Timing problem

[Double Stack]

AutoBluePrint,
Thanks for th advice; I already fixed it though. I got a new raw line from the parts store, and a cutter and bender from Harbor Freight. Now the line doesn’t touch anything.

Back to the timing... I was able to drop the idle down a bit which is cool, but now when I get on it in high RPM 2nd or 3rd especially it starts to drop out. Meaning- loses power. I was going to mess with the carb again tomorrow to try and dial it in a little better, but I’m kinda wondering if I need to advance my timing just a little? I still haven’t touched it since I dropped the distributer in because it was running damn good. Thoughts?

Also, I’m still having to prime my engine with fuel straight into the carb for the first start up of the day.

[car guy]

Double Stack! Is you choke closing firm first start of the day or after cool down!(with one pump of gas pedal?) If not, set choke like I told you earlier!

car guy

[car guy]

Double Stack! Forgot, why don't you check timing with light? I thought you had the spec?
If not you can pull advance ahead a little ahead at a time and road time it(keep advancing it and then each time accelerate hard when you here ping or rattle then you push back a little at a time till ping stops and then your good!)You might want to then check timing and record for future! Carb mixture at idle you want to adjust mixture screws one at a time to highest idle or vacuum! recheck both to fine tune! Idle you probably want 5-600 in gear!

car guy

[CC69Rat]

Where's your timing now? Have you had it on a light?

It sounds like your engine is far from stock, and looks like a lot of money was spent on it. I think I remember you saying it was at 5deg btdc? I think it could handle a little more timing than that. 12-14 btdc is stock for an LT1 if I am not mistaken. Is it running a little on the warm side too?

[Double Stack]

CarGuy,
I set it like you said, and it was good aside from the first start of the day until I turned the idle down a bit more. That’s when I noticed the bogging out. I’m about to go mess with it, and the mixture screws a little, I just got preoccupied today with trying to find a right front fender and side molding locally.

I wasn’t checking it with a light because it wasn’t marking on the damper reading at all before. I haven’t tried it yet now that I reinstalled the distributer and fixed the fuel problem. I’ll hit it with the light, and if it doesn’t work I’ll do the road timing like you said. I was working on that before, but then the fuel pump went out on me. I don’t have a working tach though. New dash and all, but my tach isn’t working. I’m going to try and get some help with that in my “Truck’s wiring and lights” thread. As far as one pump to start, do you mean even if it’s not getting gas? Because it sounds/feels like it’s having to pump gas all the way from the tank every cold start or if’s it’s been sitting for a three or four plus hours. Thank you again though!

CC69Rat,
I haven’t had it on a light yet, but I’ve got my fingers crossed. I got caught up today looking for parts on craigslist. Yeah, they guy said he spent over nine grand on this truck. Kinda crazy what I got it for. Anyways, I dropped my distributer in at 15 degrees before top dead. That’s just were it kept coming up, so I dropped it in. Now that I know where the distributer is set, I just have to set my timing light’s advance for 15 degrees BTDC- correct? As far as running on the warm side- the truck’s temp didn’t get above 190 yesterday in light traffic when it was around 85 to 90 outside. It looks like it just needed it’s fan shroud, and to be timed a little better I guess. I’ll be keeping my eye on it the more I drive her though. What’s your trucks temp with those conditions? I appreciate the feedback!

[BMERDOC]

Double Stack, have you owned a carb'd vehicle before? just asking because even if it ain't tuned right you still have to pump the gas a coupla times. I'd hate to think you were expecting it to start like a fuel injected vehicle. Not trying to blow up your spot, I'm just askin can you pump the gas several times instead of prepriming it to start it?

[Double Stack]

BMERDOC,
Nope, this is my first carbed vehicle. Pretty stoked on it too, but no- I can’t just pump it or turn it over for a bit, or both to get it to start. I just tried it again, and I ended up having to pour fuel down it’s throat to get it to start.

And it was doin that shrill squealing again when I give it gas even though I lubed the belts yesterday. They don’t look to tight. Could they be too loose? Here’s a video of them running.

[Double Stack]

How do i post a video?

[BMERDOC]

Best way is to post it to you tube and tag it here.

[Double Stack]

My first youtube video. I'll take a better one tomorrow that shows how it wont start and the squealing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GxBJ7evOKw

[BMERDOC]

You are sharp as a tack DS!! I like smart ppl! Only need to be told once. The exhaust sounds nice and choppy. Hopefully the starting problem will be solved quickly with a couple of screw turns. Have you tried to tighten the belts? Only a smidge!!

[Double Stack]

Haha, right on man. I do what I can, with what I got! Stoked you like the exhaust- just wait until you hear it opening up!! People have been brakin their damn necks to see what the hell is coming. Then it’s BIG smiles and thumbs ups! It’s good shet! I’m with yea, we’ll see if this thing smooths out after I mess with it some more. Nope, I haven’t tightened the belts at all. But if anything, they probably a little loose. I’ll hit it up tomorrow.

[CC69Rat]

Double- First I want to say I'm not a professional mechanic, just a guy that likes cars and likes to tinker around with them. I'm a little confused when you say 'I dropped the dist in at 15deg btdc' Are you saying you pull the dist out, turn the oil pump shaft a little and then drop it back in to change the timing?

