PLEASE help -- '68 not running right
04-27-2016, 11:34 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Washington
Posts: 14
PLEASE help -- '68 not running right
Alright, so here's my sad story:
I had a lifter go bad in my '68. Waited too long to change the oil, didn't adjust the valves right....I don't know. Doesn't matter.
The lifter ground down the lobe on my camshaft.
I just put a new cam in, it's a 270. Supposedly the same thing I had in before, but from the specs it looked like a little more than that. It also has the windsor firing order.
After putting everything back together, and running into a million issues on the way, the car just won't run right. It runs fine at idle, but when I put it into gear and step on the gas it bogs down or something and I lose power, but it doesn't happen every time. It's often okay the first time I step on it, until it gets up in the rpms. Last test I almost got my foot all the way into the gas before it gave up on me. After bogging down once it tends to stay that way if you touch the gas at all. Really rather hard to explain, so please, ask me questions about it.
Here's what I have replaced in this episode:
Camshaft
lifters
Lots of gaskets (oil pan, intake manifold, ect.)
Cap and rotor
Spark plug wires
spark plugs
oil and antifreeze
electronic ignition on distributor
carb jets
oil pressure sender adapter
and probably some other things I'm not thinking about.
I'm at my wit's end with this. I've been trying to get it working for probably a week and a half.
The car seems to be running hot as well. Spark plugs have some carbon fouling but look like they are cleaning themselves up. I pulled the carb all apart and cleaned it out. Seemed to help some, but no cigar.
I've adjusted and readjusted the rockers and timing. It's really frustrating because it ran fine before the rebuild. Not sure what to do.
I had a lifter go bad in my '68. Waited too long to change the oil, didn't adjust the valves right....I don't know. Doesn't matter.
The lifter ground down the lobe on my camshaft.
I just put a new cam in, it's a 270. Supposedly the same thing I had in before, but from the specs it looked like a little more than that. It also has the windsor firing order.
After putting everything back together, and running into a million issues on the way, the car just won't run right. It runs fine at idle, but when I put it into gear and step on the gas it bogs down or something and I lose power, but it doesn't happen every time. It's often okay the first time I step on it, until it gets up in the rpms. Last test I almost got my foot all the way into the gas before it gave up on me. After bogging down once it tends to stay that way if you touch the gas at all. Really rather hard to explain, so please, ask me questions about it.
Here's what I have replaced in this episode:
Camshaft
lifters
Lots of gaskets (oil pan, intake manifold, ect.)
Cap and rotor
Spark plug wires
spark plugs
oil and antifreeze
electronic ignition on distributor
carb jets
oil pressure sender adapter
and probably some other things I'm not thinking about.
I'm at my wit's end with this. I've been trying to get it working for probably a week and a half.
The car seems to be running hot as well. Spark plugs have some carbon fouling but look like they are cleaning themselves up. I pulled the carb all apart and cleaned it out. Seemed to help some, but no cigar.
I've adjusted and readjusted the rockers and timing. It's really frustrating because it ran fine before the rebuild. Not sure what to do.
04-28-2016, 06:43 AM
#3
Foghorn Leghorn
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: I reside in a near constant state of amazment.
Posts: 2,923
What kind of shape is your block in? You haven't wiped out your new cam have you? If you pull the valve covers, do all of the rocker arms all still go up and down like they should? A lesson I learned one time after I wiped out a cam was that my cam bore wasn't true. I didn't know that and just stuffed another cam in there only to have it wipe itself out in record time.
04-28-2016, 02:02 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Washington
Posts: 14
What kind of shape is your block in? You haven't wiped out your new cam have you? If you pull the valve covers, do all of the rocker arms all still go up and down like they should? A lesson I learned one time after I wiped out a cam was that my cam bore wasn't true. I didn't know that and just stuffed another cam in there only to have it wipe itself out in record time.
Even though I wiped a lobe on the previous cam, while it was still in the car it ran fairly smoothly with the exception of the obvious annoying ticking noise.
04-28-2016, 02:05 PM
#5
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Washington
Posts: 14
I pulled the pan and obviously the front off to put the new cam in. The only place any metal could still be is on the crankshaft itself, and that's not the issue, because it still ran decent even with the original ground up cam lobe.
