Need help with my first 350 sbc

[AussieinNC]

Originally Posted by Isaiah92260

Also see how far the stud is sticking out? It was like this when the rocker arm was loose.
That can’t be from a worn cam shaft right?
And if so is it possible for just one cam love to be worn like that? Because all the other valves looked, and sounded fine even when operating

That stud looks to be pulling out of the head....check the top of the stud height against the ones next to it...

common issue....pull the head and replace studs with screw in ones...any good engine can do the work for you...

Pull the lifter out for that cylinder...it may have chewed up the cam lobe and lifter face....

[Isaiah92260]

Originally Posted by Greasey Harley

That absolutely could be from a flat cam lobe.
could be a collapsed lifter or a bent push rod too.
I would check the push rod first (fingers crossed)
if the push rod is straight, check the lifter, if the lifter checks out, good news:
You get to upgrade your camshaft

I hope it’s not the cam, I don’t want to drain the radiator I don’t have no where to store all the coolant -,-

[Isaiah92260]

If it happens to be the cam.
Could that be the only part I could replace with the lifters and push rods?

I know it’s probably I good idea to rebuilt the engine but I unfortunately that’s a little out of my budget

[AcampoDave]

If it happens to be the cam it's likely bad news.
As the lobe and lifter in question ground down, they would have distributed metal particulates throughout the oiling system ultimately finding their way into the rod and crank journals. Installing a new cam kit may nurse it along for a while, but as you can imagine there will be collateral damage.

[vince1]

It seems obvious that the stud has pulled. Can't it be repaired without pulling the head? There are some Youtube links showing how to do it.

[toolboxchev]

To check if your cam is flat try this. The push rods should all rotate with the lifters. All old schoolers know this. Get a paint pen, clean a 1/2 inch on the push rods and mark a straight line on the push rod.

Fire the engine and observe. Each one should rotate to some degree. I have some in my engine that almost spin. Others that move around the circle about 1/8th of the circle every time the valve operates.

If they are all moving it is safe to say your cam is not completely flattened on any lobes. Its a great diagnostic for evaluating the health of an engine. If you got 20 inches of vac at one point that is also an indicator of health.

[toolboxchev]

Originally Posted by AcampoDave

If it happens to be the cam it's likely bad news.
As the lobe and lifter in question ground down, they would have distributed metal particulates throughout the oiling system ultimately finding their way into the rod and crank journals. Installing a new cam kit may nurse it along for a while, but as you can imagine there will be collateral damage.

If your cam goes flat you mileage will drop to about 6 mpg.

[Greasey Harley]

Originally Posted by AussieinNC

That stud looks to be pulling out of the head....check the top of the stud height against the ones next to it...

common issue....pull the head and replace studs with screw in ones...any good engine can do the work for you...

Pull the lifter out for that cylinder...it may have chewed up the cam lobe and lifter face....

Originally Posted by vince1

It seems obvious that the stud has pulled. Can't it be repaired without pulling the head? There are some Youtube links showing how to do it.

Didn't think of that, never seen a stud pull out before, but it sure seems like a possibility. Defiantly worth checking out BEFORE ripping the motor apart.

[Isaiah92260]

Originally Posted by AcampoDave

If it happens to be the cam it's likely bad news.
As the lobe and lifter in question ground down, they would have distributed metal particulates throughout the oiling system ultimately finding their way into the rod and crank journals. Installing a new cam kit may nurse it along for a while, but as you can imagine there will be collateral damage.

Yes I think I’m going to just rebuild the whole thing.

Do you know where I could find a full rebuild kit at?

I saw in summit they had so many, it was overwhelming and they were expensive...

[Isaiah92260]

Originally Posted by vince1

It seems obvious that the stud has pulled. Can't it be repaired without pulling the head? There are some Youtube links showing how to do it.

Yes it can be, I’ve seen that you can get a stud kit and thread the holes for them.

[toolboxchev]

Try this place, entire kits are very inexpensive compared to most places.

http://www.northernautoparts.com/

[AcampoDave]

Before rebuiling the entire engine, why not determine if it was simply a loose stud? You should be able to get some idea of that by pulling the spark plugs and rotating the engine. Keep an eye on the movement of the lifter in question and see how its rise on the cam compares with the others. Perhaps you can see it at the pushrod or maybe you'll have to pull the intake manifold. I suppose there is a more scientific way to measure it with some kind of micrometer or whatever, but the visual test should give you some idea. The reduced lift of a wiped out lobe may very well be noticeable with eye. We dont yet know what caused the failure and the cam may be just fine. With a little luck and a bit of time, this may still be a cheap fix. As for the coolant, i have drained mine into a cut off plastic "Homer" bucket, set it in the back of the truck with a cover, and then just dumped it right back into the radiator on more than one occasion.

[AussieinNC]

Back in my teens....yes I can remember back that far...

We used to drill the cast post, thru the stud and drive in a pin to lock the stud into the cast post support.

There are kits available to convert to screw in studs, but the majority of them need the top of the cast post machined flat to accept the stud base...

[burnin oil]

You could always run a compression check and that should give you a good idea of the motors health. A flat cam is pretty easy to see. Flat lobe on exhaust will labor hard and backfire since the intake charge can't get out of the cylinder and a flat intake will be an obvious miss. Either condition. Should make a vacuum gauge eratic. Set the idle really low so it barely runs. Pull that valve cover and watch the rockers move as it idles. Usually the motor won't sling oil everywhere at 4-500 rpm. I have replaced several flat cams over the years and only got bit once. That one lost oil pressure so I rolled in a new set of main bearings and it lost pressure again the next day.

