Sorry the Camaro is still giving you headaches! Wish I wasn't 2200 miles away, so I could be of more help!
Just got in from the drags! Sunburned, tired, and so excited! Cut a full second off last year's time with the Falcon! I also cut my reaction times from absolutely horrible last year, to the best I've ever had this year! Not sure why, but I started cutting lights, and got down as far as .052 sec. RT, and never got beat off the line all weekend! I also got the front wheels up on the Falcon today, when the track warmed up! Just enough to see daylight, but that still counts for me!

 

Very impressive Vall! Congrats on the reaction times and the front wheels sir! Glad you had a good weekend and got everything dialed in on the Falcon.




Always appreciate your willingness to help me get things figured out on this Camaro, so, thank you for that sir. Right now I'm so uncertain about literally everything on this thing, I don't really know what to do/try next. As of right now, fuel pressure regulator will NOT stop leaking and I've got the fitting as tight as it'll go. Gas seems to just be eating through this PTFE sealant on the threads. Yesterday I pulled the plugs and distributor again and was going to triple check valve lash. For some reason the engine was more difficult to turn over than it ever has been before. Every little bit of "turn" I'd watch the fuel pressure gauge go from 0 to 3-4 psi? Almost like I had to wait for pressure to bleed off before it would turn over any more? Makes no sense, I know. Story of this build for me. Old carb on there now, was still doing the exact same thing. Foot to the floor, fired, died, spit out the carb. Distributor turned every which way but sideways, same thing. Don't know if disconnecting the ignition box would help, but I'm going to try that too as soon as fuel leaks are stopped. Did order a new Holley regulator as it's not that expensive to see if that helps anything. Trying to measure resistance on all the spark plug wires to see if I somehow did something to any of them pulling them on and off but my multi meter has decided to do weird things like not register anything for about 5 seconds and then start slowly counting down from a high number to a negative number. New battery in it and still doing the same thing. See? Can't even get my multi meter to run!!! LOL I know it's getting spark, but just wondering if all 8 are. It's obvious it's flooding, but why? I have watched the carb to see if it's leaking after I stop turning it over and I don't see anything leaking. 2 carbs, same thing. So in summary, here I am. Flooded engine/crankcase again, hard to turn over by hand, plugs and distributor out and a fuel regulator that dumps gas out when I turn it over but a new one en-route. Sincerest apologies for sounding negative, hard to be upbeat at this point.

 

Once you get the leaks fixed, a good regulator installed, and a gauge reading accurately; then crank it and watch the pressure. It should come up, and stay up after you stop cranking. If the pressure doesn't stay for at least several minutes, or more, then you've either got leaky needle seats in the carb, or a leak somewhere after the gauge. Once you've gotten the pressure to stay up, I bet some of your issues with flooding, and gas in the crankcase will end.
I can start my cars, shut them off, go grab a sandwich, and when I come back the fuel pressure hasn't dropped more than maybe 1/2 lb.

 

To be completely honest, I doubt there's anything wrong with this regulator. Pressure on the gauge does stay up for quite a while (many minutes) after cranking the engine over. The gauge is mounted on the carb feed line and not on the regulator, no other leaks except at the outlet fitting on the regulator. What's so strange/ironic about this leaking is it had never leaked a drop of fuel until I adjusted the pressure down by 1/2lb that day last week. The timing of that is so very peculiar. It doesn't just drip when I turn the engine over, it comes out like the fitting is only in by maybe a turn or so. Once I put this other carb on last week also, the pressure on the gauge was reading 5 1/2psi. I suppose it is possible, but to have 2 carb with leaking needle/seats is a stretch. I have been of the belief for the last 2 weeks that it was a fuel/pressure issue but after installing this other carb to have it do exactly the same things really makes me think that the problem lies somewhere else. I'm going to grab an extra plug and make a piston stop to confirm true TDC. I'm positive I've got the balancer marked good but doing that anyway. Hate to mess with valve lash since the engine ran like it did but I'm going to do a checklist to completely confirm each possibility now. I hate having all this doubt about things that I'm completely confident were done properly the first time. All I did was pull the distributor to move the canister back after the video of the engine running. That's when this all began. Hoping the regulator will be here Wednesday, starting the checklist tomorrow.


Vall, I realize there are several different methods that one can use to set valve lash but I'm curious what your approach is? This time I'm going to start from TDC compression stroke for #1 (after using the piston stop to verify TDC) and will set intake lash on #1,2,5,7 and Exh on 1,3,4,8. Then I'll turn one full revolution so I'm TDC #6 exhaust stroke. Then I'll set lash on intake for #3,4,6,8 and Exh lash for #2,5,6,7. I preferred the way I did it the first time so I only had to turn the engine over 1 full revolution to set them all but I keep reading/hearing about doing it this way also. Just curious your thoughts on how you do it.

