Isaiah Estrada
Well-Known Member
Recently got my 440 running for the first time! We ran it at 3k long enough for a cam break in. It is a stock spec cam and nothing special. I just wanted a reliable and rebuilt engine for my cruiser.
Yes, the car is a C Body but I know there are a multitude of engine gurus here who can help me out!
I feel like she is running rough, despite my attempts to "follow" the book and do everything right. I'd like for someone to tell me whether or not I did this whole setup right though.
SO! First line of order, find TDC @ compression stroke. Before I even did this, I took my oil pump drive gear out and primed the 440 with my priming rod and drill and verified I had sufficient oil pressure and saw it coming out of the top end when I pulled the valve covers. All good! For those wondering, I used Lucas SAE 30 break in oil...
Anyways, find TDC on compression stroke of cylinder #1. Bumped it with the starter little by little, friend holding his finger on the spark plug hole till the compression blew it out. I saw visually that both valves were closed, and the timing mark on my damper lined up with the marks on my timing cover. HERE'S WHERE I AM UNSURE OF MYSELF.
Once I verified TDC, I rotated the engine counter clockwise until my mark now lined up with 10 BTDC. Then, I installed my drive gear and got it as close as I could to where the slot was parallel with the crankshaft. THEN, I dropped my dizzy in with the rotor pointing at #1 per the factory wiring diagram. Did I do any of this out of order? I ask, because when it first ran - it sounded like it was misfiring. We cranked it and it started within 3 revolutions of that starter (Original gear reduction style.) Found out, my spark plug wire on #6 was never put on tight, and it was hanging loose. Okay, easy fix. Try to start it again and we are having a very very hard time making it run. When we finally did make it run - it sounded like it was pretty advanced. Not only that, we couldn't get it to run and stay running below 3,000 rpm. In fact, it was roaring at about 4,000 and all the while it just didn't sound right. I put a timing light on it, and I was reading 60 DEGREES!! Surely that can't be right? Something has to be off, could it even run at 60? Needless to say, I retarded my timing way way down to about 35 and we were able to get the engine running at 3,000 and it sounded much happier. I had to back the distributor way off to get it sounding OK.
So, I feel like I did something wrong during my distributor install. I am wondering if I am a whole plug wire off? I'm wondering how it could be though, since I'm pretty sure we double checked that we had the rotor pointing AT CYLIDNER #1 beforehand... Anywho, we let her run at 3,000 for 20 mins and she didn't get hot8 - my T Stat is a 180 degree Milodon (robertshaw style.) I chose that because that is what my car came equipped with. Although the engine hadn't ran in 42 years, I thought I might as well use what the previous owner did!
We can not get her to idle at low RPM now. I am using a thick fel pro gasket, and I suspect that it may not be sealing right and causing a vacuum leak. I am using the stock 1968 4BBL intake and an Edelbrock AVS II (650 CFM.) Didn't mess with the air fuel mixture, just had the idle screw turned in to keep it running at 3K. I appreciate any input and advice on how to remedy my timing issue. Reading 60 on the timing light seems impossible, but I guess it doesn't lie. So something still isn't adding up and I am clueless. Thinking I may have to retry the distributor installation, but I'd like to hear what you guys think! Here is a video of us getting it going. This video was after I found the loose #6 plug wire. I was too busy to record the entire thing, but I've included a video of it running after I fixed my timing and set it to 35 degrees at 3,000.
Yes, the car is a C Body but I know there are a multitude of engine gurus here who can help me out!
I feel like she is running rough, despite my attempts to "follow" the book and do everything right. I'd like for someone to tell me whether or not I did this whole setup right though.
SO! First line of order, find TDC @ compression stroke. Before I even did this, I took my oil pump drive gear out and primed the 440 with my priming rod and drill and verified I had sufficient oil pressure and saw it coming out of the top end when I pulled the valve covers. All good! For those wondering, I used Lucas SAE 30 break in oil...
Anyways, find TDC on compression stroke of cylinder #1. Bumped it with the starter little by little, friend holding his finger on the spark plug hole till the compression blew it out. I saw visually that both valves were closed, and the timing mark on my damper lined up with the marks on my timing cover. HERE'S WHERE I AM UNSURE OF MYSELF.
Once I verified TDC, I rotated the engine counter clockwise until my mark now lined up with 10 BTDC. Then, I installed my drive gear and got it as close as I could to where the slot was parallel with the crankshaft. THEN, I dropped my dizzy in with the rotor pointing at #1 per the factory wiring diagram. Did I do any of this out of order? I ask, because when it first ran - it sounded like it was misfiring. We cranked it and it started within 3 revolutions of that starter (Original gear reduction style.) Found out, my spark plug wire on #6 was never put on tight, and it was hanging loose. Okay, easy fix. Try to start it again and we are having a very very hard time making it run. When we finally did make it run - it sounded like it was pretty advanced. Not only that, we couldn't get it to run and stay running below 3,000 rpm. In fact, it was roaring at about 4,000 and all the while it just didn't sound right. I put a timing light on it, and I was reading 60 DEGREES!! Surely that can't be right? Something has to be off, could it even run at 60? Needless to say, I retarded my timing way way down to about 35 and we were able to get the engine running at 3,000 and it sounded much happier. I had to back the distributor way off to get it sounding OK.
So, I feel like I did something wrong during my distributor install. I am wondering if I am a whole plug wire off? I'm wondering how it could be though, since I'm pretty sure we double checked that we had the rotor pointing AT CYLIDNER #1 beforehand... Anywho, we let her run at 3,000 for 20 mins and she didn't get hot8 - my T Stat is a 180 degree Milodon (robertshaw style.) I chose that because that is what my car came equipped with. Although the engine hadn't ran in 42 years, I thought I might as well use what the previous owner did!
We can not get her to idle at low RPM now. I am using a thick fel pro gasket, and I suspect that it may not be sealing right and causing a vacuum leak. I am using the stock 1968 4BBL intake and an Edelbrock AVS II (650 CFM.) Didn't mess with the air fuel mixture, just had the idle screw turned in to keep it running at 3K. I appreciate any input and advice on how to remedy my timing issue. Reading 60 on the timing light seems impossible, but I guess it doesn't lie. So something still isn't adding up and I am clueless. Thinking I may have to retry the distributor installation, but I'd like to hear what you guys think! Here is a video of us getting it going. This video was after I found the loose #6 plug wire. I was too busy to record the entire thing, but I've included a video of it running after I fixed my timing and set it to 35 degrees at 3,000.