I agree with Retro Jim on replacing all the pushrods! If one went bad, then I'd be concerned about all of them! My engine is apart right now for a similar thing. A completely rebuilt SBC 327, but the pushrods weren't changed and one broke. When I pulled it apart I found that all the pushrods had signs of light pitting like the pushrods sat outside a long time and rusted. A whole set of hardened pushrods from Summit was $24.95, and I decided it wasn't worth chancing another failure for that price. SUM-G6400 for stock length.
found this on U tube...(Sin Wag'n small block Chevy valve adjustment) New pushrods, and some adjusting, hope this helps in some little way.
a long time ago, I had the same problem. turned out to be the rotor !!! it would idle great, but as you revved it up, centrifigal force would spin the broken tip around and misfire like hell...the lips that hold the tip, one was broken.? have no idle how, but took a real long time to find.. hope this might help
Good to see you solved the problem 48flthd1. One thing to remember when you post any question relating to an engine problem is all of the self style experts who hung out at the local gas station for 15 minutes or more will come on with their expertise or lack there of. The suggestion for digging out the vacuum gauge and hooking it up was a good one as usually that will show a good indication of what is going on with the way the engine runs. Everyone who works on his own cars should have one in his tool collection.
True. I think a lot of folks that respond forgot what Guideline #1 is in Ryan's "Read This First" sticky in the new member sub-forum. You can find that guideline in post #27 above.
My vacuum gauge dates back to 1974 or so and cost me all of $4 at the time, AND it came with this diagnostic chart that I still use. I can't say how valuable this has been in the past for ferreting out bat-**** problems. Bob
Meanwhile, you posted nothing to try to help the guy before he found the problem, except drama after the fact. At least I tried to help the guy. Good work.
Drama Sells News Papers and TV....I just deal with it...LOL...Thanks for Covering my Back Though....Scot
Scot...if you would have just stuck with a flathead you wouldn't be having pushrod issues...hahaha....
What? If the oil pump gets turned you can put a Chevy distributor in at any of the 360 degrees. 90 degrees is very possible, and I've seen it happen. Everything I own has a vacuum gauge plumbed in permanently. I use a vacuum gauge all the time for tuning my cars, whether it's timing or carb adjustments.
If you haven't dropped a distributor in 180* off kilter and tried to start the car, then you have no idea. Success teaches us nothin'. They'll run being a tooth off, I've never had one in any worse than that. I did work in some places with cars that jumped time and had some creative distributor car wiring done to them, they ran but just barely. I'd see them with the vacuum advance jammed against the firewall. Bob
I wasn't sure what his issue might be, so I followed guideline #1 ("If in doubt, dont post it") and didn't offer any suggestions that might have wasted the OP's time. I was, however, absolutely certain that his distributor was not 180 degrees off.
Ok..Got the push rod problem solved...Now why would my timing mark be way advanced...Even when The motor is running great and it has a good response on excelleration?? Thanks....Scot
and as far as a distributor being 180 out... Just swap the plug wires 180 and it will run. I have done it before.
Back to Basics here First you need to verify that the TDC mark is infact correct. then you need to determin exactly where the timing is actually set at. Both initial and total. There are different balancers and timing tabs used over the years, if mixed up wont show the correct timing when using a light.I would start there and report back with the findings.
Do you know for sure that the damper mark is actually at TDC for #1? There's several different dampers for SBCs with the marks in various places.
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