Wife wanted a burnout! Now the car is sick ( the cough kind, not the cool kind)!!!

[wsutard]

Also, this is a driver for me. I didn't spend all this money just to look at her!

 

[Dennis H]

Nothing wrong with Z-Rod. I like 10-40. 20 seems thick for start-up protection. I recommend not removing a valve cover unless absolutely necessary. My drivers side is a bitch to seal.

 

[tarvin890]

burned wire...check them all

 

[Ranger16]

So, what is everyone thinking? I have yet to pull the valve covers to check the rods. However, seems to be running fine now. I would rather not pull the covers if I didnt have to.

If it's running OK now, don't go looking for a boogie man. If there is a real problem, rest assured, it WILL show itself again.

 

[19polara64]

Listen to IQ52 check your valve train, He's quite knowledgeable!

 

[NJRR]

Drive it. Put Sta-Bil in and drive it. The best way to keep these cars up and reliable is to drive them. You don't have to beat it, just give it occasional exercise. That's why they were built. That's why we own them. To enjoy them the way the designers and engineers wanted us to.

I never had good luck with Sta-Bil. I use Pirg-G. much better for gas stabilization.

 

[Darthomas]

I got rid of 5 year old gas by driving the car. Well, had to change pump first... After putting in new gas, next day I had a TINY piece of sand holding open the needle valve on my AFB.
20 minutes' annoyance, but not bad at all.

 

[Shorthorse]

seems like a vacuum of 10 at 800 idle is low?

It is low. Your cam is not that aggressive. In another post you said "it seemed to be idling fine now". Was the engine cold or up to temp at that time?
Engine won't idle, revs up OK, no obvious excessive valve train noise, car was running fine before the burnout, I'm going with a vacuum leak.

 

[wsutard]

Engine was at temp when I said that. Not sure I really did anything to fix it. Just drove the family downtown in it, ran great.

Maybe it was crap from the tank? Not sure that would explain the backfires.

The vac at 1500 rpm is 20ish, which seems healthy.

Let's say there is a vacuum leak. How do I track it down?

I might still pull the covers and look. If I had any experience doing so I probably would have done it already.

 

[Ranger16]

Let's say there is a vacuum leak. How do I track it down?

With the engine at idle, spray some Brakleen, Carb or TB cleaner or such around any possible vacuum leak point such as the carb base, manifold mounting, vacuum hose connections and listen for an RPM increase.

 

[gtxno1]

Propane enrichment use a tachometer and your propane torch with no flame around the suspect areas and idle will increase

 

[Cranky]

I've had engines that ran like crap many times after pushing them to their limits and over during my 49+ years of driving. Some of the problems were junk got into the carb, timing moved, bent push rods, pumped up lifters, broken valve springs, and numerous other things including bad open header bearings....

You start with the simple stuff and move on to the harder things if you can't find the problem looking at timing and carb, vacuum leaks etc......but I wouldn't worry about the muffler bearings. I'm sure they have no bearing on the problem....groan.

 

[wsutard]

I think I have nailed it down to either crap in the gas or vacuum leak. It's running fine now. I'm going to give it a leak test here in a few min. Will report back.

Also have some Heat I am going to throw in the tank next fill up.

 

[gtxno1]

check ignition carefully

 

[wsutard]

Ok. Spayed carb cleaner around the base of the carb, and manifold. No engine rpm increase. Any other areas?

 

[wsutard]

Actually, this stuff decreases the rpm.

Found an area that decreases rpm. Passenger side, rear, by the solenoid.

 

[wsutard]

Right where the flathead is pointing.

 

[Shorthorse]

Intake gasket maybe? Check the plugs on that side, especially #6. See if it looks leaner than the others.

 

[Ranger16]

Actually, this stuff decreases the rpm. View attachment 349671

Found an area that decreases rpm. Passenger side, rear, by the solenoid.

What solenoid?

 

[wsutard]

My bad. I meant ignition coil. Anyway, there is a pic of if.