well, i got my truck on the road and getting ready for dixie fried. ive got a few kinks im trying to iron out and maybe some of you guys can help. 350 mostly stock, small cam, 3 rochesters but have block off plates under end carbs for tuning. 1. running rich. gassey smelling and soot inside headers. its hard to find info on where to start out with the idle mixture screws. 3 turns out right now, fuel pressure 3.5 psi, good float height and needle and seat are good. 2. poppy idle and decel. i suspect timing but may have to do with rich condition. i set timing at 8 degrees with vac. advance unhooked. 3. the worst. oily spark plugs. put in a new set and drove 20 miles. already oily. i guess that means valve seals or rings/bore.*****. i have some blow by coming from the breather but it dosn't seem excessive. this motor sat for about a year with oil in it, i dont see the rings freezing up that early but i try to be optomistic. i have a breather and a pcv but its a smaller one. maybe i can take out the pcv abn stick my vacune hose in the grommet for the pcv to see if things change? if i take some plugs with me do you think i can drive her without too many problems minus fouled plugs.
Hook up the carbs? What is your manifold design? Are all cylinders getting properly, equally-fed fuel with the two of the three carbs blocked off?
im not sure how to check if all cylinders are getting equal fuel, infared thermometer? the main reason the outside two are blocked is the throttle shafts are***** and the*****erflys arent sealing right. i plan on just getting new****embled bases, but i felt like getting the truck running and driving good are more important.
Popping may indicate mis-adjusted overly tight rockers or a burnt valve. Run a compression check and see what's up.
well i think i got it handled for the most part. all three problems mostly gone with one fix. when i got my 3x2 intake i drilled a hole for a grommet type pcv valve. apparently my baffle wasnt thick enough so it was*****ing oil into the intake. this in turn made my plugs either fouled or totally ground out. thermometer on right bank indicated 3 out of 4 holes were dead. no more rich and oily plugs. now im just having a hard time getting it to idle. idle has to be so hard that it lurches when i put it in gear, any suggestions. timing and everything is still the same as above.
Are you timing the engine from a known true Top Dead Center? Popping doesn't seem to happen from a mis-timed engine that is close enough to run smoothly at higher than idle rpm's. Be aware that a light car with big engine pulls hard even when out of tune a little ways so that can mask some problems. Sticking a vacuum hose into the PCV grommet is just going to create a massive vacuum leak. Put a vacuum gauge on the engine and see what you get. Do this after you check compression and rule out tight and/or burned valves. You need some kind of baffle under the PCV valve or it'll***** air full of oil droplets into the system. Do a search for PCV and read up on it. There are several good posts on the subject.
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