In Over My Head?

[steelscout]

Ahhh I see...I will definitely check that out, thanks

[steelscout]

Would the wrong spark plug gap be some of my problem of it sputtering and dying, with the occasional misfire? I just looked it up for my year engine and it should be a .35 not .45 which is what I have them set at.

[CURSED GEARS]

I googled CHEVY CASTING NUMBERS, and the web site I found said your engine is a 69-79 350 engine with 185-370 horse power, which could be 2 to 4 bolt main, and that it came out of a car, truck or vette. I use to use Mortec's website for this stuff, but apparently its gone now.

[steelscout]

yeah I saw that site was listed but a dead link so I googled chevy engine suffix code decoder and got this site;
http://www.nastyz28.com/decode.php
very helpful. I learned from there that it was a 1973 sbc 350. initial issue was buying spark plugs, went to the local parts store and bought Autolites pn#145 and went to install them and they were completely different in size, so I took one from the truck and they said it was from a late 70's 350, and gave me autolite pn# 26 with a gap of .45, when I put them in and fired it up, started acting and sounding weird so I went to the Autolitesparkplugs.com and put in my engine info, and for a c/10 73 with sbc 350 it gave me pn 145 and I know that is the wrong one, so I looked up same year(1973 sbc 350) camaro and it pulled up pn 26 with a gap of .35

so right now my gap is .45 I am thinking of pulling them out re-gapping to .35 and putting them back in.

Regards to 2 or 4 bolt main, yeah I wrote it in wrong, I just wrote 4 bolt. I will eventually find out what it is when I drop the oil pan to replace the gasket, since it does leak a little.

[Livrat]

Ray,
If I remember correctly your truck has an HEI distributor, and with that you need to keep the spark plug gap at .045..
Did you replace the wire I made for you?..(in one picture you posted I can see it sitting on the seat). If not, the sputtering could be caused by the HEI distributor not getting a full 12 volts to the ignition module.

[swamp rat]

For what ever year you search up the webpage will give you the plug gap for the stock distributor. If you converted to HEI than you should be running at .045.

[steelscout]

Livrat, your totally right!! Putting it on this weekend, can't believe I forgot that, didn't realize that could have been the issue, and still leave gap at .45? Sounds good, thank you!!! Thanks Swamp!
Posted via Mobile Device

[steelscout]

Alrighty, I couldn't wait till this weekend and plans are changing, I get some time sunday ...anyways, I went to replace the wire, the connector located under the hood in front of the driver is deteriorating so I need to replace that, I followed the wire for about 2-3 feet across the front and found that it was spliced and 2 yellow wires branched off of it, both went down and then split up, I was unable to track it completely due to time but I know this was not supposed to be like that, so I reconnected the first part and I am going to check it out on Sunday, hopfully it isnt raining. Any thoughts on this new developement or is this some craziness from a previous owner and I need to correct it?

[Livrat]

Actually that is the way it came from the factory.. a resisitor wire (has a braded cover) comes out of the firewall connector and is spliced into two yellow wires, one originally went to the coil the other goes down to the starter.. you can remove all of the yellow wires, then unbolt the connector/terminal block on the fire wall, follow the wire that the yellow ones were spliced with and remove it from the terminal block, the easiest way to remove it from the terminal block is to snip the brass connector in two, then just pull it out, then push in the red one I made up for you, then connect it to the distributor cap..

[steelscout]

Thanks, will do that
Posted via Mobile Device

[steelscout]

Very nice!!! I got it all hooked up, I removed old wires found some melted wires that weren't connected to anything, removed them as well. I also was able to remove the number 6 spark plug, changed the oil, cleaned degreased the engine(still have a long ways to go on that still but at least I can see an engine), changed negative battery cable, and she's sounding/running much better, no oil leaks as of yet, ran her for about and hour, no stalling, sputtering. Also the connector in the firewall is not deteriorating, it was full of black sealer that had hardened and was crumbling. Next week driver door and window....Thanks for everyones help!!!!

[Longhorn Man]

looks good!

[lil hoodlum]

Wow!! Nice job! I bet it feels great to get the engine issue out of the way. The motor looks great all cleaned up.

Again, good work.

Keith

[steelscout]

Thanks and yes!! totally happy engine is good!!