Problems breaking in motor, NEED HELP!

Get rid of "the friend", these guys know what they are talking about. My advice.

 

Judging by what you have done and desribe, two things come to my mind:

Have you checked your firing order...having a few wires out of sequence that would make you run like that.

Does the car have catalytic copnverters? If no forget the question, if yes try running straight headers. If your cats are clogged your car will run exactly like you describe.

 

ok, I gonna try it again today! I just bought an HEI curve kit, Moroso.. I'm gonna install it before I try n start it again today, i was planning on recurving the distributor anyway i just though it'd be easier to do it after the break-in but whatever. Has anytone used this kit on their stock HEI? If so what spring did you find to be the best?? I know that it kinda depends on your set up Id just like to hear some feed back..

As far as cats.... I have none:grin: , dont know where they ran off to officero No: hee hee right now I just have dules about 4 feet from the headder till the complete system come in the mail, hopefully today!! and all of the wires were in the right place/order......

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:grin: I was just informed that my complete exhaust system arrived:grin: COOL!!!!!!! Mayby ill try the start up tomarrow so I have more time cause its FRIADY!!! and ill futs around whith the exhaust today!!!!!! any gotta go Thaks gUys
~Vinny

 

Hey silverbird you are in the school, the school of HARD KNOCKS!! I hate them . Everytime I jump into something I know nothing about this is what happens. Don't give up and sell me the car, listen to Larry and freinds. Tell your buddy to go to the nearest autozone and get you a left handed skyhook. The only other thig I can think of that could be giving you this kind of trouble is the gas. How long has the gas been in the tank? It cou have gone bad or have condensation. m2

 

I've heard a motor run with the crank gear 1 "tooth" off! My brother bought a 340. The guy he bought it from said it ran like a bear. And it did. An angry one. It sounded like it had a mega huge cam. Never idled well. And had no power. It would idle over 1000rpm. A freind had the same setup exactly. Idled at 800 and a heck of a lot smoother. And had power right from Idle. I don't remember if it was adv. or ret. I dont remember any glowing headers though. I think you need to get someone over there that knows what they are doing. The more exp. the better. Don't mean to sound harsh. But you have some serious problems there that need to be adressed. Good Luck!!!:beer

 

OK! ITS DONE!!!!:grin:
I called my cousin over to help start it while I made the adjustment this time and i got it. I dont know what the hell my other friend was doing before but he really screwed my thinking up, whatever...Oh, and i retorqued the top of the carb and it ran alot better. im pretty sure it was leaking. Heres what I got now.

The headders on the passengers side were still glowing at 2500 but only the 6 and 8 and sometimes the 4th... at idle they are fine and tempeture stays at 180*..Do ya think mayby my pushrods arent adjusted right? i set the pre-load at .060. My machinest told me to for optimum performance.

I hear tapping that sounds like its comming from the valve train but it also sounds like the headders too, i'll have to check that out tomarrow to know for sure..
This I dont get and might be a problem. My oil pressure was perfect. 40 or 45 at 2400 and about 20 ish at idle,cant really remember. After I broke it in and shut it of to cool a bit I started it again and now I've got 37 at 2400 and about 13 1/2 at idle.. I dont think this is good

This is weird too. My inital timing mark is way off the tab, its about straight up pointing north and im idled at 1000rpm but this sounds really close and the best so far. Its hard to tell by ear because of the cam but like I said between the timing light and my ear this is good so far. My balancer might have slipped too because its the old one.

My vaccume gauge is going nuts too. It flutters back and forth between about 13 20 at idle and when i bring up the rpms it is kinda steady at about 18 which indacates leaky carb or intake or could even be late timing. Im pretty sure this is what it means if im wrong someone please correct me. I have it hooked up to the manifold.
well thats all i can say for now.. Any more help or advice is welcomed and appreciated:beer Thanks again ~ Vinny

