I’m amazed at how....

well my little 235 ran on 4½ cylinders, but even more amazed how well she runs on all 6. I had been replacing parts on the 235 because she didn’t run at all when I got her, worked on her a little and she ran, but not as well as I thought she could. I installed a complete new fuel system, fuel cell to fuel pump to carburetor; the original one had rust in the tank that I couldn’t get completely out. She started running real good, but not perfect, found another problem so I installed a new distributor and coil. I went with the HEI because I’ve had good luck with them in the past. A few weeks go by and I decided I was going to do an intake and exhaust system. I had already had an adapter for the stock intake and I modified the exhaust after the stock manifold. I was thinking that was what was making the car have the dreaded stumble off idle; it still had the exhaust heat so I “knew” it had to be the adapter. So I installed a Clifford intake and some tube headers, built a 2 into 1 merge and retuned the engine. Man was she running good, but still had the stumble. I know I need to put heat on the intake and I tried to complete that this weekend, but the parts I made didn’t work out right. I tuned and tuned and still had the stumble. Man I was so disappointed that she didn’t run as I thought she could. I decided I’m going to remark the balancer and retime the engine. This is where I find the problem.
I removed all the plugs to turn the engine over by hand to find top dead center. Make a new pointer and mark the balancer in the same spot, so that’s correct. I start installing all the plugs, I noticed when I pulled # 2 it hadn’t been firing; which I thought was strange. # 4 had a funny color, but it was firing; I think. I connected the wires 1-5-3-6-2-4, but 2 and 4 aren’t going back like I had them. I’m thinking I know the firing order and I go through it again when I realized that I’m only slightly dyslexic. I had been running the engine with 2 an 4 swapped since I installed the new distributor. I felt so stupid, but relieved that I found the problem. NOW she’s running on all 6 and the stumble is almost completely gone.
So the moral of this long story is, it’s always the simple things that bite you in the butt. I doubted my mechanical abilities and the little stove bolt. I was so excited that I fixed the problem(s) I went on an extended cruise in the 54’ yesterday. Man dose she run, yes she does…… Thanks for reading and hopefully someone will learn something from this post.

 

Hey, glad you got it sorted out and enjoyed a nice cruise yesterday. I think we've all been there, no matter the car. Its usually something simple that leads you to replace a bunch of stuff...and then you go back through it and realize its small. Don't sweat it, you now have a nice reliable old Chevy and can enjoy it for miles to come. I chased a no-start issue with my 216 for longer than I should have until I realized I had the distributor in 180 degrees off. Just gotta keep at it, take a break now & then (beer), and trace your steps.

Enjoy the sound of the Stovebolt!

 

Of course it I do something like that I blame the beer and my girlfriend- she got me
started on Polish beer! Jim