I went out and spent $400 on a new cap, rotor, and something else cant remember and plugs and it did the exact same as before. For some reason checked voltage and it dropped real low during cranking (hard start) and while idleing it was 11 something i believe. It ran like **** and sometimes would missfire. I ended up taking the 12v wire that runs from my ignition to the dist and used it as a signal wire on a relay that is straight from battery. Started up first try and idled like a champ once it was warm. I pulled my MSD 6AL to avoid issues, the new msd distributors can have a rev limiter set, this was the only reason i had the 6AL in the first place.

The way we tested it to see if it would work was running a test lead with an aligator clip from the battery to the + spade in the distributor, remember if you do this the car will not shut off with the key as it has constant power to the ignition.

 

Appreciate you sharing what you did to remedy the issues you were having Sudstoy. I had checked voltage already on mine and it was reading fine. I haven't checked the feed to my 6al since it was getting power fine but will probably recheck everything once I get back home today. My engine fires right up and revs fine, no misfires but it does like to come back through the carb when/if it doesn't fire when I try to start it. I used the original wire from ignition to distributor to power a switch for the ignition inside the car. I wouldn't mind doing something like you did with a relay but not sure how to wire something like that up. It would really be nice to get the issues I've been having figured out before I end up spending a bunch more money replacing parts that I didn't need to replace. Thanks again for explaining your situation.


Vall, I'll check the grounds again but I'm also curious if the ground from block to battery was "bad" could it cause problems like I'm having? I always thought if the ground was bad it wouldn't start and/or not have power? When I first got ready to fire the engine up the first time I was concerned about not having good grounds because of all the paint on everything. I went through and scraped all the paint off the medal where the grounds attach so I don't think they are causing any problems. I'll be checking again though!


I was going to order a new distributor like mentioned a few days ago but it said the MSD wouldn't even be sent out until 10/18 and I don't want to wait that long. I was going to buy a Proform distributor since it was a few bucks cheaper ($20) and still made in America with good metallurgy on the gear etc. etc. but that still wouldn't be sent out until 10/8. I think I'll check all the feeds and grounds before ordering anything but want to do something by tomorrow.

 

You might consider dropping the stock HEI in for now, and wiring it to the 6AL box.
Grounds can affect the performance, and how much they affect it, depends on how good they are. A little resistance will cause a little trouble, a lot of resistance will cause a lot of trouble. It sounds like your grounds were properly prepped, and I doubt it's causing your engine run problem.
I had bad luck with my engine fouling plugs, and having to clean or replace them a couple times this summer. I talked with a friend Sat. who is one of the best tuners I know. He immediately asked me what my plug gap was, and my ignition system. Told him I had a 6AL with blaster coil, and plugs were extended electrode RJ12YC, and gapped at .035" He told me to open them up to .045", and they would clean up the idle. I swear I had tried that previously, and had bad luck, but tried it again. The car smells cleaner at idle, and it really smoothed out the motor at cruise speeds. I had some surging at under 2000 rpm steady speeds, and it all went away after widening the gap.

 

I've gotten pretty good at taking the plugs out of this engine by now so it should only take me about 17 seconds to pull them and reset the gap closer to where I had them originally. I'll be putting another new set in by spring next year since the plugs (brand new) that are in there now are fouled out already. I do still have the original HEI from the 350 but don't really feel comfortable putting it in this engine. It's been sitting on the stand with most likely a bunch of water inside the engine as I power washed the thick grime off it without a carb on the intake. Guess I could wipe the sludge off and try it. I want to get a new distributor at this point anyway now that I'm officially concerned about the metallurgy of the drive gear in my current one. I like the clear cap though, think I might just go with a Proform since they have them. I know they turn yellow over time but it's nice to see where the rotor is pointing without having to take the cap off.


