What the heck am I looking at?

[kiwigtx]

No update to talk about. Compression test gave 145-150 lbs, most at 150, so that clears blown head gasket, or cracked head. Since it came across like a off timing event, kill two birds with one stone. When I broke the cam in, with help from my clogged radiator, paint on my valve covers got cooked. So, off with them, to watch the valves, check all my timing, and re-paint the covers.
But, covers won't come off, with the intake in place, so pulled it, then the covers. Cam looks great! So far, nothing out of place. I'll check timing, valve openings, and such, today.

Still can't swallow the bad gas thing. Good one week, bad a week later? Completely check the distributor, and timing chain, for anything.

Have you tried drawing some fuel from the tank and out past the pump? Disconnect the fuel line from the carb and pump till you get a decent amount....have a look at the fuel. You might have had some debris in the fuel line from the tank. Check your filter if one is installed.

 

[miller]

Check your filter if one is installed.

Have two, one for each carb. Good idea, though. When I pulled the intake, of course, had to pull the hard lines from carbs to the tee. Poured that gas out, and looked, seemed good. I'll pump some gas out of the line, to see what it looks like.

Ignition timing, or valve timing, is where I think the problem is. All seemed good, until I tried pushing the initial timing to 20 degrees, that flat didn't work. Hammer down, got a string of pings, so back to 14. Something happened...just gotta figure out what.

 

[Cranky]

How strong is the spark?

 

[miller]

How strong is the spark?

That's something I'm going to check, when I look at the ignition.

 

[khryslerkid]

Yes, on points. 800 miles on all new Mallory dual point.

Holy Cow Miller, I missed that you're useing a Mallory Dual Point.

My 440 did the exact same thing. Thought i was running out of gas, tried to backfire then quit. It was the condenser. It was acually fried with the brass case having a split in it. They are known to do this on these distributors. I bought two new ones, Mallory brand for the right ohms and lead lenth (they have a longer lead than anything else out there). Replaced it and it ran for about two minutes and died. Installed another one and its been running strong ever since. You can bench test the condenser with an ohms meter but sometimes they have to be hot to show a low reading. Always keep a spare!

 

[Cranky]

Oh man...I overlooked the Mallory too. Never ever had much luck with those but had great results with Accel products. Had a dual point Accel in a 70 383 Challenger for 18 years and only changed points and condenser every so often when needed. A couple of buddies of mine had Mallory dizzys and they seemed to be always fighting with them....

 

[miller]

Holy Cow Miller, I missed that you're useing a Mallory Dual Point.

Yep, I've used Mallory dual point most of my life. Cut my teeth on a Prestolite dual point on my first car, 63 Sport Fury.

This particular Mallory, I had to wait 90 days for it, since they actually had to make it!

I got ya on the condenser, first thing I thought of...still possible...yeah, I'll be checking it. What source are you using for parts?
Have to find time to get back to it. Too much bs going on right now. Be about right, if that was it. Had wanted to check the cam at 500 miles, anyway, to make sure the glue was still holding up. It did.

 

[miller]

That cloud of white smoke, out of the one carb, twice, flat threw me for a loop! No backfire at all.

 

[khryslerkid]

What source are you using for parts?

Summit, Jegs, Speedway Motors carry the Mallory/MSD parts or order right from Mallory.

I'm useing the 401 condenser, 29217 coil and the 700 or 8214 ballast resistor (depends on which one looks period correct). The distributor is the older 2757801 NOS.

Useing this Ballast I drilled the hole in the bracket for the dimple in the firewall.

 

[miller]

My Mallory is a mechanical dual point, takes condenser #400. Ordered 4 of 'em from MSD. Irritating...many of the damn parts out of China.

 

[moper]

Sounds like it flooded. How much "temp" did it get? Operating temp or it died within a minute or two?

 

[khryslerkid]

My Mallory is a mechanical dual point, takes condenser #400. Ordered 4 of 'em from MSD. Irritating...many of the damn parts out of China.

Yep, the first one I used after the original one went up, lasted about two minutes then the engine started loosing power, started popping out the exhaust and quit. Put the next one that I had bought on it and its been running fine. I've read that they can be bad right out of the box so if the first one you try doesnt do it you might want to try another one just to be sure.

 

[miller]

Sounds like it flooded.

In a way, it did...since I'm thinking the condenser went out, weak spark, not enough spark to burn the gas.

 

[moper]

I didn't see - did you check the condenser?

 

[miller]

Not yet, moper. Besides being too busy to get in the shop, waiting for the condensers I ordered to come in. Then I'll pull the distributor, and check everything. My initial thought was the condenser, though the smoke threw me. I'll know in an instant, once I pull the cap, and look at the points.

Doesn't matter. Wanted to verify the cam was in good shape, and re-paint the valve covers.

 

[miller]

A little update, kinda sorta.

Finally got some time in the shop. Fu*king with condensers, sanding down and re-painting valve covers, and so on.
Then, started looking over valve train. First, to get the story straight, my terms, a 'tappet' is hydraulic, a 'lifter' is solid, and I'm sticking with it!
Pushed down on each rocker arm, expecting to see a little 'hydraulic action' on the tappets, for the ones on the cam's base circle. NOTHING! Rock solid, all 16 tappets, so what the hell.

Game plan. Going to pull one set of rockers, then one of the tappets, open it up, and find out what's going on. Bought these tappets from Crower, same time I got the cam.

Normally, on a hydraulic tappet, on the low side, would be able to watch bleed-down, and spring back.

 

[miller]

Before anyone says 'collapsed?'...nope.
Their all locked at pre-load.

 

[miller]

Tappet in hand. Tore it completely down, found nothing, and washed the oil out. Dry, back together, and it pumps exactly like it should.
Same one in the engine, before I pulled it, wouldn't budge. Should have been able to bleed it down, just pushing on it with the push rod. Only real change was oil weight, from 30wt, to 40wt. Heck, years ago ran straight 50wt, with no problems.

What am I missing? Besides screws!

 

[Glenwood]

A pain in the butt eh Miller!
When I was measuring for pushrods, I started by using the twist method but found that I could twist them until the bottomed out and I hardly noticed. I changed to the up/down method and was surprised at the difference. Some of my lunati tappets were bled down and others not. The ones that were bled down pushed down very easy but the others would hardly move at all.
Could your pushrods be too long?

 

[miller]

A pain in the butt eh Miller!

Hiya, Glenwood! As many motors I've been into, yeah, knowing how most stuff works. Maybe 440s don't like me!

Could your pushrods be too long?

Don't think so. They are longer than I wanted, but off the shelf, getting .055-.060 pre-load. Wanted no more than .040. That being said, from the tappet retainer, cup can be pushed down about a 1/4", .250, no chance of bottoming.
On these tappets, just under the cup/piston, is a metering plate w/4 holes.
Heck, guess the tappets are holding their own, and the oil. Gonna put it back together, and rotate the engine, and go from there.