04-28-2016, 09:15 PM
#6
Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Hills of California
Posts: 5,208
It runs okay sometimes!...well thats good.
1) If you warm it up and drive around nice smooth is it fine?
2) after its been sitting for say a minute warm at idle and you accelerate hard does it run great for a few seconds then fall on its face? Or is it crap off the line?
3) what carb do you have and what jets did you pull out? What jets did you replace them with?
1) If you warm it up and drive around nice smooth is it fine?
2) after its been sitting for say a minute warm at idle and you accelerate hard does it run great for a few seconds then fall on its face? Or is it crap off the line?
3) what carb do you have and what jets did you pull out? What jets did you replace them with?
04-29-2016, 07:18 PM
#7
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Washington
Posts: 14
It runs okay sometimes!...well thats good.
1) If you warm it up and drive around nice smooth is it fine?
2) after its been sitting for say a minute warm at idle and you accelerate hard does it run great for a few seconds then fall on its face? Or is it crap off the line?
3) what carb do you have and what jets did you pull out? What jets did you replace them with?
1) If you warm it up and drive around nice smooth is it fine?
2) after its been sitting for say a minute warm at idle and you accelerate hard does it run great for a few seconds then fall on its face? Or is it crap off the line?
3) what carb do you have and what jets did you pull out? What jets did you replace them with?
2) Sitting for a bit, gets going fine, once I step on it it's strong and then when it kicks down into first gear or whatever and I get full rpms it chokes/putts/bogs out
3) Edelbrock 1406. I believe the original jets I had in it were 398s... (0.098"/0,249cm). I tried really large ones first, 40somethings, and that didn't work; I felt it was running too rich before the rebuild so now I'm at something like 398s on the ones with the needles (mains?) and something smaller on the pilots/the back ones. (389s? I can't remember.)
I feel like this has to be a fuel issue somehow.
04-29-2016, 07:20 PM
#8
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Washington
Posts: 14
Also, getting some sort of ticking noise from the engine...already readjusted the lifters more than a few times. Not sure where it's from? Sounds kind of like the carb/intake manifold, but impossible to be sure..
04-29-2016, 09:01 PM
#9
Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Hills of California
Posts: 5,208
I think you have a lack of fuel volume...Everything you said points to that.
Is a fuel line kinked? Maybe the pump is bad, Fuel filter?
the floats have fuel in that can support engine run for a few seconds but there is insufficient incoming fuel to keep them full and they run dry and the engine falls on its face. Thats why its crap after it falls on its face because there is no more fuel available to relight all cylinders at proper AFR.
Try taking the fuel line off the carb and place it in a glass jar crank the engine over a few times how much fuel comes out? fuel should almost want to splash out and fill the jar within a few seconds of cranking.
-Gun
Is a fuel line kinked? Maybe the pump is bad, Fuel filter?
the floats have fuel in that can support engine run for a few seconds but there is insufficient incoming fuel to keep them full and they run dry and the engine falls on its face. Thats why its crap after it falls on its face because there is no more fuel available to relight all cylinders at proper AFR.
Try taking the fuel line off the carb and place it in a glass jar crank the engine over a few times how much fuel comes out? fuel should almost want to splash out and fill the jar within a few seconds of cranking.
-Gun
04-30-2016, 05:16 PM
#10
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Washington
Posts: 14
I think you have a lack of fuel volume...Everything you said points to that.
Is a fuel line kinked? Maybe the pump is bad, Fuel filter?
the floats have fuel in that can support engine run for a few seconds but there is insufficient incoming fuel to keep them full and they run dry and the engine falls on its face. Thats why its crap after it falls on its face because there is no more fuel available to relight all cylinders at proper AFR.
Try taking the fuel line off the carb and place it in a glass jar crank the engine over a few times how much fuel comes out? fuel should almost want to splash out and fill the jar within a few seconds of cranking.
-Gun
Is a fuel line kinked? Maybe the pump is bad, Fuel filter?
the floats have fuel in that can support engine run for a few seconds but there is insufficient incoming fuel to keep them full and they run dry and the engine falls on its face. Thats why its crap after it falls on its face because there is no more fuel available to relight all cylinders at proper AFR.
Try taking the fuel line off the carb and place it in a glass jar crank the engine over a few times how much fuel comes out? fuel should almost want to splash out and fill the jar within a few seconds of cranking.
-Gun