Ready to drop my truck in the lake!!!

[cwilkie]

Not really but I am pretty mad at it right now. I went all out on my rebuild where I purchased all brand new internal parts, found and machined some closed chamber heads, and bought a rebuilt 700r4 transmission. Here's my problem...after I finally set the transmission tv cable to the best of my abilities it was time to focus my attention tuning the engine. Since it's a 396 bored .060 over I set the ignition timing to 106 degrees. I think the book stated that 454s are supposed to be 108. Anyway, my engine has less power now than before it was overhauled (which it had open chamber heads). I am really frustrated. So I thought maybe it's not getting engine fire to the plugs. So I pulled the plug off the #1 cylinder and the spark was relatively weak. My lawn mower has a better spark. So I am hoping it's the internals of the distributor or the distributor itself. Does anyone know where I can get a quality distributor that will do the job at a reasonable price. I have spent so much money on this rebuild and I am getting a little tired of doing so...at least for the moment anyway. What brands are good? MSD, Procomp, Mallory, etc. How are the ones on eBay?

[drink2mny]

Originally Posted by cwilkie

Since it's a 396 bored .060 over I set the ignition timing to 106 degrees. I think the book stated that 454s are supposed to be 108. Anyway, my engine has less power now than before it was overhauled

This is what concerns me. I'm not a huge engine builder but have tuned motors.
Most engines should have an initial timing of 8-12 degrees. With total at 3000 rpm around 36-38 degrees.
If they are built a little over stock.

I might be wrong, but I don't know where you get the 106 or 108 degree setting.

Someone else will chime in.

[cwilkie]

I am very new to this but I could have possibly interpreted this wrong. The timing was set when the engine was idling at 106 (or 6 degrees advance). Please be patient with me on this one. I did a little more checking and I came across a source that stated it should be set at 13 degrees advance at 2000rpm. What do you think?

[drink2mny]

yeah when they are built a little better than stock, then you can't go by the books.
You could do what old timers do and bring your timing up till it stumbles at idle then bring it back to your highest idle, adjust your idle down then . Take her for a ride and see if she pings at high rpms. if it does bring the distributer back a little till it doesn't. then adjust your air mixture screws on your carb. and call it good

Thats kind of old school backyard timing.

Other wise with an adjustable timing gun I would set your timing somewhere between 8-13 degrees at idle. Then see where it sits at 3200rpm. should sit in between i think 36-38 degrees (called total timing).

there are alot of ways to do this.
A stock dizzy should be fine to do this. if it starts to act up when it gets hot, it could mean your module is going bad or coil. usually coil goes bad you get no spark.
Did you put an HEI dizzy or keep the Old points Dizzy??

These are just all suggestions/examples of things I have done to get the power i like out of my engines.
There are other ways to do this.
If you have some patience other guys on here will chime in. if they don't througout the day i can move this to the engine section if you like. just let me know.

[motocrosschump]

Drop her off at my house, it will save you a ticket for dumping in the lake.

[ChevLoRay]

I wouldn't argue with any of the other comments. But, you asked for a good economic source for a distributor, so that's where I'm at. I had a problem with my distributor, an HEI, that was probably mid-70's origin. When I finally decided it was kaputski, I bought an ACCEL, that is essentially a rebuild. But, it's a little better than a stock reman unit, and was no more than $110, at O'Reilly's. I am as happy as a pig in fecal matter!!

[70rs/ss]

I was going to same check out summit of Jegs, the prices are good and you know you are buying good stuff with a warrantee. I have an MSD 6AL box with a Mallory hei and with the cylinder pressure (copression) you are running, you will litterally blow out your spark. You've upgraded the motor, don't cripple it by using the stock innition crap, trust me you won't regret it.

[cwilkie]

Can that really happen? The compression can literally blow out a plugs spark. Another note. I am using wires that were off of the 283 that was in the truck.

[stllookn]

Give yourself a break and get rid of those old plug wires. If you are running an HEI then you need different wires. If you are not running an HEI, switch to one and change the plug wires and plugs if they are not new. If your wires are new then check the resistance of each one to make sure they are within spec. You rebuilt the engine so upgrade the electronics so you get some benefit from that new motor. Good Luck!

[special-K]

Talk to these guys.They are the pros.

[cwilkie]

I should get a hold of those guys Anyway, the plug wires on the engine are about five years old but they have 1000 miles on them at the most. I bought them when I switched my 283 to HEI but I rarely used the truck at that time. I should just upgrade the internals of my distributor but I think since I spent so much money on that anchor of the past few years I just was well buy a brand new HEI distributor as well as some new wires. Just to review I have a 396 bored .060 over with closed chamber pistons and heads as well as intake valaes that are 2.19. On than that everything is stock with no other performance parts of upgrades. What do you guys think of this one from Summit?