 

thaks again for the responce Larry.
I read in my Buick performance book a while back to set my pre-load at .020-.030 max and I was gonna... So I asked my shop if this was correct and he told me to set it at .060 for optimum which would be in between .040 and .080 and I should be fine.. But now hearing the motor and responces from u guiys I think im gonn set it at .020-.030 max.
Quick question on that.. Do I have to remove the intake to set it or could I just do it the old way like on a stock GM where you bring the pistion to TDC and adjust the specific valves and then rotated it 360*and then do the other ones? I have the sequence somewhere for it.
As for the oil pump, I have the stock one for now and I installed the white spring as the instruction said, i still have the red one too. I also have a Hi-vol pump but I've heard too many bad things about it and i figured to try it this way first.
When friday comes and i paid:grin: im gonna buy a new damper because i have a feeling mine slipped bad and a starter. My starter got hot from the headders and wouldnt start without beating it with a hammer LOL.
Oh yea, what weight oil is the best for our Buicks? I broke it in on 10/40 and im changing the oil tomarrow and i guess im going with 10/30. Let me know. Thanks ~ Vinny

 

I would check my balancer first by comparing TDC through the spark plug hole before I laid out big $$$ for a new one. Also, I'd run the oil for at least 2,000 miles and then run synthetic afterwards.

As for your vacuum readings, if you are running a mild cam, those readings seem about normal to me. Mine runs about 14 or so at idle but jumps to about 22 while running above idle, I have a mild cam, just a little over stock. Retarded ignition timing will make low vacuum.

Sounds like you are making progress, take your time with things and you will get her purring like a kitten. :bglasses:

 

I did compare it to TDC and it was pretty good. Im unsure about when its running if its slipping or moving over a couple of degrees. when i have the timing light on it the mark seems to move up n down about 2* not every secon but it does and im holding the distrubutor so i know thats not moving.
Arent you suppose to drain the oil after break in and then run fresh oil for the first 2000 miles change it and then change regularly? I allready bought synthectic oil for my nexy change, 10/30 mobile 1.

I figured that my vaccume would read diffrent from stock with my mild cam but I dont think it should be jumping up n down at idle, right? At 900 idle she purrs pretty good. But if you listen by the tail pipes you can hear a slight miss. When I revv up to 2400 you can still hear a slight miss. from idle the responce isnt that good so I know now all i need is to fine tune this beast. The cam sounds awsome though. Like I said before this is my first build so Im excited by everything. Just hearing the LOAPING make me want to go and tear up the streets allready!:3gears:

Thanks ~ Vinny

 

If your timing marks jump around a couple degrees it's normal.....from the play in your timing chain or maybe your distributor bushings are loose? Also, a little fluctuation on your vacuum guage at idle is normal. I think you'll find that after you get things tweaked and get a feel for the adjustments, it will seem to run better. :bglasses:

 

Even if my chain and distrubitor is new? I guess.
The fluctuation is'nt normal, i can tell but ya know i have to work these thing out, not a problem.

Thanks for the discription and pic Larry:TU:

 

well, I spoke to Tony, the teck, at Postons today about my set up and what he thinks and what should my timing and pre-load be for my GS113a cam. I told him my prbolems I was having and discussed whatever else. His :jd: when I told him I had a preload of .060

this is what he recomends for my cam
Base timing at 12*, advanced timing at 36* and to set my pre-load at 1/4 turn on the push rods.. I told him I was told by a couple of Buick Buddies to go 1/2- 3/4 turn on the push rods but he said not to and just go 1/4 . Thats all that I need.
He sells this cam alot and has use it plenty before so I'm kinda going with his suggestion on the push rods..
Has anyone else went only a 1/4 on the rods whit no problems? I'm gonna do the rods this weekend when my head is all clear im not tired and have the time to.

either way I'm getting it to run PERFECT this weekend!!!!!!!!!!
I dont care how long it takes, Its getting DONE!

Expect to hear nothing but good news from me on my next post :TU: Thanks again guys...... ~ Vinny:grin:

 

Vinny, I always adjust 1/4 turn past zero lash.

Any good news yet?

 

thats what Im going with, 1/4 past zero lash.

Nope, not yet. ill post the good news this weekend when I have more time to work on the motor.. For now ill play with the body and other stuff to tighten up everything