Carbon buildup on top of a piston will raise compression not lower it. Add in that jumping 16 lbs when he squirted oil in that cylinder says that the rings aren't sealing. Any book on engine rebuilding will tell you that 36 lbs difference between high and low is too much (not over 15 max recommended) and that the engine should be rebuilt but we all know that often isn't possible nor practical at the moment. Personally I'd be inclined to drive it and add your favorite snake oil and see what transpires. Put a vacuum gauge on it and run a vacuum test and see what the vacuum gauge tells you. A vacuum gauge is usually pretty honest on a stock Hamb friendly engine as far as how it is working goes. After that if the oil pressure is good just drive it for a while. In truth what you do beyond that depends on what you want of the car and what you can comfortably spend and how much down time you can deal with. To me it is better to have a car that runs and drives that I can have fun with than have one torn apart because the engine is a bit tired and then have it sit torn apart for months while I manage to get it all done and back together. I used to be able to choose between a dozen good machine shops in this area to have the machine work done and now we are down to three or four that are so busy that it might take a week to get a set of heads back let alone have the heads done and the block bored.
The funny thing is that the engine doesn't know what brand of spark plugs are in it...it only knows if they work.
Spark plugs are funny, one brand and type works well in one engine put not as good in another. I have two different engines that run best with cheap copper Champions or NGKs I have no idea why. They don’t last 100 k like the iridium’s in my late model stuff but they run better than the expensive plugs. Dan
Yeah I’ll be honest with you guys . I’m not a mechanic and dont have a bunch of money but I love these cars and they’re my life. I’ve got 2 impalas. My plan is to keep ‘em running with resources that I got. You guys from the forums and YouTube are essential to getting me the knowledge to keeping these time machines alive. I chose these cars because they are easy to work on but I’m new to Chevys. I was an air cooled VW guy that did the basic stuff with an idiots guide book. So yeah the funds are sketchy thats why I’m staying at the beater daily driver class.
These are my girlfriends. The ‘63 is a drama queen. She made me so pissed the other day I almost got rid of her but now were back in love again.
eth727 you might check here for someone to photoshop in correct wheels, as they’re not period correct - pre 65 Nice cars by the way. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...-to-end-all-photoshop-threads.300531/page-949 Dan
I just picked up an OT '66 Belair that is in good shape. That has a very well running 283 with an HEI conversion. I suspect it may have an appetite for oil, but I'm running it as-is for as long as it keeps running so well.
OT means Off Topic, which is anything newer than 65, or anything built other than "traditional". Like the wheels on the 63 you posted
It runs so well I'm going to put a fresh set of wires on it. Put a vacuum gauge on it and tune the carb.
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