327c.i. Sbc running rough, advice needed

[Bullett]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

Apoligies to Bullett!!
I'm not slamming your truck. Just made an observation on your motor.
Something else to check for you. You seem to be a hands on guy. A very good attribute. Too many cheque writer's out there.
Any where on a sbc where the intake bolts line up with the pushrods (4 spots IIRC) you need to use the correct length bolts. Otherwise a longer bolt could contact the pushrod and cause problems like you're having.

No apologies needed, everyone has an opinion on stuff and I am o.k. With any of that, again, it is situations like this that I pick up at least some type of knowledge. I am very much a hands on guy, even though Lymes disease is trying every trick in the book to take it away from me. I am millwright by trade, restore vintage snowmobiles





I do 100% of all the work on my vintage sleds. I lay all the paint, rebuild the entire 2stroke motors (except for sending out the cranks) and have even been known to get behind a sewing machine and attempt a seat cover or 2.
I also built my own 2000sq. Ft. Home pretty much by myself....my day job, I tear down and do complete overhauls on hydro power generating turbines.....Not trying to to sound like a rocket scientist, I guess my point is..THESE FORUMS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO SOME TYPES OF PEOPLE THAT HAVE AA TRUE PASSION TO LEARN NEW STUFF AND DO THEIR OWN WORK. Doing stuff like this makes some of us people tick, just the way some of us are wired. I am not only a taker from these forums, I try to give also. If you go to www.dootalk.com under the vintage snowmobile section, do a search under my screen name (bullett) you will find an online build thread that I did to help people learn how to restore and work on vintage ski Doo's. Last time I looked it had 21-22k hits. ...anyways, back to this post, bj383 nailed it. My cam lobes are to flat to lift the valves. I had one of my buddies come take a look. We spun the motor over by hand as one poster instructed and the rockers on that cyl. Hardly wiggled. There were a couple more that weren't much better....also, took the numbers off the heads (3998993) and found they were from a 72 chevy 350 crate motor. Maybe a 327 block? Dunno, doesn't really matter at this point. I am picking up a 355 CSB, with 15-20k miles, wined aluminum intake, Holley 650 4-barrel, newly rebuilt 350th auto tranny w/shift kit motor has all MSD electronic ignition, headers and some tricked out heads. The PO just pulled this stuff out of his truck to put a newer LS fuel injected set up in. I am going to have $600 in the whole set up, fair enough. I would have wanted a alum. Intake/Holley carb and elec. ignition on my motor anyhow so all is good. Should be a quick easy install. I will try and remember to take pics and post as I go along. Thanks again for everyone's input and ideas.

[geezer#99]

Those sleds bring back memories of when they first came out and became popular back in the sixties.
Do you recall one with a single centre ski?
I remember my first ride back around '65!!

[Bullett]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

Those sleds bring back memories of when they first came out and became popular back in the sixties.
Do you recall one with a single centre ski?
I remember my first ride back around '65!!

The single center ski ski Doo was called an Alpine. They had dual tracks. They were the workhorse. The Alpine came out in 63', I have a 64'. Very cool piece. Most of my stuff is 70' or older with the exception of a few Blizzard models of the very early 70's, they are very hard to come by, they were a factory race sled only issued to dealers to race and it was discouraged, by Ski-Doo, for the dealers to sell them to the general public. My dad was a Ski Doo dealer from 68' (when I was 3), until around 1980. I grew up on them and they still are my passion. I have many.

[geezer#99]

Yup, that was the one. Not fast, but scary for a 14 year old. LOL!!
And then came the fast and faster ones. I remember a "Wild One" I think built by john deere that was wicked fast.
My dad bought an Evinrude 440 and used it with a taboggan pulled behind to haul paint and supplies to paint the insides of houses. The road was snowed in. He made 5 grand in 2 months with a 500 dollar machine. Camped in one house and painted every day. Nobody there but him.
Bad to hear about your motor.
It happens more often now.
Oh well! On to bigger and better.

[Bullett]

Hee hee. The Roll-O-Flex Wild One was a spin off from a Co. Called Boa-Ski, they were made from 69'-74', I believe. They were built in Saskachewan. They were indeed very fast for the day and certain models are highly collectible today. Their claim to fame was their sleds that were built as strictly racers. The Canadian engineers took the rules and regulation book used for racing, and found some very ingenious ways to legally loop hole some of the rules, therefore, for a time, the Wild-One was at the front of the class. For instance, the regulations stated that in order to race in a certain class, every sled had to run the same HR sized carb. The rule that wasn't actually stated in the rules was how many carbs. Could be used. Roll-O Flex was all over it and ended up stacking 2carbs, 1 on top of the other. They beat most others to the punch on that one.

