I refuse

[steve from staten island]

to let this car get the better of me, LOL. I did a cylinder balance check, shorting each cylinder watching the RPM....#7 is not firing. The wire is good....Will check the plug but i doubt that as i just changed them and there was no difference from before but will check anyway........Then a compression check in that cylinder.....I will report back later..BUT I've heard a lifter noise from that side of engine, really bad after a day or two of sitting. Was also wondering does bad lobes on cam affect compression? After the compression, I'm pulling valve cover.... Thoughts please and thanks

 

[WileERobby]

Have you done a complete compression check ? All plugs removed, throttle open, coil secondary wire grounded.

 

[Moparstyle]

to let this car get the better of me, LOL. I did a cylinder balance check, shorting each cylinder watching the RPM....#7 is not firing. The wire is good....Will check the plug but i doubt that as i just changed them and there was no difference from before but will check anyway........Then a compression check in that cylinder.....I will report back later..BUT I've heard a lifter noise from that side of engine, really bad after a day or two of sitting. Was also wondering does bad lobes on cam affect compression? After the compression, I'm pulling valve cover.... Thoughts please and thanks

Yup it will affect compression are you sure you didnt burn a valve did you do a leak down test on it

 

[steve from staten island]

I dont know. The engine has maybe a few hours of running time....

 

[Moparstyle]

I dont know. The engine has maybe a few hours of running time....

I would do a compression test and a leak down test On it first have you pulled the valve covers to check your rockers

 

[snakeoil24]

Steve was this a new hydraulic lifter cam? if so did you prime the engine bewfore starting with a drill and primer rod. Did they use breakin lube on cam and lifters??

 

[rlem1977]

Big difference between a cylinder not firing and not having compression. If you have "noises" then I would do as suggested above and pull the valve cover and check the rockers. Look for bent push rod(s). If all is well do a proper compression test on all cylinders. Best of luck.

 

[HT413]

When I wiped a lobe on my #8 cylinder (intake if i recall), the motor had a small vibration while running but all in all ran pretty strong.

I did all the same as you, steve - changed plugs and wires. pulled the valve cover to find the intake rocker had some play... hoped for a stuck hyd lifter but wasn’t the case.

Compression test was the proof.

Good luck.

 

[steve from staten island]

I fucked up. The cylinder that was not firing was #7. The plug wire came offer again. On the last two rear cylinders the plug wires are the longest ones but came with straight boots. Ive had this trouble with them coming off on both 7 and 8. The terminal is so far into the boot and i cant properly get it onto the plug. So when i was shorting cylinders the engine was already running on 7 cylinders. I pulled the valve covers on both heads, looking at it, i dont see anything not right. What i did find is i did a quick compression check on # 8 and had 100 psi in that cylinder. Originally when i built motor i had around 120. I did have all the other plugs in the motor when i checked #8 so i dont know if thats ok or not
Steve, i did prime the motor and did it for some time. I used cam lube on the cam shaft and lifter faces, plus submerged lifters in oil. As far as i could tell the cam was new as i got it with the engine and was stock. I used liters i bought on Rock Auto. One or more are trouble as the engine taps like crazy for a few seconds after not starting it for a couple of days
I changing back to the original carb i had rebuilt and we'll see how that goes.
This car is really kicking my ***, i thought way back when my 65 vette was a bitch ( and it was) but maybe its my age but this car is doing a job LOL..... I will admit i went cheaper on the motor and I'm not to happy with the guy who did the transmission.
What piss's me off is its not some race motor, its a pure stock 2 barrel 383 single exhaust. Something grandpa would have had. The thing should idle smooth and run like a clock!

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Maybe check your oil pump. Drop the pan check the pickup tube to make sure you don't have an obstruction causing it to delay the oil pump getting it to where it needs to go.

 

[miller]

I used liters i bought on Rock Auto.

Hate to say it, but it's possible you short-changed yourself, on those lifters. Like anything else, there's good ones, and there's not. Lifters are something you need to be on the good side, that will do the job. If their noisy at first, their not.
Sounds like their bleeding down too easy.
Waiting to see what compression you have on that cylinder.

