Somebody please give me some advice

[Papa_Wheelie]

I have a 1986 Monte Carlo SS.

Hearing about your one dead cylinder worries, Me, cuz a mechanic told Me my car has a similar problem. He checked the compression on all of the cylinders, and # 8 on my engine was at a 9.5, the others were a 13.5 (it is a 305 bored .030.) Anyways, the car is running sloppy: burning gallons of gas at a rate of about 9 mpg, twice as bad as stock ratings.
Also, the car often sputters, it is like it is running way too lean/ rich, not sure? It still has the Quadrajet.
Another thing is that it has a dead spot in the rpm range, under accelleration it will cut out in any gear.
Any advice will be appreciated!

 

[pontiacgp]

Papa....your mechanic should have tested to see if it was a bad valve or the rings....after the initial test some oil poured down the cylinder and test it again...if the compression comes up then it's the rings...if not then it's a valve....another way to check for a bad valve is to start he car and hold a piece of paper strip up against the exhaust pipe...if the paper strip is pulled into the pipe at intervals than there is a bad valve sucking in some air...

 

[Papa_Wheelie]

Right...he didn't say why it had less compression.
OK...how do you put oil into the cylinder?
I will try the paper thing, but I was hoping to get answers to my other 2 engine questions as well, without starting a new thread.

 

[pontiacgp]

you can use a small funnel and just pour a little oil down the spark plug hole and do another test to see if the compression level rises .....

as far as the sputtering that could be caused by wires and/or plugs besides the carb...

is that a tach problem when you say the rpm cuts out?

 

[CamaroAdam73]

Alright so here's a pretty big update on things, We've got the steering column apart and i got to the ignition switch, and I'm pretty sure it's the problem, because it's not really doing anything at all, and I've checked every other possible avenue, so I'll be putting in an order for a new one on Monday, that solves that problem.

DRIVEN, Yes it's a feedback Q-jet, I'll have some more pictures up of what I'm working with soon. And also you're very right, I'd much rather build a nice Torque based engine than an over-sized cam setup with a high stall. At one point i actually considered an LT1 conversion but i passed up the offer on the engine. If you don't mind when i get ready to start buying the parts for my engine I'd appreciate it if you could kind've coach me through what parts would work best for the setup i want.

Just a side note, I'd MUCH rather have a nice Hydraulic roller cam than a flat tap.

And what's your opinion on VORTEC heads and intake? any good for a nice torque based setup?

On the lighter side of things, I've decided to keep the car off the road for awhile, I'm buying another car as a daily driver for now, so i can keep my Monte off the road and start rebuilding it.

 

[CamaroAdam73]

Sorry for the double post, Papa yeah try exactly what pontiacgp said before you make any drastic decisions, I had to do the exact same thing with my Camaro's old engine to figure out why the number 8 cylinder had abnormally low compression. And it turned out it was the valve seals, You don't want to replace those rings if you don't have to.

 

[DRIVEN]

Ahhh....more pieces to the puzzle. If you have disabled your engine control (computer) but still have a feedback Q-jet, you have a problem. That plug on top is the mixture control solenoid. You won't be able to make that carb run right. But that's fine because you will be replacing it anyway.
I know this sounds like a lame combo -- but I was pleasantly surprised. This is what I have in my El Camino: 350 with flat tops, World SR heads (just because I had them), Performer cam and intake, Q-jet and HEI. I use the car mainly for towing/hauling. It has 3.08s and a A833 transmission. The low-end torque is great and it pulls hard to about 5000rpm. At freeway speeds (3000rpm) when I punch it...it goes :lol:
Vortec heads are great and good torque heads. They were developed for trucks, after all. The port and chamber designs are based on the LT1. They are a worth about 30-40HP over the old double hump "fuelie" heads. They do have a unique intake manifold bolt pattern, though. You need a Vortec specific manifold.
If you have your heart set on a roller cam it might be a good idea to start looking for a van or pickup 5.7. It is MUCH cheaper to just change a cam on a roller cam motor than do a roller cam conversion on a flat tappet motor. The perfect foundation would be a '96-up Vortec 350. You would get the great heads, one piece rear seal, roller cam block, and (I think) 4 bolt mains. If you could find one that wasn't completely worn out and do a cam swap, Performer RPM intake, 650-750 carb and HEI, it would be hard NOT to end up with 350HP/400TQ. That would be a ton of fun in your Monte Carlo. Just my 2 cents.

 

[CamaroAdam73]

Yeah the computer controll system is disabled, and that carb is in bad shape anyways, the choke is zip tied open But it's ok because the car won't see pavement again untill the engine is rebuilt.

As for getting a new bottom end, that's kind've out of the option, i don't want to ditch this bottom end because it's an aftermarket block and it's supposedly got some goodies in it, i'll find out once i start tearing down the motor.

And yeah now that i've got the car off the road, i'm hell bent on a roller cam conversion, and i've decided that vortec heads and intake are the way i'm going to go 😀

I'm going to go with a nice low-profile air-gap vortec style intake manifold to leave room for forced induction options later on down the road.

So what all is involved with a roller cam conversion? In other words, what all am i going to need?? And if this bit of info helps any, i'll be buying the cylinder heads bare, so is there any variation between rocker arm and valve assemblys for roller / flat tap cams


Oh and sorry for keeping everyone in the dark about my situation, Everything ended up working out, i found some new room-mates and got a new place whith allot of room to work on my car, and i ended up landing a 2nd job, plus hours at my main job picked back up, So it turns out that i'm not going to have to pickup anbd move back to PA.

 

[CamaroAdam73]

Alright I've got a pretty big update, it runs again!

I found out the problem with my ignition, One of my ignition wires running from the starter was bad, i thought it wasn't because the shielding was in great shape and had no visible damage, but it turns out the wire INSIDE the shielding was severed, i feel like an idiot lol 😛

Also the new distributor is installed and working correctly, i ran the new 12V line and everything.

But I'm running into a new problem, go figure. I've got the engine timed to 6 BTDC, is this right?? Because it keeps dieseling when i shut it off, and i mean bad.

And by dieseling i mean when you shut the car off, it trys to run for a couple more seconds and then sputters out. Any idea's why??

I'm still using the stock Quadra-suck(jet) carb, But even with that carb being in such bad shape, it wouldn't cause it to diesel like that, so I'm kind've stumped :?:

 

[pontiacgp]

did you time the engine with the vacuum advance hose hooked up?