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

I would like to keep the cost around $200 if possible but please give me some suggestions on a complete distributor where all I have to do is install it right out of the box with no need to buy additional parts. Thanks again!!

[JMac11]

When you replaced your points with HEI, did you replace the old wire from the coil with a new one to the fuse panel.

Think I am going with an Ebay ProComp. just my 2 cent

[bullwinkle]

Jmac11 has made a good point. Some people miss that when switching to HEI. The old point system used a resistor wire to cut the 12 volts to 6v. HEI needs full 12v to work properly.

[cwilkie]

I replaced that ugly thin wire with a thick wire running directly from the ignition switch to the distributor. I am thinking it has to be the distributor. Everything in my engine is either new or rebuilt. The crank, heads, and block were machined, new pistons, new cam, new stainless steel vales and springs, hardened exhaust seats, new oil pump, and carb kit. The only thing I never touched was the distributor. I am hoping it's the problem. It's hard to find a new one that has all the compents (cap, rotor, module, coil, pickup coil, wire harness, etc.). Are Procomp just as good as Mallorey & MSD?

[classicchev]

Get a tester and test how many volts are to the distributer with the new wire, may not have a full 12 volts. Did you triple check the timing, TDC, position of the distributer, and are all you wires in the corrct position, any bad plugs?????? Make sure you set your TV cable properly also, If its not , you will be pushing it to the lake..

[cwilkie]

I'll check the volts but as for the other items you have suggested I have those covered. Th timing needs to be adjusted but other than that everything has been set. The TV cable was time consuming but I got it set according to the specs I was given from Mad Dog Transmissions. Hopefully I will have time this weekend to investigate this problem further.

[JMac11]

Another question, what rear end gear do you have. I have an aluminum head roller cam Summit motor in an 84 4x4 with 31 and 2.73 gears. MY 72 Blazer with Autozone engine and 373 will scald it. OD and High gears/ low numerically really have no seat of the pants accelleration.

[cwilkie]

I have a 3.07 rear end. However, my truck acts like it was castrated when I rev it up. The acceleration was better before it was timed but it ran really rough.

[w314speed]

I have breezed through your thread, but I didn't see that you have checked the vacuum advance for proper operation with engine vacuum and/or with a vacuum pump? Is the timing being set with the vac adv disconnected??

[jamon8]

take the module out of the distributor and have it checked at autozone or a place like that.

As far as your coil there are a few resistance tests you can perform to check it out as well.

then you will really know where you stand

[70short]

Remove the VAC advance from dizzy and cap source.
Set initial timing at 15*
Check full advance should be around 35-36*, also check RPM eng is full advanced at.
Connect VAC advance back on to dizzy, check full advance should be around 50*.
After you get these numbers set and eng running good then you can play with your advance.
I set my timing to zero to pass emissions MAN the truck run's like A piece of junk. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

Gary

[72hotrod]

Bought some fans from these guys,whiteperformance1.com, cheap. Noticed they have some other good deals including a new HEI complete for $57.50, which is so cheap, it's scary. Nice folks and the fans were OK. I bought a cheap dist. from Summit once for a little over $100 that wasn't very good. Try your luck.

[byrd]

I picked up a brand new 50,000 volt HEI at my local Chevy performance dealer for around $175 out the door. Great for the money and a little hotter then stock for a little extra power, just my .02

[hutch949]

CWILKE,I am not a mech,but I am going thru the exact same thing.402 bb,bored 30 over,with cam and new intake and carb.I am thinking this thing should ring the tires off.Boy was I surprised.This thing is a dog.My cousin built the motor(he has a chevelle and a truck and both will scream)so i was cofident in him.My truck like yours has less power than before the rebuild with 220000 miles.I let an old school mech. look at it to day. He said to much vaccum,swithed some hoses around and set timing by ear and now it is a little better than before the rebuild.He thinks the distributer is off by 1 tooth so he is taking it out and resetting it tomorrow.I am keeping my fingers crossed,I did not sleep at all last night worring over it.Like I said I am not a mech so my terminaligy and spelling are a little off. Hutch949

[cwilkie]

Hutch949,

That sucks when you go through the money and time spending process of a rebuild only to find that you are worse off than you were before the rebuild. I went ahead and bought a Procomp Distributor from eBay so I hope that works. I guess we'll see when it comes in. Thank you to everyone who has given me advice.