Have you checked the spark plug for #7, to see if it's actually firing?

 

[Moparstyle]

What’s your oil psi when you first fire her up lifters bleeding down could be just a junk set of lifters if you have a lifter thats not opening the valve all the way it will give you lower compression did you replace the oil pump.I would start with pulling the valve covers firing it up and make sure the rockers are oiling start eliminating things steve you get going in to many directions and all you will do is go in circles good luck

 

[steve from staten island]

Thanks for help....I'm going to go back to my original carb,make sure everything looks good, try and advance timing a little and readjust carb. If that does not help, I'm going to do a complete compression check. Somethings not right. I'd like to get the summer out of it so I'm not looking for miracles. When I had a oil pressure gauge the pressure was ok. I deffinetly have a bad lifter.

 

[Jcharger]

If I were you:

I would try to localize the sound much better. Is it louder on the valve covers, exhaust manifold, or some place else. You need a stethoscope or a long metal rod (see minute mark at (). Each type of noise has its own sound and location, and some can be tricky. People like me have been tricked by exhaust leaks.

I would set aside the time to do a full compression test with a warmed engine (best) but cold can still tell by removing all plugs, wiring the butterflies on the carburetor open and checking the pressure after 3,4,5 bumps on each cylinder. Crank the engine at the same speed. The information from the other cylinders will tell you how different the #8 is from the others.

If I thought it was the lobe, one of your rocker arms, or something in the valvetrain, I would pull the valve cover and look, check for looseness, and possibly run for a short bit with the valve cover off, but with something (maybe a strip of cardboard) to keep oil from dripping over the exhaust manifold side. If you have old stamped steel rocker arms, they can wear a bit and make it so the characteristic valvetrain tapping noise starts up.

What do you mean about going back to original carb. This should not have an effect on the tapping.

 

[steve from staten island]

What should I be looking at with the rockers?

 

[steve from staten island]

If I were you:

I would try to localize the sound much better. Is it louder on the valve covers, exhaust manifold, or some place else. You need a stethoscope or a long metal rod (see minute mark at (). Each type of noise has its own sound and location, and some can be tricky. People like me have been tricked by exhaust leaks.

I would set aside the time to do a full compression test with a warmed engine (best) but cold can still tell by removing all plugs, wiring the butterflies on the carburetor open and checking the pressure after 3,4,5 bumps on each cylinder. Crank the engine at the same speed. The information from the other cylinders will tell you how different the #8 is from the others.

If I thought it was the lobe, one of your rocker arms, or something in the valvetrain, I would pull the valve cover and look, check for looseness, and possibly run for a short bit with the valve cover off, but with something (maybe a strip of cardboard) to keep oil from dripping over the exhaust manifold side. If you have old stamped steel rocker arms, they can wear a bit and make it so the characteristic valvetrain tapping noise starts up.

What do you mean about going back to original carb. This should not have an effect on the tapping.

There are so many issues with this engine from a rough idle to a what sounds like a rod bearing. When it sits for a few days on starting it sounds like ****. Valve taping running rough for a few seconds till the lifter pumps up. The engine is coming out,I just want to use it a bit before that.

 

[Moparstyle]

What should I be looking at with the rockers?

Make sure they are all getting oil

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Before you give up, buy a good set of lifters. Change the oil and filter
see what that does for you. Rockers are oiled from the inside of the rocker shaft. Not up through a pushrod like a chebby. Check out the b/Rb oiling map.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Another thought. Did you install new cam bearings when you put the cam in? Is it possible you misaligned a oil galley hole in the bearings? Number 4 bearing front to back is kind of crucial. It feeds the rocker shafts.

 

[Jcharger]

I am missing something. Above you write the engine has only a few hours of running time, but then you write it will be replaced and in another post it looks like there was a cam swap.

What is the background on the engine and what has been done. Is it in another thread you can point me to?