coil voltage When I checked the coil voltage. It was 12volts when I turn it on and droped to 7 after about 2 seconds. So I need to run a new switched wire to the coil? Or constant? If switched what is your opinion of using the factory wire to operate a relay to power an aftermarket wire. What kind of amperage does this pull? Sudjested wire gauge? I'm an installer at a local stereo Proshop. I install remote starts daily so there isn't much I dont understand when it comes to electral systems.
timing chain I've never had to replace the timing chain before. How hard is it to do? The whole top half of the engine is torn apart. Just Block, pistons, and waterpump. What do I have to do to change the timing. Do I have to replace the gears as well or just the chain? Have they fixed the problems with the factory ones? Is it hard to find the new chain?
dist. cap By the way my Dist. cap is held on by screw clips. I hate this design. :af: It moves a rotates a little each way. Will this mess with the timing?
Pertronix If you want, you can use the factory wire to operate a relay, and have the relay supply the full 12 volts. Use a 10 A inline fuse on that direct wire. Size the wire for that max load. Make all of the connections very secure because if you lose any of it, the engine stops. There is a resistor in the factory wire. That's why the volts go down. you need the full 12 volts, no resistor.
Resistor wire and relay As long as the relay will latch with 7 or 8 volts, you are OK. Get as low a draw relay you can get. By that I mean the relay coil not drawing much. And the contacts should be rated for at least 10 amps. Oh, and about the distributor cap fitting a bit loose: don't worry about it. That is not what controls timing. Movement of the distributor body does.
Yup, you can do that, too. But when the Pertronix dies and you want to put regular points back in, you will need the resistor wire. ;-)
Protronix so the Protronix ignition module needs the resistance wire but the new coil needs the full 12volts? The relays I use are made by Directed Electronics Inc. (DEI) Makes viper, clifford, etc. They are 30/40s
timing chain If I have to replace the timing chain, do I have to pull the engine? How hard is it to change the timing? If the timing chain has jumped, how do I get the camshaft back inline with the crank? o No:
Replacing timing chain You do not need to pull the engine, just the radiator. If you don't have a factory shop manual already, you really should get one. It tells you all you need to know about stuff like timing the cam to the crank, torque, other little details that will mess you up. In general, there is an "O" mark on the crank gear that you position at the top and an "O" mark on the cam gear that you get pointing down when the chain is on. In fact, just by pulling the cover you can check these marks and see if the chain has jumped. Turn crank until mark on lower gear is at top. If timing has not jumped, and if the chain is not too loose, you can replace the cover with a new gasket and be done with it.
timing I checked the timing. The harmonic balancer lines up with the crank when Piston #1 is at tdc. So I dont think it has jumped timing. The rotor isn't pointed at the plug directly next to the window but the one after. One directly to the pass. side. The dist. body now turns. The hold down is no longer in place. should the gear that goes to the cam turn? or just the body? all that turns is the body.
Timing... You are confusing "valve timing" with "ignition timing". They are two separate, but related, things. The only way to confirm you have correct *valve timing* (to confirm that the timing chain has not slipped) is to pull the timing cover and look at the marks on the gears. I don't know if it has slipped or not. Based on the compression numbers you gave a long time ago, I don't think it has, but the only way to know for sure is to look. The ignition timing is what you can adjust by turning the body of the distributor, now that you have it loose. The rotor (you can see it with the cap off) does not move, but the distributor body does. This is separate from the valve cam timing. HOWEVER, the distributor rotor is DRIVEN BY the camshaft. So, if your timing chain has slipped, and your valves are wrong (you do not have correct valve timing), your ignition timing would also be affected. Read that again. I would say you have a 98% chance that your valve timing is OK, but you will drive yourself crazy if you don't know for sure. Pull the timing cover and convince youreself. Then put it all back together with new gaskets (and gasket spray, and goop on the bolt threads) and put the heads on, and set the ignition timing and fire that mother up!!! I don't understand how you could convert the distributor to Pertronix if it was stuck in the engine and you could not turn the dist body... You never took it out of the engine?
Heads for Unleaded Ask your machinist to set heads up for "unleaded, while they're bein' worked on. Now's the time. Or you'll go thru exhaust valves/seats and exh. guides. More so if you use the car for cruising rather than daily weekend driver. Torque (head) on the all nailheads 401 is 65/75#. If you put 70# you'll be OK. Mains=105# - Rods=40/45# - Intake=25# - Am in process of building 2 nailheads. One will be a fancy 426 C.I. stroker with aluminum heads(?), aluminum connecting rods, and Ross lite-weight slugs, chasing 500+ H.P. on 93 octane, but don't know yet. Will be about 3 to 4 more weeks before I get to bolt it up to the dyno. The other will be a weekend driver. The fancy one is going in a tubbed '53 Henry J with Hillborn.
dist. when I did the electronic igniton swap, I installed everything while it was still in the car. I do have another question about "ignition timing" I know if the timing is too far out it will not fire. Is there anyspecific place I should start the dist. at?
heads Ok. I got my heads back yesterday and installed them as well as the top half of the engine. I havn't tryed to start it yet but I will soon. :TU: I went ahead and did a compression test to compair the numbers again. Is it possible to loose compression with new heads??? uzzled: My cylinder #6 & #7 have went down. They even did it when I added oil to them. I just rulled it out that I hadn't crancked it long enough. But they are even lower than they were to start with. Base line Oiled New heads #6 130 115 95 #7 145 125 135 My #2 & #5 are up but not in the optimal range. I only have a few guesses for them. Lifters or piston rings. Really hope its not the rings. I got the engine back together but I'd rather pull the intake again rather than the entire engine.
Dont Change to a chevy Motor, I tried it on another buick I had. NIGHTMARE. I ended up going back to the 401. Alot of fabrication is needed to do it right. The 401 is a killer motor. Best, Matt
Whoa, this is a WAY old thread. I'm assuming he gave up on the car seeing as how he hasn't posted in over two years.
I tell ya what guys, if the ol lady drove it last, then he worked on the dist - you know what the old adage is, it's the last thing you touched..... And, I bet, the timing was slightly retarded for its condition. I build engines for a living and dyno each one of them. I know if I set up the timing as the old books say, and as many have said here, without the engine being in a fresh enough condition I bet it would have started if he woulda just cranked that dist a little advanced. As I was reading down the post I was looking forward to reccomending that, until I got to the post where he pulled the heads. Crap! I'll give ya'll an update on firing my 322 after it's been sitting for 26 years. It ran like a watch when parked. Fingers crossed but I think she'll huff and puff and slowly come to life again. Got to finish installing the master cylinder. Then I need a new battery. :Brow: Good luck on your 401. You'll be very happy with it. People here will make sure you give it your best shot.
