I have a 71 350 that I just finished installing a new TA-212 cam, TA lifters, and TA stage 1 valve springs. I also added a rebuilt quadrajet from Everyday Performance and did some porting/matching on the cylinder heads. The motor ran great before all of this and now when running there is a strange ticking noise from the passengers valve cover. closest to the firewall. It does not really sound like an exhaust leak and I didn't feel any air pressure around the area. Second, the motor seems to be a dog all the way to about 3000RPM. I started with 12 degrees timing and it has responded well to timing. currently I am at 20 degrees timing at idle 900RPM. It is still no where near as powerful as it was before. Cam installed at 4 degrees advance per TA's recommendations.
Ticking will go : tick tick tick...pause...tick....pause tick tick tick. very random but increases with RPM
You missed on timing chain. I'm thinking you did not get it aligned on advance but on retard or you have a very bad vacuum leak which explain the 20 degrees of timing. Chances are you will blow starter nose off . did you break in cam with additive ? Possibly fuel pump lobe on backward or timing chain hitting fuel pump arm.
I aligned the timing chain as the sheet given with it described. The dot on the larger sprocket and triangle on the smaller sprocket. I used assembly and break in lube and broke cam in for 20 mins at 2200RPM per TA's recommendations. Could this possibly be a miss calibrated carb?
Any thing is possible but Ken usually tests his carbs on a test engine. I would not be quick to think its carb. When porting heads did you get a valve job done? What distributor and timing curve did you set up. Get a vacuum gauge and see what you get at idle. Should be 15 at least. I'm still thinking its a vacuum leak. Pull valve cover from that side that's noisey and check all the pushrods . they should spin as engine runs and have oil flow at each rocker. Make be it just a pushrod out of place.
I did not get a valve job, but i did lap the valves and all seats were very good without any nicks or scratches. I have an HEI distributor from TA and it has the stock settings. What are other possibilities for the power loss? cam put in wrong? worn lobes?
First thing to do is remove the valve cover that you are hearing the noise from. Could be a bent/damaged push rod/rocker arm. If you don't see anything obvious, make sure all the valves are moving and the push rods are spinning. Could be a flat cam lobe. That would explain the power loss as you are running on less than 8 cylinders. If this is your distributor, http://www.taperformance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TA_690B/C/R It has 22* of mechanical timing, so 12* initial will put you at 34* total. 20* initial will give you 42*. Go back to 12*.
Changed timing back to 12 initial. Also pulled valve cover and inspected all springs, pushrods, and rockers. all looked just fine. then I re installed and ran it and all pushrods spin slowly while running. Still hear the ticking noise. sounds like it may be from the head gasket or valves or headers. really not sure. The car seems to run better now but still not what it was before all of this.
Does it have a smooth idle or a miss? Vacuum gauge will tell you if a valve job is needed or vacuum leak. I believe this is your next step. You are confident you points are set good and plugs and wires are all right?.
Seems to have a smooth idle except for the cam lope. All wires/plugs are set correctly with 12 degrees timing. Going to get a vacuum gauge soon. I pulled both rocker arms and switched there sides. The sound is still from the exact same spot and was not affected. Also re-torqued head, and headers. The sound is still there. Could it be a back lifter? They were brand new from TA. Another thing is that when the car is sitting in gear and I give a lot of throttle, the car bogs way down and almost dies. It does not do this while in neutral.
Ok so I got a vacuum gauge and I hooked it up to the quadrajet to the port on the left/top side if your looking from the front of the car. The gauge was bouncing very fast from 9 to 11in. on the gauge. I know this is bad. what could this mean? and where should I start?
Start by verifying you are hooked to direct manifold vacuum, you can place your finger over the opening while running. At 9" vacuum I suspect it's not hooked direct, ported maybe. This may or may not clear up the rapid flicking. That motion is associated with poor sealing valves, amongst other things. Compressed air into a cylinder at TDC might tell you about that.
On most Q-Jets, that big port on the passenger side is manifold vacuum. Not only are you low on vacuum (you should have 13-15"), but the needle deflection points to valves. http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/Vacuum_gauge_engine_diagnosis
So I hooked the vacuum gauge up to the port on the back of the quadrajet and now is bouncing between 12-13in. Also when I rev the engine the vacuum increases up to about 20in and seems to be more stable with less fluctuation. Another thing I did was run the engine and individually pull the plugs at the distributor to see any difference. The sound completely went away when #6 plug was disconnected.
If its bouncing at idle chances are valves are not sealing/ possible valve guide issue. I suggest a leakdown test.
could I pull the head and figure out the problem? I do not have the resources to perform a leakdown test myself. Also what would be making the noise I am hearing and not hearing when the plug wire is disconnected?
Usually, pulling a plug wire off a cylinder with a rod knock will quiet or eliminate the noise, just sayin.
I understand this but before the work I did there was no ticking. Now after, there is a very loud and obvious ticking.
If the noise stop when you pull plug wire I'm thinking valve and it stops burning gas out that valve. I think if you pull head you should see something on one of the valves. If you can find a fitting the fits spark plug hole and you pump air pressure in it as both valves are closed you will hear air leak thru intake or exhaust. I think its the exhaust valve as you haven't complained of popping thru carb
