Neverending "timing" problem :P

The rocker-stopper clips help with adjusting hydraulic lifters too, as far as keeping the mess down.
Dave

 

Glad to hear that timing it helped. Now either get the clips or cut out covers and finish setting the lash. When you are satisfied with the valves, if you are still having problems, go back and do that compression check, that is the next thing you need to verify. Another little tidbit that a lot of folks don't think about, ground the coil wire and spin the starter for a few seconds with the plugs still in it, if you have a cylinder with extremely low compression you will hear it when the piston comes up on that hole. If the compression is fairly even it will sound even on the starter.

 

I did a post a couple months back... okay, it was a rant, about people dropping distributors in a tooth or two off, and then trying to make up for it by moving the wires.

There were a whole bunch of people who said it's not a big deal, just move the wires, turn the distributor body, etc. etc. etc.

Glad your getting a lot closer.
If the timing was that far off, it is possible to hammer the rocker gear enough to vibrate things loose.

As for your question about oil--yes, off-t******lf oils do NOT contain the zinc additive package today, and yes, it will can wipe out your cam. I'm running Royal Purple in my '61 Suburban (290hp crate 350--almost 30,000 trouble-free miles in under three years), and Rotela in my wife's '61 Corvair daily driver.

-Brad

 

It's amazing how many times it's the basics and not some exotic problem.

If the adjusting nut keeps backing off on the same valve, replace the nut with a new one. The nuts are specially made so that they don't back off.

To be fair, most guys ***umed you had the dist. in correctly to begin with and didn't catch it in your text. You are not the first to say "I know it's out of time a little but I'll get to that later" and chase their tails for a few days.

I'm glad you got it fixed and on the way to being a reliable hotrod.

 

I don't think any of the shops around here have what you're running. I found an article that said some 20w50 should do the job. I'm hoping my little test fires and brief jaunts haven't led to the cam lobes wearing *already* I was thinking about that when I still heard chatter.

EDIT: Up until now, I was running it with "High Mileage" oil

 

The pushrods spin while it is running and under pressure. It is a natural occurence when a flat tappet cam is turning @ any rpm from idle to above. If its the stock cam in a 283 its a flat tappet cam. GM didn't put roller cams in ***embly line cars until just recently.

I was going to try and diagnose your problem until I discovered that you pulled it down and only changed gaskets. If you had to hone a cylinder you needed to ring it at the very least.With it blowing by I would suggest that you should probably run a compression and a leak down check on it.
Then come back with your results. You are probably going to find that it has very low compression and is leaking by in several cylinders. That would indicate that a valve grind is in order and probably a new lower end wouldn't hurt.

 

Yeah, I'm going to take off the intake and check the lifters for wear....I've become obsessed with thinking there's something bad lurking, even if there's not.

If there *is* something going on, I'm just going to buy a crate motor from Jegs and put this one in the corner till I'm done being pissed at it and can, in good conscience, do what needs to be done and take the time to do it

 

Check that the Harmonic balancer is not separated. I had this one and drove us nuts trying to find out why the car went out of time all of the time. The outer ring would move on the inner. We'd check the timing and set it again. Of course we put it out of time. I also found out the hard way that a 283 cam can go in either way by moving the dowel pins. Then it really runs good!! The Old Tinbasher

 

As for your oil question, 20/50 oil is not subject to the rules governing lower Zinc and phosphorus levels and any of the name brands (Castrol GTX, Valvoline Racing, etc.) in 20/50 still have acceptable levels for your motor.

 

What you need more than anything is a mentor, in person, to guide you through this. Many of the things you have admitted doing is only making it worse. You are taking a shotgun approach to this, and that is really not the way to go about it.

 

any oil with a "SF" prefix still has the zinc. if you really dont want to pull the motor apart to see if its the cam, get a dial indicator and measure the lift on 2 or 3 cylinders to get a base-line lift, then go to the problem cylinder. if the lift indicated by the dial indicator is significantly less, then you know you have wiped a lobe on the camshaft. Flat-tappet cams are bad about doing this after sitting for a while, as the oil drains off the cam and upon initial startup after months or years of sitting, the cam is completely dry, and as others have mentioned, it just takes a few seconds to wipe a lobe. good luck

 

The zinc may not be as big a deal as some might lead you to believe, but it sure wouldn't hurt to have it in there. I think Rotella oil still contains ZDDP but not everyplace has it. Try the truck and tractor supply places.

Or just head to the nearest GM parts department and get a bottle of EOS ***embly Lube to add to your oil. EOS used to stand for Engine Oil Supplement but GM changed it to ***embly Lube to discourage it's used as an oil additive. Same stuff though and it has ZDDP for engine break-in.

 

Cool....I found an additive that's supposed to get those zinc/phosphorus levels up for your oil. I think I'll use that till I change the oil in a month or so.

No kiddin. Since we moved up to NJ, we've both ended up being hermits in most instances. People up here, in general, are *way* too abrasive and offputting (no offense to you good guys from NJ I've met on the HAMB!). The few people in my neighborhood that work on cars are all shade tree mechanics, half of the info they've given me I have proven wrong via the HAMB. Everything I've learned, I've learned directly or indirectly because of this site. I've never built a car before this one, let alone do much more other than check the oil. The HAMB has been my mentor, and while I know people probably get tired of reading all the dumb questions I post, I have sincerely appreciated every bit of info I've gotten from them. Tugmaster, 48Chev, and ModelACitizen being a**** those at the top of that list Honestly, I'm proud that I've made it this far.....the car has "new" everything from the front to the back, engine, trans, rear end, 4 wheel disc brakes, etc. It all works well...except for the tired old engine I wish I had been smart enough not to get for a first project.


UPDATE: Worked out some more of the bugs with the timing. I had the timing set right, but the idle was too high. Got that down in range, got the timing tweaked. Some of the issue was the air fuel mixture, I believe. I think it was adjusted too much towards Economy out of the box. At least that's what the screws indicated based on the nifty little video DVD included from Edelbrock. I tweaked out the mixture based on their instructions and that helped a little as well. Went back through the questionable rockers while it was running and now there's no discernible chatter at idle. Getting the exhaust on there will divert all that extraneous noise out the back so I can be sure. I can hear another noise...more of a lower pitch thunk or plop from deeper in the engine. I'm not sure about it...again, hopefully the exhaust will clear the air of extra noise so I can be sure. I'm off to San Diego for a week and a half beginning Saturday. I plan on getting the exhaust on the week I get back. I'll record a video then for ya'll to watch and get some more feedback.

-One last thing...should pushrods squirt or dribble oil? I've got some that dribble it into the valley with the rocker nut, others are squirting on me like a **** video....and I feel about as nasty afterwards

 

When you say you will have exhaust soon, are you just running manifolds/headers?

 

willy wonka! I LOVE that movie! hahaha!

 

The best method for adjusting lifters ,Get them close and loosen up till they clack and then tighten till they dont ,Alittle bit at a time ,,,,,and half turn and your done ....Sounds like a lifter problem to me.

 

Yeah, just have manifolds on it atm.