[Isaiah92260]

Originally Posted by AcampoDave

Before rebuiling the entire engine, why not determine if it was simply a loose stud? You should be able to get some idea of that by pulling the spark plugs and rotating the engine. Keep an eye on the movement of the lifter in question and see how its rise on the cam compares with the others. Perhaps you can see it at the pushrod or maybe you'll have to pull the intake manifold. I suppose there is a more scientific way to measure it with some kind of micrometer or whatever, but the visual test should give you some idea. The reduced lift of a wiped out lobe may very well be noticeable with eye. We dont yet know what caused the failure and the cam may be just fine. With a little luck and a bit of time, this may still be a cheap fix. As for the coolant, i have drained mine into a cut off plastic "Homer" bucket, set it in the back of the truck with a cover, and then just dumped it right back into the radiator on more than one occasion.

I am going to pull off the manifold possible tomorrow and rocker and check out the condition of the litter. I hoping it is just the lifter, but I feel like the way the engine looked when I got it, I proabnly had a lot of miles on it, that is why I so also considering rebuilding it anyways.

Okay I absolutely going to do that procedure tomorrow and watch the movement in the rockers

[Isaiah92260]

Originally Posted by AussieinNC

Back in my teens....yes I can remember back that far...

We used to drill the cast post, thru the stud and drive in a pin to lock the stud into the cast post support.

There are kits available to convert to screw in studs, but the majority of them need the top of the cast post machined flat to accept the stud base...

What do you mean cast post?

[Isaiah92260]

Originally Posted by burnin oil

You could always run a compression check and that should give you a good idea of the motors health. A flat cam is pretty easy to see. Flat lobe on exhaust will labor hard and backfire since the intake charge can't get out of the cylinder and a flat intake will be an obvious miss. Either condition. Should make a vacuum gauge eratic. Set the idle really low so it barely runs. Pull that valve cover and watch the rockers move as it idles. Usually the motor won't sling oil everywhere at 4-500 rpm. I have replaced several flat cams over the years and only got bit once. That one lost oil pressure so I rolled in a new set of main bearings and it lost pressure again the next day.

Oh okay I will do this tomorrow before I pull off the manifold! If I can avoid removing the engine and rebuilding it and get a lot more miles out of it I will.

It just sounds like there is a bit of a back fire when I listening to it idle.

At 1000 rpms the engine goes from 15” vacuum to about 21”...

[Isaiah92260]

Hey fellas I also don’t remember if I mention. The other issue I am having is that the timing mark is off about 2” away from the timing pointer. Why is that? I got the balancer from autozone and my motor has a long water pump, and I was told it came out of a late 70’s el Camino or nova, so I got a balancer for a 78 el camino

The old balancer I was able to time right at 12 degrees until one day it started going off 2” as well but the new one is doing the same thing

[burnin oil]

Did your problem start about the same time as the balancer issue? The timing chain may have skipped a tooth. Double check your spark plugs and make sure the firing order is correct. 21" of vacuum at 1000rpm sounds like she is pretty healthy though.

[Isaiah92260]

Originally Posted by burnin oil

Did your problem start about the same time as the balancer issue? The timing chain may have skipped a tooth. Double check your spark plugs and make sure the firing order is correct. 21" of vacuum at 1000rpm sounds like she is pretty healthy though.

Yes that’s when my problem started.

I had first set the valves when it was not running when I first got the engine.
The carb rebuilder restores the carb and set it on a 350 they have at the shop so
I havnt not messed with the carb.

Once I got the engine started the first tome, I set the timing to
12 degrees.
I sounded like it was running great.
And all my plugs are in sequence, not crossed wires, everything there I checked and double checked.

Then one do I started her up, let it warm up, and noticed it was not running the same, the engine was shaking really bad, sounded like it was mis firing and when I checked the timing that’s when I noticed that the balancer timing mark was off 2 inches.

Now that’s where I am at, I first tried changing the balancer and have the same issue with the new balancer.

Then started checking everything and that’s when I found the loose rocker and the then found out that I had to
Tighten the rocker down so much to get it to open the valve.

Right now it is still running poorly once it warms up and in idle.

When I start it up cold it sounds like it’s running smooth.

Right now I have it timed at where I could get the highest vacuum at 16” and that is where I could get the engine to run the smoothest.


Skipped tooth on the timing chain?? That sounds like that could be possible, maybe that’s why I can’t get the distributor to get the timing mark anywhere close to the pointer.

When I do turn it so far advanced to reach the pointer, the engine shakes so bad like if it’s going to die so I don’t even try anymore. That’s happened only once. Right now I have the carb off.
I was thinking of pulling off the manifold and heads and see what’s going on there

[geezer#99]

Which direction are you turning the distributor to advance it?

Is it clockwise or counterclockwise?

[Isaiah92260]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

Which direction are you turning the distributor to advance it?

Is it clockwise or counterclockwise?

Turning it counter clockwise to advance it

[Isaiah92260]

So I pulled the manifold and the lifter and pushrods are fine.

Look how much this #3 cylinder intake stud has pulled out.

I’m sure this is part of my problems. But I still can’t seem to understand why my timing is far off

[Isaiah92260]

Studs

[Isaiah92260]

And this is the bottom of the lifter. That looks damn near new if not minimum wear, maybe the cam is still good? Should I check all of the other lifters?