[bj383ss]

Holy cow you had a flat lobe! Well at least u are getting new running gear for 600 bucks not bad. Awesome sleds man!

[Bullett]

Originally Posted by bj383ss

Holy cow you had a flat lobe! Well at least u are getting new running gear for 600 bucks not bad. Awesome sleds man!

Thanks dude. You nailed that one. I called an old buddy of mine, who is a GM gear head, I told him what was going on over the phone, and he said "I can almost guarantee ya that the cam lobes are junk" I went on to tell him that I didn't believe the motor had all that many miles on it. He then said on these motors, it didn't take many miles. He then went on to explain how and why it happens. Oh well, it is what it is, time to move on. I'll be better off in the long run anyhow. Kinda anxious to get the new set-up in, it should go pretty dang good.

[geezer#99]

By canadian engineers you really meant saskabush red necks! LOL!!
Saskabush was ideal for test and tune purposes. No fences, no ditches and so flat you could watch your dog run away for 3 days!!
Rules! What rules!!
Just like the canucks using the 302 Z motor in the firebirds for trans am racing. Just a minor stretch of the rules.
Thanx for stirring up the memories!!
And now back to your regular programming!!

[AcampoDave]

You are far more of a hands on guy than I gave you credit for initially and I extend my humble apologies for selling you short. I guess I was imagining you as the youngster I used to be, throwing new parts at a simple problem only to be a hundred bucks poorer with a motor that still ran poorly. By suggesting a pro I only meant to help you avoid that scenario. Those snowmobiles are incredible. I'm glad you resolved your issues.

[Bullett]

Originally Posted by AcampoDave

You are far more of a hands on guy than I gave you credit for initially and I extend my humble apologies for selling you short. I guess I was imagining you as the youngster I used to be, throwing new parts at a simple problem only to be a hundred bucks poorer with a motor that still ran poorly. By suggesting a pro I only meant to help you avoid that scenario. Those snowmobiles are incredible. I'm glad you resolved your issues.

Again, no apologies needed. I was a youngster at one time not having a clue to what I was doing and, I hate to say, but there are a lot of the younger society in todays world that do not want to dig in and work through the problems in front of them. I am no diff. than you, sometimes I am quick to form an opinion before I know the whole story. I think it is human nature sometimes. But again, no problem.

[samlsn]

Cool thread, I'm troubleshooting through some similar but more mild symptoms and stumbled across this. I was suspecting bad vacuum advance but now it sounds like there's a dozen other possibilities

[chris mc bride]

well I got treed on this one big time. I wuld have bet cam lobes also.It has been a big problem of late for old motors,since they took zinc out of the oil you have to add to your oil or buy one specifically with zinc in it to help with wear on the lobes of flat tappet cams.

Getting ready to spend a bunch on converting my 454 to hydraulic rollers for this reason.Thats the story I told my wife and I am sticking to it.

My biggest fear is my wife selling my toys for what I told her they cost after I die.

[Bullett]

Originally Posted by chris mc bride

well I got treed on this one big time. I wuld have bet cam lobes also.It has been a big problem of late for old motors,since they took zinc out of the oil you have to add to your oil or buy one specifically with zinc in it to help with wear on the lobes of flat tappet cams.

Getting ready to spend a bunch on converting my 454 to hydraulic rollers for this reason.Thats the story I told my wife and I am sticking to it.

My biggest fear is my wife selling my toys for what I told her they cost after I die.

Hee hee. I told my buddy if I ever kick the bucket, help my wife sell off my vintage sled collection and truck, she is under the impression that I didn't invest much and they aren't worth much.

[Bullett]

Originally Posted by samlsn

Cool thread, I'm troubleshooting through some similar but more mild symptoms and stumbled across this. I was suspecting bad vacuum advance but now it sounds like there's a dozen other possibilities

I agree, cool thread. I learned a lot just from going thru it and all the suggestions I got on this board. I never imagined there could be so many different possibilities. Now that I been through it, I have much more knowledge on what makes the engine tick.