn't swerve in traffice and seems the Buick is a bit low. Anyways... had to use another. Any feedback on that TA stock oil pan?
