Fresh Startup Procedure.

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WSUTARD said:
Yep, it spurted all over the headers! I had the front end jacked up to make sure the oil filter adapter wasnt leaking. Made the angles weird and it flowed from the rear rocker to the edge of the block and down. Ohh well.
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so expect even more smoke when it finally starts. You might want to plug in a big fan in front of the car, it will clear out all the smoke so you don't set off all the smoke detectors in the house and garage, and help cool the engine until you get the coolant levels sorted out.
 
Ok. I'm sitting here breaking it in. At 2500 rpm I'm at 48 degrees of advance. Is that correct?
 
that sounds like too much, but you're running it with no load on it, so you shouldn't have a problem with pinging. Total advance should probably be around 35 degrees, so you could back it down some, when you get the chance.
Did you have any trouble lighting it off?
 
Well, it's all broken in! I guess there is an oil leak from the oil pressure output. Other than that, ran smoothly.

Advance at idle is 10-11.
At 2250 is 48. With vaccum advanced on.
 
WSUTARD said:
Well, it's all broken in! I guess there is an oil leak from the oil pressure output. Other than that, ran smoothly.

Advance at idle is 10-11.
At 2250 is 48. With vaccum advanced on.
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48 isn't too much to break it in, but not sure you can run that much timing in the real world. You have to tune it and see what happens.
 
with vacuum advance on 48 is about right, also check it without vacuum-should be around 35-36 total
 
With the vacuum advance hose disconnected from the advance dashpot on the side of the distributor, and plugged, don't be taken aback if the total advance is less. Just work you way up to a higher level gradually, and keep your ears open for any knocking or rattling in the lower to mid RPM's when you get on it hard; that is the detonation that you want to avoid.

Very glad to hear of your progress! Everyone likes to work with someone willing to ask, listen, and learn, and to develop new skills. Let us know if the car runs any differently, and if so, how about an A-B comparison report? IIRC, this all started with a complaint of poor low RPM performance.
 
Well, I was going to take it for a shake down run. Started it up, heard the power steering whine, stopped it after about 30 seconds running. Tightened the power steering. Now it won't start back up. I'm by myself so I used a timing light to see if I had spark on #1. Nothing. Waiting for my wife to get back so I can check for spark the real way.
At first I thought I flooded it. Not really sure what is wrong since there is no reason it should just lose spark. Everything is connected still.

Ugh.
 
turn key to run ( not crank), pull the secondary wire coil to distributor cap, and hold 1/2" away from good ground. crank engine by jumping the startery relay with a screwdriver, look for spark.
 
rustycowll69 said:
turn key to run ( not crank), pull the secondary wire coil to distributor cap, and hold 1/2" away from good ground. crank engine by jumping the startery relay with a screwdriver, look for spark.
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No spark from the coil. Not sure why. Didn't touch anything.
 
My MSD box is turning on. It's connected to the coil. It's also connected to a brown wire up near the original ignition stuff. I removes the old electronic ignition and ballast while the engine was out. Had to put them back on as the MSD wouldn't turn on without them. It fired up yesterday and today. Now it won't.
 
Hahah. It was the battery. It was just low enough that the MSD wasn't getting enough of the 12v it needed from the key. Jumped it with my Ram. New battery here I come.
 
Mmmmmm.... you have better test the ignition voltage to the MSD while running. It should only be no more than .5 volts lower than the voltage measured across the battery terminals. The ignition switches can go bad, but the wiring through the bulkhead connections in the firewall is a VERY common place to have voltage loss; the terminals get corroded badly. You had better check that and the connections in and out of the ignition switch.
 
nm9stheham said:
Mmmmmm.... you have better test the ignition voltage to the MSD while running. It should only be no more than .5 volts lower than the voltage measured across the battery terminals. The ignition switches can go bad, but the wiring through the bulkhead connections in the firewall is a VERY common place to have voltage loss; the terminals get corroded badly. You had better check that and the connections in and out of the ignition switch.
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It was the battery. The bulkhead is brand new. I will check but I have bigger problems now. The passenger side-rear where the intake meets the block meets the heads is leaking oil down the bellhousing and on to the headers. Not sure how to fix that short of taking the intake off.
 
WSUTARD said:
It was the battery. The bulkhead is brand new. I will check but I have bigger problems now. The passenger side-rear where the intake meets the block meets the heads is leaking oil down the bellhousing and on to the headers. Not sure how to fix that short of taking the intake off.
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in the old days, the gasket kits gave you a strip of this putty, which you divided into 1/4's and placed in those 4 corners of the manifold. 3M strip caulk would work, but most people, now, just use a dollop of RTV. Did you use the two cork end gaskets, or did you just use RTV? Sometimes the end gaskets can slide in, or pooch out of position between the surfaces when clamping.
 
rustycowll69 said:
in the old days, the gasket kits gave you a strip of this putty, which you divided into 1/4's and placed in those 4 corners of the manifold. 3M strip caulk would work, but most people, now, just use a dollop of RTV. Did you use the two cork end gaskets, or did you just use RTV? Sometimes the end gaskets can slide in, or pooch out of position between the surfaces when clamping.
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I used Right Stuff. I thought I made sure to get the corners good. Guess I didn't.
 
WSUTARD said:
It was the battery. The bulkhead is brand new. I will check but I have bigger problems now. The passenger side-rear where the intake meets the block meets the heads is leaking oil down the bellhousing and on to the headers. Not sure how to fix that short of taking the intake off.
Click to expand...
OK, when you get the time, check these voltages. The MSD should be putting out spark, even with voltage to the MSD box down to 8 or 9 volts. There are several places to lose voltage in the wiring in these cars.
Yep, intake needs to come off.... remember to drain down the coolant first by removing the lower rad hose or the block plugs to avoid getting coolant inside the valley.
 
Finished up the intake yesterday. Luckily my local auto parts store, Oreilly, had an intake gasket on the shelf. Started it up this morning. Seems like the leak is gone...(knock on wood). I have my alignment scheduled for today so I will report back once I get it on the road. However, I can tell you that the idle has smoothed out a bunch which I am taking as an indicator that I really did have an aggressive cam in it before. I am going to have to learn how to set the timing beyond setting the initial idle timing at 10 advanced. It seems to like idle at 10, when I put the distro back in it was at 40 advanced...oops and heard the pinging.
 
Also, should I be worried about the steam from my driver side breather? I have never noticed it before.
 
That's normal. I assume you have a breather installed on the other side too. You may not notice it coming out of that one as much since it's right behind the fan.
 
WSUTARD said:
Finished up the intake yesterday. Luckily my local auto parts store, Oreilly, had an intake gasket on the shelf. Started it up this morning. Seems like the leak is gone...(knock on wood). I have my alignment scheduled for today so I will report back once I get it on the road. However, I can tell you that the idle has smoothed out a bunch which I am taking as an indicator that I really did have an aggressive cam in it before. I am going to have to learn how to set the timing beyond setting the initial idle timing at 10 advanced. It seems to like idle at 10, when I put the distro back in it was at 40 advanced...oops and heard the pinging.
Click to expand...
Use this chart for your alignment today...
alignment-specifications.gif


If you have a MOPAR distributor, these limiter plates make it real easy to limit your mechanical advance in the distributor.
FBO Systems
 
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