I recently purchased a 1970 skylark convertable it is bone stock under the hood. except for where the previous owner added a diffrent fuel filter between the pump and the carb. it still has single exaust too It leaks oil from around the timing chain cover and i believe there is a fuel leak at the fuel pump. while driving it from the purchase location in florida back to its new home in milwaukee wi. after driving a while on the interstate If I came into a gas station the oil light would come on. It dosen't happen for most drives now but it will do it after driving on highway speeds for a while it will do it again. I am curious to know if it should be a great conern. since i am going to have the timing chain cover off anyway to replace the seals, what can i do to upgrade the oil pump and where are some locations to purchase the upgrade parts for the pump. and what else should I look at while under there. maybe replace the fuel pump with an aftermarket? also the car has very little power at highway speeds I think that this could be due to the inability to breathe or a timing problem. I played with the timing a little bit and it seems to have helped a little but it knocks pretty bad so if i put it between where it was when i bought it and knocking it got a little better. It knocks just as bad with cheap gas and premium fuels. It can't keep up with an escort from about 30+ mph. the power actually feels that it gets better if i let the engine upshift into 3rd gear while doing about 50mph. I have yet to hook it to a dwell meter or a timing light to get the optimum timing. the exaust does smell like it is running rich although i'm not sure at higher speeds under load. so i am wondering if i have a fuel delivery problem. (the car will flood out if i stomp on the gas from an idle at a medium warm up temp [at a cooler tempature it gets off the line great] and once hot its fine too) (this is a goofy problem to me) I am looking to replace the upper end (carb to exaust) with a 4bbl setup though finding an afforcable setup has yet for me to be found. the car does get about 20 mpg highway but about 5 city. any suggestions to these problems would help. I know it maybe confusing. (my winter project of this is to fix the oil leak and maybe fuel pump to be replaced.) wouldent mind doing some carb work either. the car has 138k miles on it. The engine sounds good I have a slighly noisy lifter. oh one more thing I am looking to replace the exaust system but I don't like the loud exaust. (I'm looking to build a cruzer) If I get onto the gas I wouldent mind a nice tone but I don't want to hear the car much if im driving stop and go and general cruzing. any suggestions in exaust systems? (yes im looking for dual exaust)
Oil Pressure I just went through the same thing with my Jeep.Good pressure at highway speeds,LOW pressure at idle.It's only $15 for a new oil pump kit and another $15 for a steel plate for the pump.Most places call them booster plates.They give the oil pump gears something harder to ride on than the aluminum case.Just a thought.
If it isn't your only car, Flatlander Racing sells a master rebuild kit for $290 (pistons included!). I plan to buy it and use TA lifters and bearings and Durabond cam bearings from PAE. That way my 350 will be good to go until I build it up for a turbo.
That car should run it's best in 2nd with 1st a lil draggy. The 2bbl should net around 15city/20hwy mileage. Something definatly wrong there. It should also have pleanty of getup-n-go once off the line. I'd toss in a full tuneup and rebuild the carb. Hookup a tach, dwell & timing light to setup everything and you should be running good after that. Don't be afraid of the R-2VG carb.. Pretty simple to work on, just don't get the checkballs mixed up.. :gt: Also for some added breath on it, flip the lid of the aircleaner. It also makes it sound a bit meaner.. :grin: Like everyone else said, nab a kit & booster plate and run with it. If money isn't a concern, grab a Stage 1 intake from TA then grab a Q-Jet and have it redone by a pro and you'll be set.
ya you got some problems there. I assume you've done a full tune up? wires/plugs and the rest? You NEED to check you're timing with a light. I'd never trust doing it "by ear". And change the points and set with a dwell too... I had a oil leak in the front of the engine before. It ended up being the fuel pump was leaking oil... strange i know... changed the fuel pump, and oil leak went away. if you want a stock 4 brl intake manifold, i've got one i just replaced with a TA aftermarket one. I'll sell it for what I paid for it 2 years ago, $30 +shipping. Shipping cost me $30 cause it weighs like 50 pounds. pinging problem could be a result of overheating. I never relealized mine was overheating until I put a temp gauge in it. Would run at 240 deg. Should never get above 210 deg. It would ping and be sluggish running at 240 deg. The radiator/water pump was my problem. Also check the choke, make sure it is working good.
pinging problem could be a result of overheating. I never relealized mine was overheating until I put a temp gauge in it. Would run at 240 deg. Should never get above 210 deg. It would ping and be sluggish running at 240 deg. The radiator/water pump was my problem. Also check the choke, make sure it is working good. [/QUOTE] the knock is there while it is cold and goes away once it warms up for about 5 min. I replaced wires, plugs, cap, rotor (not the points (have it in the trunk though) although like i mentioned it runs great cold bogs out while slightly warm and is fine hot. I just haven't had time to really go over it all yet since i bought it because i'm too busy with school and since my winter car is feeling jealous of my new baby and giving me a lot of schitt. Nate
You may also want to check you vacuum advance on your distributor. If it is not funtioning properly you may be over compensating your guestimate timing too advance and causeing the ping. With no vac advance she feel like a dog! And that would also explain your terrible city mileage. Good luck!
I actually retarded it by ear to get better performance but I have been considering the vacuum advance as being the problem. though too, since it kicks in at higher rpm.
Nate, I don't have a Q-jet for you, but I do have a 4-barrel intake if you're intrested. Definately get a light on that motor, and make sure you don't have any vacuum leaks. That will throw everything off. I'm not too far away, if you need some general advice. Feel free to e-mail me: furiousgoat@hotmail.com
hey nate, I'm not sure how much of an expert i am on this subject cause i have a 72 350 skylark but i had (and still do have) some of your problems. When i drove my car around, usually on the highway, and it got hot and stayed hot for a while, when i let off the gas and let the car slow down, the oil light would flicker on at about 25 mph, always. I tried to use a re-build kit for the oil pump (because it is external, it's really easy to do, i'm not sure about your '70) and tried to put on one of those "high volume" pumps.ou: it was really bad and would grind and get bogged up so i put a "stock" oil pump kit back in there, and the light stayed off for a couple of weeks before it starting coming on agian. But a couple of weeks ago when i was changing my oil, i found some fresh oil on the pump and noticed that the bolts holding the oil pump on the engine were about a 1/2 turn lose (all six of them :jd: ).I tightned them up and haven't had a problem since. hope this can help you ( oh yea i have the same problem with gas mileage like you too) ~tim KCK
