No power and runs like sh*t, HEI module?

[ryan68]

Just got done replacing my intake gaskets, made sure everything was clean and went back together perfectly, plug wires right, correct timing, everything. Fired it up and it seemed to run fine, but not have the power it did, and the more I drove it, the worse it got, and had a couple random backfires on acceleration, and it doesn't wanta idle at all. Overall, it seems like it's running like sh*t. Any ideas?

[Randy70C-10]

Sounds like your carburetor is having problems.

[Bowtie67]

Vacuum leaks? Maybe a sparkplug wire crossed? Reset timing with a light and not by marking dizzy and just put it back in?

[cduster]

Did you tighten the dist. good? Maybe it slipped some. Just a thought.

Dan

[mr402]

Check the centrifugal advance in the distributor. When mine stuck it felt like it lost 100 HP, backfired once in a while etc. Just remove the cap and see if you can easily move the advance.

[67shortie]

Sounds like your timing slipped, or you are one tooth off when you re installed the distributor. If not, check for vacuum leaks around the new gaskets.

[ryan68]

Thanks guys, but nope, timing was on even did it the static way too to make sure we were really close. Spray carb cleaner around the intake, nothing. Checked my 3 vacuum hoses, nothing. New spark plugs and cap, rotor, and module. Trying tuning it for a couple hours, still nothing. Then a nice clanking noise came about so I shut it down. Pulled the driver's side valve cover to find a push rod bent to about 45 degrees, rocker arm sideways, valve spring all apart, and valve sitting all the way down. Think that might be a bigger problem than we started with.

[cdowns]

well having a bent pushrod like that leads me to believe your timing was off causing the piston to hit the valves, you've got to pull the heads off and have them checked and replace the timing chain and try it again

[ryan68]

Well, this didn't happen till 4 days later. A the timing was definitely on, I more than triple checked it. Checked the wires visually, followed them all up, did a continuity test. Checked TDC and dropped the distributor in. The way the pushrod is bent and all the way, I think the lifter might have got stuck, oh well, guess we'll find out after while.

[67shortie]

Your pushrod bent because either of these things,

Valve smacked the piston
Valve binded up in the guide, heat, lack of lube etc.
pushrod binded in the pushrod guide (if your engine has them)
rocker 'froze' on the fulcrum casing lots of friction and binded the movement and the pushrod was forced into it.
Rocker jumped off of the pushrod, collapsed lifter/flat lobe may cause this or over revving/valve float.

There are others, but these are the few that are the most common.

[Olden Days]

because you just changed your intake gaskets I would bet you got some old gasket down one of the intake holes or in a lifter and it jambed it up

[Randy70C-10]

Ignition timing won't cause bent valves, but cam timing will.

[72gord]

Check to make sure you didn't put too long of bolt in the intake...I think that one or two of the holes in the head that hold the intake on are directly in line with the push rod...too long of a bolt will contact the push rod and lock it in place. Seems like it is the two center ones on each side, but I don't have any heads lying around to check for sure.

[walker]

I think 72GORD hit it on the head, that was my thought and I thought I was the only one untill I read his post. Look at the push rod for signs of scoring or a bolt mark.

[ryan68]

I checked the length of the bolt when I took them out. And yes, that is the bolt hole that lines up directly with the #5 intake pushrod. However, I put all the intake bolts back in the same holes they came out of, and that bolt was shorter than the rest, as well as the bolt on the opposite side of the block. As for stuff falling in the engine, probably not as I was very anal with cleaning it and made a "pan" to catch crap so it didn't fall in the engine made sure absolutely nothing got in there. It's probably one of those 1 in a 100,000 deals and that would be luck, sooooo, oh well.

[72gord]

You are more than likely right Ryan, the one in a million deal..that always seems to happen. Anyhow good luck on the repair and keep us posted if you figure out what caused the problem.

[cdowns]

since you took a running engine put a manifold on it did everything correctly and in the process turned it into a nonrunning engine that you may have been ahead of the game by paying someone else to do it IMO

[ryan68]

Cdowns, same manifold, bolts, everything, only thing that changed was getting good gaskets instead of ones missing pieces. Like I said truck ran pretty good for about 3 days then just randomness.

[Randy70C-10]

Like I said before, it really sounds like your carb is hosed up. Can you borrow one from a buddy to do a test run?

[ryan68]

Can't now cause the engine has to come apart. The carb I have is about 2 months old, 795 cfm Edelbrock Performer Quadrajet.

[Randy70C-10]

You stuck a 795 cfm carb on a used stock small block

[ryan68]

Not stock, and it's a quadrajet, they are far overrated in cfm's.