 

I set lash by the time consuming method of starting at #1 and turning the engine over until exhaust valve just begins to move, then adjusting intake valve. Then turn it over until intake begins to move, and set exhaust. I continue through the firing order (1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2) until I have all of them set. I've found it just is the most accurate method for me. I've tried the method where you bring the mark up to TDC, and adjust everything that's closed, and then proceed. It's faster, but I don't believe it's as accurate for me, as it's assuming everything is correct for TDC.
I also double check my settings after the engine is running well enough to stay running. I have a set of valve covers I use to catch the oil, and adjust them while it's running. So once it is, I back each off until it clicks, and then tighten until it stops. Then set 1/4 turn more after I shut the engine off.
If you could get your engine to run again, I'd certainly check it with valve covers off to make sure it's oiling well on the top end! When I got the new 355 running in the Austin, it just didn't sound quite right, and with the valve covers off I noticed it wasn't oiling well, which indicates a tight lash. I backed them off until they clicked, and all began to oil well, and the engine ran much better!

 

This way is fine to get the engine running, as long as you follow up with the engine running method. The 2 step procedure doesn't get all the lifters at the heel of the cam lobes, and you may end up with some loose ones. Setting each valve separately is how I prefer to do it as well, that's the "set & run" way. But if you plan on finally setting the valves with the engine running, the valve by valve way is just a waste of extra time.

 

Glad I asked then. It seems like the first way I did it was better that the way I was asking about. Not going all the way to TDC after the intake closes but rather stopping as soon as it closes puts both int/exh on #1 on the base circle of the cam. The way you guys do it would be fine also, but I'll refer back to my engine being a PITA to turn over for some reason right now? Maybe the fuel leaking past everything washed the oil off the cylinder walls, I don't know? Sure it'll be easier to turn over if I loosen all the pushrods up and start from scratch. Again, something tells me this is a time waster since the engine was running already with zero noise from the rockers, but I'm going to triple check anyway. Top end appears to be oiling well, I learned the valve cover hold downs weren't tight enough as I watched oil pour down the side of the block, headers, ground etc. I'll be checking everything after I get it running again for sure though. Have a couple old pairs of valve covers I could cut the tops off of to help with oil after it's running but not sure if they'll fit. They're not tall ones so I'm not sure at this point. Good problem to have though if it was running. Just finished making my piston stop so I'll to whittling away at the checklist soon here. Thank you gentlemen.

 

Going through the checklist very slowly, seeing as it took me almost 90 minutes to get the engine turned over forward and back to find true TDC. Had to remove all the lock nuts on the rockers before it would turn over easy enough as to not loosen the crank bolt going backward. What a ridiculous PITA! Here's a pic of my marks with the piston stop. One thing off the checklist that I knew was correct but spent a ton of time triple checking to confirm what I already knew. Black marks are with the stop, white mark was the one I made when I put the balancer on and lined it up with the timing tab. Valve lash is next, again. I'm doing it the way I did it the first time, again. Having a friend stop over tomorrow evening so I can check spark on all 8 plugs/wires. New regulator and oil quarts 10-15 should be here tomorrow as well. Sure would be nice to have this thing running tomorrow evening, fingers crossed. Trying my darndest to stay optimistic about this.

 

Don't cut the tops off the valve covers! I just cut the top on the ends, and the side facing the intake. Then with the valve cover bolted to the head, I grab the cut edge and bend it straight up. This forms a splash pan to keep oil from hitting the headers. You'll need a gasket also, and I have mine stuck to the valve cover with RTV to hold it on permanently.
You might consider backing all the valve adjustment off 1/2 turn, and then if it fires you can do the running adjustment after it's running. I'm a little concerned that the engine turns over hard until the valves are loosened. And I never use the crank bolt to turn an engine over, as I've seen them stripped or snapped off occasionally. I use a flywheel tool that hooks to the teeth and turns the engine. Cheap at Summit, around $20.

 

Good call on the valve covers, won't matter if they're tall or short that way. I too don't like that the engine was tough to turn over. Again, only thing I can think of is the gas leaking down the cylinders into the oil. The flywheel tool sounds like a handy tool to have. I got half the rockers put back on and the lash set this evening after the kids and I got home from the playground so that'll save a little time tomorrow. Hoping the FedEx truck gets here earlier in the day so I can get the regulator installed and be ready to check spark when my friend gets here late afternoon. I know that I have no chance now, but my overall goal this summer was to be able to make a couple passes at the Labor Day drags that are on Sunday. Really disappointed, had promised my kids all summer that we could do that, and man were they excited. Kids and I also joked (but still some seriousness to it) that we would have our first car show trophy THIS summer at the local car show that's coming up on Sept 6th. I have posted pics of other "cars" from shows around here and some kind of trophy was all but guaranteed at this show, even though the body is still rough. Suppose there's still a glimmer of hope for that show but with the exhaust still unfinished, fenders and front end off the car and a passenger seat still sitting in my dining room, it's a stretch for sure. At this point I'm just praying for a running/idling engine and we'll go from there.