I ended up sleeping the entire day away yesterday after I got home from Detroit (Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland also) and hadn't slept in over 40 hours. Didn't get out to the garage like I wanted to, knew I shouldn't sit down when I got home. Slept from 6:00 pm until 2:30 am but I did some late/early shopping after I got up and got a new multi meter. I want to get busy doing some testing but this sideways rain is coming right at the door of the garage. I could leave it closed for the testing part but not the running part unless I want today to be the last day I ever need to worry about getting the Camaro running.

 

I helped my neighbor get his hotrod going this morning. The stock HEI quit without warning. He drove it a few days ago and it was fine, but Wed. when we headed to the cruise night, it had no spark. Turned out the module inside had died abruptly, so I robbed one from a spare he had.
I noticed a funny thing about his spare, while taking it apart. It came off of a 454 he bought for his '35 Plymouth Coupe, and the seller had rebuilt the engine, but said it wouldn't run right at anything except high rpm's. While looking at the distributor, I noticed the mechanical advance weights looked rusty. I pulled them out, and they stayed there! I spun the gear on the bottom by hand, but they still stayed out. I finally gave them an assist, and they dropped back in. Looked like grime and rust had the weights hanging up, and probably explains why the newly rebuilt engine didn't want to idle. It was staying advanced all the time, and never dropping back in timing to idle properly.
I'm sure your weights are free, being it's new. But I wonder if you might take the cap and rotor off, and see if the weights move freely?

 

I have been sitting on this one. I may have even mentioned it to you at some point tim. The weights on older ones do hang up even when a spring breaks. My MSD sat on the shelf so long a spring broke while sitting, that or it broke before I pulled it. Come to think of it too much timing could have killed that motor! Anyhow. I know I brought up springs. To date I have seen the weights wear in the pivot hole and hang. The pivot stud wear creating a slot the weight gets stuck in. The spring go MIA. And the best one the weights just being rusty and the wear pad under them catching the weight. All will give more advance and not bring it back in. If the holes in the weights are just so slightly too small the weight can hang and slowly get pulled in overnight. Effectively changing the timing while it wasn't running, something you mentioned.

 

Here's a clip from today.


http://vid1298.photobucket.com/album...psd46a54ed.mp4


I checked the springs/weights on the distributor and they are fine. Voltage was 12.6 on the feed to the ignition box. It's showing 11.7 from the ignition wire that's being used to power the switch out to the distributor though. Grounds are all good. As you can see in the clip, I got it to start and run but can't get the idle any lower than 1500 or it still wants to stall. After I transferred the video to photobucket the quality is crap and you can't see what the pointer was showing on the balancer, but it was at 27 btdc at around 16-1700 rpm. I thought that should be getting pretty close there, but as you can see, the header tubes were starting to glow. I was going to retard the timing a very little bit more but remembered what was said about timing that was too retarded being a cause of glowing header tubes. It would still seem as though it needs to be retarded a little more. Closest it's been to doing what it's supposed to do today, any thoughts on the sub 12 voltage out to the distributor? I actually didn't check it while it was running, I forgot. Too busy trying to hustle out to see what the timing light was showing. I checked it with the key on only.

 

Yes, getting very close! Did you try lowering the idle? Still think the timing might need a tweak to eliminate the red glowing headers. At 1800 rpm's showing on the tach, you should be a couple degrees more timing. Should be all in at 2,000 rpm.

 

I did try to lower the idle slowly, that's how I know it still wants to stall out if it gets much lower than 14-1500 rpm. I need a couple degrees more timing? The first time around it was showing 30 at the same rpm and I thought it should be lower than that so I retarded it a bit. I always heard that the timing should be all in at or near 3500 rpm, not 2000? I'm certainly not doubting what you're saying, I'm just having a hard time understanding why the difference of 3 degrees of timing would cause the headers to glow like that. I'm glad I got it to do what it did yesterday, I was just thinking about how many times I've had the distributor in the exact same location as it is now, but couldn't get it to stay running. I'll advance the distributor a little more and see what happens today. I'd really like to hear this thing actually idle today also. Need to get out there and check the traps too!

 

It's like deja-vu all over again. From a couple of weeks ago....
Try advancing more and see if that will give you enough to idle it down more for checking the timing.