Projects Cutting my Hotrod Teeth (57 Chevy Budget build/revival)

Definitely need a timing light at this point. A dwell meter would be good for setting the points. Vacuum leaks can be detected by spraying a volatile around fittings and gaskets. An increase in rpm indicates a leak. Is the choke disengaging?

 

This one's a '66. Not sure if it originally had a road draft tube, but it has a PCV valve fitted now at the back of the block. Plan is to route it to the back of the carb.

Makes sense. I'm not sure if I'll completely rebuild it but might not hurt to take the top off and make sure everything is okay mechanically. I guess the good thing is with it being an edelbrock, I won't be the first person to open one of these up, should be plenty of info online to help me through it.

The choke isn't wired up yet, I did manually open it once the engine was warm though. I think a dwell meter is a good idea too. I usually prefer the more precise/technical approach to this stuff, especially really only knowing enough to be dangerous. I can use test equipment and read meters, but with my experience level, tuning the engine by ear is going to be next to impossible.

 

Dwell meter is more accurate than feeler gauges. Hook it up, disconnect the coil., crank the engine over. Adjust as needed

Edelbrock has all instructions needed, from rebuild to issues. Should still be on their website.

 

Glad you're back on it!

 

Welcome back pineapple. Glad to have you back on it.

 

if you're working on an engine that's stock you can set the points with a feeler gauge (or a match book cover lol)... I've never done it on dist. that wasn't in the car... you seem to have gotten the dist. to drop back down in the right position since you've already got it running... then a timing light is usually all you need...if its been modified like timing cover or balancer changed then you need a vacuum gauge and a dwell meter...they really help in fine tuning

 

No update this weekend, trying to get my hands on a dwell meter and timing light for next time I actually work on the car. I had my fiancee with me this weekend and she wanted to see it run so I bargained with her to record some video.

Maybe some of you can tell me something just by hearing the engine run when I should do to get it idling better. You can see me playing with the timing after it starts up to get it to idle down, but then it dies on me unless I really gas it while driving it back inside. Could also partly be that I’m not used to the clutch yet. I’ve daily driven a stick for the past 6 years so I’m no stranger to that, but it’s a lot heavier of a clutch than my daily!

Anyway though y’all might like to see/hear it run after all this time, and also see that I’m not making up stories, it does actually run

 

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!

 

What does it idle at? Acts like it has a vacuum leak

 

That was my 1st thought, easy to chase down... most of the time.

 

That’s probably (part of) the problem. I plugged every vacuum port I could find. what would a vacuum leak present itself as? I don’t have the tach hooked up yet (need to spend a day wiring up the vintage Sun tach I have for it and the Stewart warner gauges I pulled out of a junkyard El Camino) but I would say when I can actually get it to idle, it’s at pretty high RPM. If I advance the timing by turning the distributor counter-clockwise so that the dwell adjustment door is pointed to cyl 1, it’ll stay running, but I don’t want to have it idling at 2,000 RPM.

 

It's possible it's a vacuum leak at a gasket like carb

 

Best way to find it is spray the intake area and any hoses with carb cleaner while it's running. If the engine note changes at all you found the leak. added perk is engine ends up a bit cleaner lol

 

Just a few things I’d check. You’re “in the window at 2000 RPMs. I’d start backing off the idle screw.
Watch timing, set where it doesn’t stall out.
Back the idle down, etc, try over and over, see if you can get to proper idle RPMs and base timing correct.

 

Reading up a bit on old Sun tachs, not sure if what I have is going to work. I’ll post a photo but I’m trying to figure out if this tach needs one of those transmitter boxes or not. It specifically says it’s for an 8 cyl. I wish I would have known to check for the transmitter box when I pulled this in the junkyard several years ago. I know it came out of a 71 or 72 El Camino that had some sort of SBC.

I want to get this tach, oil pressure and temp gauge wired before I start it up again, hopefully accompanied by a dwell meter and timing light, and a can of carb cleaner…

 

Be sure to use "non-chlorinated" so you won't be breathing chlorine gas as it will mess your lungs up if it doesn't kill you first.

 

Bravo! It runs and moves. Keep at it, you will get there.

 

Vacuum leak, my method to see if you have one is: With it idling, every vacuum port plugged, place a hand over the top of the carb. If the idle smooths out and the RPMs increase, you have a leak. It it wants to crap out, you have no vacuum leak. I use the spray to pin point a leak. Try not to spray into the carb itself, this will give a false "reading".

 

Wish I was back on it this weekend, but I've got other things going on. I'm also waiting for some things I've ordered to show up, notably a dwell meter and a timing light. I've already got a vacuum gauge for getting my mixture dialed in.

So, being totally new to this sort of thing, what do I want to go for first? Dwell? Timing? I would assume dwell would be first, then timing (both after of course the possible vacuum leak is dealt with). From a technical perspective, dwell should stay the same even if timing is advanced or retarded, right? My understanding is that the dwell is more of a physical measurement of the distance between the points when open, which should be static. Timing can obviously change even "on its own" with vacuum advance for instance though. do I have that right?

I've forgotten at this point whether I ever ended up lashing the valves or not, so I guess before anything else, and before even firing again, I need to check that. I thought I did, but checking back through this thread, I'm not so sure. I guess it can't be too out of wack since it runs...

 

Yes, dwell should not change. Can use the meter with the cap off, does not need to be running.
Then balance engine idle speed with timing, while engine is running.

 

Check your valves, then timing as setting the dwell first will change as you advance or retard the distributer. Yes all after the vacuum leak

 

On a single point distributor? I’ve never noticed that before.

 

Yes it changes the relationship between the body of the distributor that the points are mounted too and the shaft that the cam is on

 

Hmnn, points open and close on the lobe. But maybe I’ve used the feeler gauge too many times, just never rechecked.

 

My understanding and what I’ve seen as well.

 

Maybe I replied before I thought hard enough about it, thinking now I have to retract what I said, I guess the relationship between the two makes no difference as to how long the points stay open, just when they open. My apologies.

PS no one tell my wife I did that, I’d hate for her to know she’s right!

 

Thanks for the tips guys, sounds like I was right.

In other news, I might have just found a set of chrome reverse 14s with chevy bolt pattern locally for $200! They have been painted but for $200, I think I could budget some for a can of stripper. I had to use a miss-matched rim when I found a crack on one of the (very pitted) original wheels a few years ago, so I was planning on replacing the wheels eventually anyway.

Waiting to hear back from the guy but I originally was thinking this car would look sweet on chrome reverse wheels with a mild paint job, nosed and decked, hence the "custom" designation of the thread.

 

Before you pull the trigger on the wheels, look for cost and availability of tires for them.
The selection of 14’s has waned over the years.