No need to apologise..there are a lot of helpful people on here. Since October I have made a tonne of threads and everyone has been more than willing to help. Got semi-scammed on a purchase so I have to spend my winter working out the kinks. Now back to the thread..
Glad the numbers look okay. I know this has been a question for many since I posted here. That being said will just regular grade gas be fine?
Ya I have been under the impression to do everything first, and then timing. Either way I can go back to it for a second time around. I have never done timing (in fact just bought a timing light and other goodies when I went to Oklahoma last week) I have read a lot of write-ups from Pontiac forums (not sure if "Lars" is on this forum, but he emailed me a killer write-up about the Pontiac 400 and setting the timing). Not saying I won't have any questions though.
What a big problem with me is (there are too many to mention) is that I don't really understand carbs and how they work/how to baby them. Likely some of the issues that I have had starting it/keeping it running are me not knowing how to properly work a carb with a manual choke. Not going to lie I was always under the impression that I pull the cable out to start it and push it in once it is warmed up. Well today I started it with the knob out, let it warm up, and pushed the knob in, causing the RPM to go way up to an RPM that doesn't make sense to drive at. I would have thought knob out would cause the RPM to be higher for it to start/warm up, and when the knob is pushed it it should cause the RPM to lower....apparently not. I am tempted to buy a new carb with electric choke just to save myself this stuff. Not to mention I have an Edelbrock 1405, and the instructions I have seen for tuning it are really shotty
Ya, not sure about the spark plugs, but wow they are dark for having 0 miles driven on them
Quote:
Originally Posted by PontGuy
I didn't mean to take over as the resident expert here, others that are watching along please jump in (and let us know if you disagree!)
The numbers look fine. Maybe a bit lower than optimum but you should have no problem with pump gas. I would have been much more concerned if they were very high. And readings are pretty consistent between cylinders. The carb not being locked open shouldn't have made much of a difference. My bet is that the engine should run good once you get past tuning.
If those are 061 heads then my guess is that it has dished pistons, or a very long duration cam. Or something else was done to get compression down. But all we can do is guess for now.
Next step is to get the timing right since timing can affect the vacuum reading if it is way off.
The goal should be to get all-in timing around 34-36 deg. Depending on the weights/springs in the distributor and assuming it is working right you may get anywhere from around 8 to maybe 16 deg at idle with all-in adjusted in 34-36 range. If not then you can add distributor advance curve work to your to-do list.
Hoping that you have adjusted timing before so know the drill. If you are not sure how to do it then ask questions!
This is fun stuff- wish I was there!
Yes the plug does look kind of ugly, but not sure how much you have run it at idle and how far off things are. Plug reading is definitely not an area of expertise for me.
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