I would be way wrong here but what I typically do is set the engine to TDC by the timing mark on the balancer and the rotor pointing at #1. Mark the dist housing like you did in the first few pics. You should have ~25deg ? worth of adjustment by just loosening the hold down clamp and advance / retarding the time as you need to. Once the dist is installed at TDC that's where it needs to stay or your dist is what I would call a 'tooth off'. You're essentially doing the same thing by leaving the base in the same spot and turning the oil pump shaft / dist to 15deg but a whole lot more work IMO.

Did I misunderstand?

[RichardJ]

The best I can tell from your photos and video, the belt is making contact only between my blue lines. Between the water pump and fan and the water and air they are pushing, you are going to need more belt contact area. Aluminum pulleys tend to have less friction than steel. The alternator needs to be lower. A longer belt will let the alt swing out more, but may not give more belt contact until it is swung WAY out.
An electric fan or a clutch fan are alternatives that put less load on the belt.

[Double Stack]

CC69Rat,
no worries on the professional mechanic bit. I took the distributer out along with spark plug #1, and then found top dead with the compression stroke. I then checked the damper markings and it was coming up around 15 to 17 degrees before top dead. The last time it hit, it came up on 15 1/2 or so, so i turned it back to 15 even. I then dropped the distributer back in. The timing light is now hitting exactly were I set it too on the damper markings. I think I’m pretty much set with the timing. Now as far as the carb adjustment- best I can tell I have the choke set correctly. The idle seems pretty good too, so the only thing left was the mixture screws. when I started messing with them my temp shot through the roof. Hit 200F in no time, so I killed it. Started it back up when it got down to 180F and did the trouble shooting method from edlebrock. “Tighten screw until seated and then back them off about one and a half turns. For me it was about one and a quarter turns, and that seemed to smooth it out. Now I’m going to take it for a drive.

Here are two videos. The first one is the attempt at the first start of the day. Then I did another session just like the first. And finally the second video is to show me trying a little bit more, only to pour fuel down her throat again.

I get what you’re sayin about more work, but I just did it like I saw on the MSD youtube videos. Plus what some have been sayin here.

RichardJ,
I think you’ve got it there. I’ve seen the fan kinda pause a few times when I give it gas. Do you have an idea of how much longer I should go? I was kinda thinkin about side by side electrics when I was having all the heating problems, but if I could get by for a bit with a longer belt that would be killer. I don’t have the cash to drop on the fans right now. I need to get this beast painted before it starts to rain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwW7MPu2ihM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuRkIpJi7Uc

[CC69Rat]

I had some aluminum pulleys on an old 388 Small block I had in a Firechicken one time .. the belts would sqeal like crazy. I took some 80 grit I think it was and roughed up the contact area (down in the groove) just to knock the shine off of them and it took care of it. .. except when I really hammered it.

[Double Stack]

Well I just went for a drive, and my temp at a light started to get up to 200. I killed the engine, and waited for the green. Once on the road it dropped down to 180, but the other day it was hotter outside and I was only getting up to 160 while driving, and 190 tops at a light. Damn it! The truck ran like crap too. Really dying out when I’d try to get on it. Also, when I got home I popped the hood and my carb was smoking. My temp still said just shy of 180, so what could this be. Is my carb dumping buckets of fuel to the point it’s splashing the sides of my carb and then burning off the edges or what?

CC69Rat,
I’ll give it a shot when it cools down. Good idea though, thanks! I’m going to get this biitch dialed eventually.

[Double Stack]

Me leaving my house earlier today after my first start up. My neighbor's must love me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09MLrFzFeLM

[Double Stack]

Hey guy’s. Had to stop workin on the truck for a bit. I got T-boned on my side in my little honda civic, and it got totaled!! I’ve just been to stiff to really do anything with the truck until today. I wanted to tackle the starting/ fuel problem, so I started digging on the site. Sure as shet I found my answer. It seems from reading that the carb is leaking fuel out it’s fuel bowls drain plugs and into the engine. That explains the fuel smell in the cab. I checked my oil, and yes- it has gas in it again. it feels so thin it’s hardly an oil consistency. So I’m going to pull the carb, and plug the wholes with JV weld like everyone was talkin about in the threads I’ve been reading. Then i'll change the oil again too.

Other than that, I got the belts to stop squeaking using CC69Rat’s method. Thanks man.

[wiskydelta]

I'm starting to think this engine is probably going to be nothing but trouble, I think you should just sell it to me real cheap and get out from under it.

[Double Stack]

I'd give you my girlfriend first... Thank's for the offer though.

A member her (68GMSee) has in formed me that the holes i was going to plug are only on the Q-Jet carbs. From what i've found now, I need to adjust the float in my 1406 Edelbrock.

[Double Stack]

How's it goin guys? I've been workin on my truck, just haven't had time to post on the site. As far as an update, the truck runs great now. I removed and bypassed the mechanical fuel pump, put in an electric that works much better. I got a spacer for the carb which helped out, and I've hooked up the lights, heating, and a few other things. Next up, an Al's bed liner and then paint.

Here's a pic of her as she is now.