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Lazy 383???

As you posted, the issue was way advanced timing (aside from a bad carb gasket)? Curious, did you do a vacuum leak check around the carb earlier? What do you have the timing set at now? Thanks
Yes, and no I didnt check. I put a new carb on the old spacer gasket. Timing is currently 12 degrees at idle (vacuum disconnected) and 32 degrees roughly by 2900 RPM....
 
Update! sorry long....

To recap we got the car out of long term storage and it would barely pull itself around. After a complete diagnosis, compression check, tune up, electronic ignition install, new carb, and exhaust, as well as all new fuel tank and lines she still felt lazy, but ran much better. Over the course of the last year I have played with the timing a few times but it never changed much. Coming home from the cruise in last Sunday the wife said it was running even worse. I took it for a blast down the road and it seemed to have lazy bottom end and chugged at cruise speeds. Frustrated, I pulled the 770 Holley off the Camaro and dropped it on. Not much change in the lower RPM's but it felt stronger on the top, and the chugging was gone. I felt a small win....
The next morning I told her to drive it and see what she thought, If she agreed we would order a 650 mech sec carb to replace her 600 vac sec one. After her test drive the car responded by dumping what looked like foamy coffee on the ground. The coolant was not a milkshake but compression was getting in.
I had seen this before on a Mustang 5.0 with a corroded head gasket, so apart came the motor. We did find a bad head gasket, but the real story is the # 3 cylinder never firing since we've owned the car LOL. You can read the .030 stamp! Looks like we put a bad plug in last year. (She may have dropped it on install and not checked the GAP..ROOKIE)...Also I found the distributor intermediate shaft off from horizontal @ TDC (towards retard).

I expect her to run much better....There will be full video on the YouTube channel. 18 Days till Power Tour!!!

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The intermediate shaft will NEVER be parallel to the crankshaft. It will always fall one tooth up like it is to one tooth below. It doesn't matter, and does not retard anything. You install the distributor and adjust the timing normally. The slot can be in ANY position; as long as the piston is at TDC and the cam set properly, and plug wires installed so the rotor hits number one on the cap and follows the firing order it doesn't matter.
 
The intermediate shaft will NEVER be parallel to the crankshaft. It will always fall one tooth up like it is to one tooth below. It doesn't matter, and does not retard anything. You install the distributor and adjust the timing normally. The slot can be in ANY position; as long as the piston is at TDC and the cam set properly, and plug wires installed so the rotor hits number one on the cap and follows the firing order it doesn't matter.

I get what your saying, but the way it was I didn't have enough room to get the advance I needed. I had no problem lifting it up and dropping it back in and it lined up perfectly parallel to the crank (just like the manual says). Now I have enough vacuum canister room....So NEVER is not NEVER...LOL
 
I get what your saying, but the way it was I didn't have enough room to get the advance I needed. I had no problem lifting it up and dropping it back in and it lined up perfectly parallel to the crank (just like the manual says). Now I have enough vacuum canister room....So NEVER is not NEVER...LOL
Never; there, I said it again (twice) and still no lightening strikes... :poke: :thumbsup::poke::lol:
 
Wife forgets to snug up distributor.
Wife drops spark plug ...
I'm starting to observe a theme here.
Enjoy supper .:rofl:
 
pull one plug wire at a time and see how it affects it idling.
This would have helped you find a bad plug.
I can almost always spot a misfire just by listening to the tailpipe, especially with true dual exhaust.
 
We are all back together! Car is an animal! Finally, it runs like I expect a big block 4 speed 3:73 gear musclecar to run! We will have full video's of the disc brake install, what we found in the motor, and on the road vids from Power Tour...Here's a teaser!



Just a little update before we head off to HOT ROD Power Tour 2022. We got the car back together just in time! We will have full episode of head gasket swap, disc brake install and all the fun from the tour shortly!
 
We are all back together! Car is an animal! Finally, it runs like I expect a big block 4 speed 3:73 gear musclecar to run! We will have full video's of the disc brake install, what we found in the motor, and on the road vids from Power Tour...Here's a teaser!



Just a little update before we head off to HOT ROD Power Tour 2022. We got the car back together just in time! We will have full episode of head gasket swap, disc brake install and all the fun from the tour shortly!


Sounds like a very tasty Mopar Big Block indeed!!!

Love the underhood light. I have the same one myself. Quite happy with it.

Good luck on the Power Tour!

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No rt. side mirror, love it. Just like my ‘68.
 
I’m definitely not clear. You’ve stated you’d changed plugs? If an engine is running on 7 cylinders it should be very obvious. That clean cylinder looks likes it’s been cleaned with coolant? Glad it’s all worked out however!
 
I’m definitely not clear. You’ve stated you’d changed plugs? If an engine is running on 7 cylinders it should be very obvious. That clean cylinder looks likes it’s been cleaned with coolant? Glad it’s all worked out however!
My wife was a new mechanic a year ago when she put the plugs in, I assume she dropped it and didn't look at the end as it was shorted out. The car ran so much better than when we pulled it out of storage we didn't think it was down a cylinder. We don't drive it that much, but looking back it all makes sense now. I thought I knew a lot about cars until this one...LOL
 
I’m definitely not clear. You’ve stated you’d changed plugs? If an engine is running on 7 cylinders it should be very obvious. That clean cylinder looks likes it’s been cleaned with coolant? Glad it’s all worked out however!
Not always, my 500" motor ran OK, just slow. Then I discovered it had swallowed a carb baseplate screw. Smashed the plug, bent the valves, beat up the head & piston a bit. Smoothed out the head & piston, replaced the valves, and of course the plug. Back to normal.
 
Wow, that’s a lot of damage. I’m surprised it ran at all. I learn something from this forum daily!
 
On 7 cylinders it felt just like I had broken the convertor, so I ordered a new convertor immediately, a day later I found the engine damage. The dings in the head & piston were not that bad so just smoothed them out with the fine roll on the die grinder. Left the piston in and covered all around it to keep as clean as possible.
 
On 7 cylinders it felt just like I had broken the convertor, so I ordered a new convertor immediately, a day later I found the engine damage. The dings in the head & piston were not that bad so just smoothed them out with the fine roll on the die grinder. Left the piston in and covered all around it to keep as clean as possible.
I've done this as well. I melted a piston on a pass, put heads and intake on my spare shortblock, started it up and it was knocking. Using a stethoscope, I figured out the bank it was on and pulled the head. Chunk of aluminum laying on the piston. Removed it, smoothed piston and head with roloc disk, new gasket, cleaned upper plenum out and engine ran great again. Set a personal best with it.
Sometimes the simplest fix is the best.
 
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