HEI Ignition Problem

[highperf4x4]

Originally Posted by nrb's70gmc

by the way is it hard to rotate the oil pump?? i stuck a flat head down in there and the screwdriver would'nt move either way. i dont know if its possible to get the screwdriver stuck in the cam gear or not but that is what it feels like.

The oil pump will spin very easily. A small maglight and a small mirror work extremely well for this. You can get the mirror at the parts store.

[Stano]

I have a suggestion. You say you have a edelbrock carb on your truck. Have you pulled the top off and looked in it? The seats for the metering rods are flush with the bottom of the carb and when the truck sets fuel turns to varnish and when you start driving the truck again this stuff gets packed in there. How do I know you ask? Well I have the same exact problem with my 67 (in avatar). I have beat my brains out figuring this out myself on a couple occasions. And as I type this my carb is in the garage soaking awaiting a rebuild tomorrow night. Its a year old. I also have two more setting on the shelf that had the same issue. They all have had backfire through carb and exhaust, stalling, rough irratic idle when it would stay running without my foot on the gas. I have replaced distributors,MSD boxes, coils, changed fuel filters, plugs, taylor wires, pulled tank, all because of a little crap in the carb. I only drive my truck maybe two to three months a year sometimes I remember to put sta-bil in sometimes I dont. Either way its always been junk in the carb. I know how you feel on this and its worth a look.

[nrb's70gmc]

my truck is a pretty much a daily driver and never gos more than 2 days without starting
but do you think over the years there could be build up (considering rusty tank and all)??

If you are framilier with the edelbrock carb (mental picture in your head)
than maybe you can tell me the answer to this question...

right below the fuel inlet on the inside of the carb i noticed a little piece of metal (part of the carb) was rattling around and i dont know if is supposed to be that way or not

if i pull the top of the carb off what should i be looking for?? should i remove the meatering rods??? whare wil the "gunk" build up at? can i do this (on truck) or do i need to remove it?

considering i have a rusty tank and the carb has been on there for 8 years (with no problems) maybe it could be the problem.

[Stano]

Was the metal piece a square horseshoe shape? If so this goes into the slotted grooves in the base of the carb. If you are talking about removing the fuel inlet barb and looking in the round hole there should be a metal screen that fits in the seat for the float valve it just sits in there holding itself in. I would just go ahead and pull the carb off that way you can set it on the workbench and not drop anything in the intake. Before you pull the top off the carb pull out the metering rods so they dont get accidentally bent or something. Make sure not to lose the springs that are with them. You will be looking for anything that shouldnt be there (dirt,rust,goo,junk in general). Spray it out with carb cleaner and wipe it out with a clean towel. The seats for the metering rods are brass and round bout the size of a pencil you will see them in the bottom of the carb there will be 4. 2 where you pulled the metering rods out and two towards the back. Stick the tube from the carb cleaner in them and spray them out. Make sure you wear eye protection as some of the passages in the carb will be pointing toward you where the cleaner exits. Just spray out all the passages and wipe it all down good. These carbs are pretty simple and the rebuild kit runs like 30-40 dollars at the parts store it will be part #1477. Has gaskets and everything you will need. However not much for the instructions. The sheet mine came with said to set the float at 1 1/4 inches that is wrong it should be 15/16-1 inch. I got mine back on tonight and dialed in runs good just need to go for a test drive tomorrow, but I can tell already it fixed it ran it for a hour outside the shop and everything was back to normal again. If you need to know anything else just ask.

