i have been doing a bit of reading and believe i understand the adjustment of the valves. but my question is can i use the starter to turn the motor to get close to TDC? if so, is it better to remove the spark plugs? any other suggestions? already primed the oil pump and circulated the fresh oil with a power drill. seemed to work pretty well. do i wait to hook up the vacum advance until the motor is running or can i hook it up now? i cant wait to hear that thing roar for the first time!
Rotate by hand with the plugs out, it will spin fairly easy. The starter is difficult to get to stop right where you need it to.
Vacume advance! Yes you have to hook the vacuum advance up or else your engine wont run very well or maybe not at all ? There are some good threads about the same subject here at chevy talk with good information. What engine do you have in your rig ? do i wait to hook up the vacum advance until the motor is running or can i hook it up now?
Initial Startup And Breakin What I do on ALL engines ,rebuilt , overhauled or simply patched , is to static time it (yes , plugs out use TDC or maybe 5 degrees advance) , connect the vacuum advance (this is critical) and a tachometer and the *instant* the engine lights off , run it up to 3,000 RPM's and HOLD it there for one full minute , 60 of the slowest seconds you'll ever experience , you *MUST* use a sweep second hand watch as time will begin appear to slow down as you hear the engine howling along unladen @ 3,000 RPM's ~ if you can manage to take this leap of faith and do it 100 % by the numbers , it'll bed in the piston rings in those first 60 seconds as long as you don't vary the RPM's . The instant it runs one minute @ 3,000 RPM's , shut it down and leave to cool over night as it'll be hot and may have belched out a big cloud of blue smoke as the rings bedded in . The next morning , re check the valve gaps and ignition timing , re start it and check and adjust the idle timing , then the hot idle speed and it'll be ready to go .
So she fires pretty easily every time (there is a but coming), but the last few times I have started her, she smokes pretty bad, drips oil from the front motor mount area but still has good oil pressure on the gauge. Ideas for a point to start at? I am thinking maybe of pulling the pan and checking the wick gasket at the front main. Any ideas are welcome. We get married in a month and I would love to drive her to and from the wedding without breakdown and smoking the family out!
Have you driven it far yet ? . Short running cycles promote leaks and especially , exhaust smoking . Driving it under load is critical to proper breakin . The smoking will usually stop after a few miles as the engine heats up and burns away residual carbon and oil . The oil dripping I can't say without looking at it , seal or cover gasket leaking ? . A boob at my old shop had a nice looking '53 but it smoked and pi$$ed oil everywhere out of his newly rebuilt engine ~ as I didn't know they guy I asked to look at his beautiful rig and he was *very* hostile so I decided to let him stew ~ I spotted the problem the *instant* he popped the hood but he was more interested in making racial epithets at me ~ the one guy there who drove a '49 3100 beat to s#*t truck daily and never smoked nor leaked any oil....... (stupid can't be fixed) . His ' mechanic ' was lost , they'd put a freeze plug where the Road DraftTube goes into the engine block then used a non vented 216 typ oil filler cap on his tightly sealed up 235 so the crankcase was seriously pressurized and was pi$$ing oil out everywhere ...... Last thing I heard it was left in his garage "un fixable " ~ anyway , you might look to see if your Road Draft Tube is clogged up , this happens fairly often and is easy to fix but DO NOT allow it to go anywhere near a bead blaster ! .
thanks. i will try that. my concern was that it may be getting enough oil pressure to the location of the gauge but not to critical portion of the rest of the engine due to the leak. i was thinking it may be some sort of gasket? what is the best way to clean up the draft tube?
Get out your very old the one you no longer use because you have a new shinny one Bar B Que and grille away
Road Draft Tube Cleaning This one always generates a firestorm of comments but Charles of course , is spot on ~ you cook it in the BBQ one fine day when SWMBO isn't coming home anytime soon because it heats and heats and heats then all the accumulated oily carbon in it begins to burn all at once , creating an impressive oily , smelly cloud of dense smoke so do this when no one else is around and NOT on the patio where the smoke can get inside the house ! ~ Once it begins to smoke like a chimney fire , let it go - do not open the BBQ , wait for the smoke to reduce , take it out and allow to cool off , tap it and much black dust will come out , keep at this until no more comes out then wire brush it , clean it with starting fluid and re - paint gloss black with Rustoleum paint , you're done and your engine will love you .
