After a 60 day delay in the action plan...the $100 pos lives!
And I have to say, with carl not involved...things went real smooth!
Here's the short version of what lyle and I did...
The re-installed bazzakward carb was not an issue...but leaving the vacuum fittings uncapped and not correctly installed was. And the primary needle/seat was adjusted so that it was almost closed continuously, can't run like that! So that all got fixed and all the various ports have been id'd now that the rig is functional for the first time with this carb.
The distributor was stuck in one tooth off, so the timing could not be brought in...fixed that.
Even with the fresh fuel cell, the filter was all mungy and fuel pressure all over the place and not repeatable, the carb hates that kinda scene!! The cell had been plumbed through the oem tank selector valve which is full of tanktrash too, that has been pumped through the second new oem-style fuel pump with a filter after the valve. So the latest fuel pump is now contaminated also. And no doubt the fresh carb has seen some trash also now.
So once the motor was cranked again, we quickly got the carb kinda close so it would idle after a fashion and started diddlin' in the adjustments. But before that...I power timed it and bingo...the bitch sounded guud! Remember...this is a fresh breaker point Holley distributor with a fresh dwell setup and replacement coil, so absolutely no ignition issues are present.
Even though the exhaust system is basically non-existent, this motor sounded strong! Throttle response was excellent with no tweeking of the accel pump system. This cam is real lumpy and it's never gonna idle like a stocker! This is gonna be a great sleeper rig to circle the parking lot down at Mike's burger joint in downtown oregon city! And I'm sure that terry is gonna want a recording of "the sound" to play as background music in his shop.
So then ...we had a very repeatable instant starter and runner after a few hours attention, but we weren't satisfied...
Lyle rigged up an isolation valve for the fuel line so we could determine if the carb needle/seat was creating the wierdazz fuel pressure fluctuations... Or the fuel pump. Guess what, it's the latest new fuel pump.
Lyle then rigged his "test" electric pump which is a boneyard donor outta some kinda mitsubishi toy car. And it's obviously internally-regulated to 3psi output but at least it's stable for testing purposes. That solved the fuel delivery issue. At 3psi, the carb would allow the motor to cruise at say 45>50mph, but when pressed could not deliver sufficient pressure/volume.
So then we re-connected the fuell cell...and oem pump...still an erratic fuel delivery but once the oem selector valve is swapped for a fresh one I built for carl about two years ago, then I "think" the mechanical fuel pump will purge itself of trash and all of a sudden start operating normally. We'll have to see about that. Also, the installed pump allows "leakdown" so the fuel pressure can't be retained overnight, that means some engine rotation must occur to get fuel into the bowl when the rig sits for more than say 24 hours.
Finally after nearly two years, a second test drive was in order! And this bitch hawls azz!!! Pulls hard! I want that cam!!!! Tip-in is outstanding, idle quality with the lumpyazz cam is consistent, the electric choke makes the motor thinks it's fuel injected with no dam pooter involved, etc.
Cold start after an overnight coldsoak at 27*f was instant!
So now...it's up to carl to detail all the workarounds into a dd situation after an exhaust system is built. And the rear brakes won't hold, master cylinder is dry but wheel cylinders don't show any leakdown right now. A fresh master cylinder is on the shelf though.
Radiator has developed some leakage, lyle knows where/what to look for there.
Now the down side...remember that the heads were "built" by xxx at some point (not clackamas auto parts!!!). And there has been much issue regarding oil delivery to the rocker assemblies, all that was been rectified some time back.
As soon as we got the motor runnin', much valve train noise was present on the passenger bank. And I'm not talkin' lifter rattle...I'm talkin' noise as in too much clearance somewhere. At the same time, two lifters on the driver side were making that classic "rod knock" kinda sound..but it comes and goes randomly.
These lifters were recently replaced again after it was discovered the isky lifters were crap, new clevites are in the holes now, those are the correct lifters, mfg'd for clevite "brand" by johnson.
I've outlined to lyle what to do next in diagnosing that, but I think he should hold off and just accumulate some hours on this motor and see what happens. If the noise remains random, then we can deal with it. If it becomes constant and severe, then shut it down and we deal with that in yet another diagnostic fashion.
I'm "suspecting" that if the valve work was actually performed by "xxx", then no attention to installed valve height was given. Thus the pronounced valve train noise. We can "fix" that with some more careful attention to push rod length but it would be a real shame to have to do so. For now...the noise simply needs to be monitored and the motor shut down quickly if increase in noise is noted or becomes more excessive than it currently is. When the exhaust system is finally in place, this noise will be very noticeable.
In the mean time, I'll re-freshen the original carb I built for this motor, which I'm sure is now full of trash. Then we'll stick that one on and compare idle quality/performance and decide which one becomes a permanent resident.
So terry...that sow's ear reverse idle 4150 May in fact be a real nice player once it's installed onna motor that ain't broke!!! And...you will wanna sleep with this motor idlin' in yore ears!!! Not quite as lumpy as a keith black hemi...but dam radical for a an IH combine motor!
Ball's back in yore court carl..finish tha bitch!