[nrb's70gmc]

Originally Posted by Stano

Was the metal piece a square horseshoe shape? If so this goes into the slotted grooves in the base of the carb. If you are talking about removing the fuel inlet barb and looking in the round hole there should be a metal screen that fits in the seat for the float valve it just sits in there holding itself in. I would just go ahead and pull the carb off that way you can set it on the workbench and not drop anything in the intake. Before you pull the top off the carb pull out the metering rods so they dont get accidentally bent or something. Make sure not to lose the springs that are with them. You will be looking for anything that shouldnt be there (dirt,rust,goo,junk in general). Spray it out with carb cleaner and wipe it out with a clean towel. The seats for the metering rods are brass and round bout the size of a pencil you will see them in the bottom of the carb there will be 4. 2 where you pulled the metering rods out and two towards the back. Stick the tube from the carb cleaner in them and spray them out. Make sure you wear eye protection as some of the passages in the carb will be pointing toward you where the cleaner exits. Just spray out all the passages and wipe it all down good. These carbs are pretty simple and the rebuild kit runs like 30-40 dollars at the parts store it will be part #1477. Has gaskets and everything you will need. However not much for the instructions. The sheet mine came with said to set the float at 1 1/4 inches that is wrong it should be 15/16-1 inch. I got mine back on tonight and dialed in runs good just need to go for a test drive tomorrow, but I can tell already it fixed it ran it for a hour outside the shop and everything was back to normal again. If you need to know anything else just ask.

well i have bigger problems than that right now--let me explain

my friend pulls up in a full roller fully built sbc badass sounding nova to help me- first thing he noticed was that the shaft was not spinning freely somthing was hitting the pickup coil he found out it was (the little star bushing thing thats pressed on the shaft was hitting) so we fixed that (fast farward 4 hours later) we got my truck running ( he said i need to adjust my valves) and found out that the little bushings that support the advance weights ,ya well one of them was broke in half so the advace weight was wiggling around and now the hole is oveled out (so i need to get a new set of weights) the other problem was that the four screws that hold the cap down (cover the coil) stripped out (so my friend suggest i get a stock style coil cover because it mounts differant than the mallory cover...man i cant catch a break.

[Ackattack]

hey, at least is sounds like you found the problem!

[highperf4x4]

Cool, glad you found the problem.

[nrb's70gmc]

I hope i found it

[Stano]

Man I hope you found it then. Sounds like a Accel HEI I had all the guts fell apart and one of the studs on the cap even fell inside the dizzy. That was interesting broke a hole in cap even. LOL I wish you luck and keep us posted.

[nrb's70gmc]

Originally Posted by Stano

Man I hope you found it then. Sounds like a Accel HEI I had all the guts fell apart and one of the studs on the cap even fell inside the dizzy. That was interesting broke a hole in cap even. LOL I wish you luck and keep us posted.

i will keep you all posted its raining today so today is my parts running day

right now i need to get a new coil cover and advance weights-

[nrb's70gmc]

UPDATE

went outside today to fix the advace wieghts bushings (did not go smooth at all) a five minute fix turned into a 20 minute headache because the bushings would not fit into the hole on the advace weights as easy as you may think. or i thought

next i put the coil in the cap screwed it down and then i put the coil cover on and was screwing it down (everything going well) then like a lighting bolt my(BRAND NEW) cap that i bought the other day cracked i dont know if the screw was going in at a angle or what. but all i could do is throw my hand up in the air and go in the house.

i dont even get mad anymore with all the problems i have been having. i should have know somthing would happen.

so i guess the only thing i need is a new cap again.

[nrb's70gmc]

UPDATE UPDATE ALL DONE FIXED IT --I HOPE

well i put a new bushing in the advance weight put the dizzy all back together and it fired up went for a test drive and it ran fine (needs to be advanced a tiny bit)

so here is the main parts list that may have caused the problem

1, the cap was chipped/cracked around the carbon brush
2, i put a brand new module in (truck would die when hot)
3, the advace weight bushing was broke and the weight was wiggling around in the rotor (i had to put a new bushing in)

i personally feel that the combonation of the chpped cap/ advance weight problem were the main problem and maybe they caused the module to over heat and wear out premature

total parts list
new oem style coil cover
new cap
new rotor
new pick up coil
new module
new bushing for the advance weight

thanks guys for all your help ---next project updating the yellow power wire

[highperf4x4]

Good job and congratulations.

[nrb's70gmc]

Originally Posted by highperf4x4

Good job and congratulations.

thanks man this wekkend i will be upgrading the power wire