June set temperature records for nearly half of the month in Washington state. It kept me from working on my way too long project; putting a 68 Ramrod 350 into a 1980 El Camino. For almost a year it has been ready to start. I bought a "brand new" hei distributor from one of the drag racing sponsors and it worked for a few seconds before the control module popped. Of course It was after I had checked the spark so I was looking for, you know spark, air, fuel. I had fuel in, a newly rebuilt Q jet and then I realized one cell of the battery had apparently gone bad in the months of sitting with a battery keeper. Okay a new battery.... Now I had spark and minutes of cranking but still no firing..It gave me a couple of sounds like it wanted to start, revolutions, with direct gas and some starting fliud, but it took the new battery down several times without ever firing. That is when I again check the spark on cranking and no spark, and that is when I replaced the module. A friend theorized that the valves may not be opening fully. I was using stock pushrods and as it turned out, I needed slightly more length. I won't tell you how much as it seems to be a secret kept in the Olds vault. Some will say it is too much, some will say it is too little and some will say it is not needed, with stock length being right. In reinstalling the dstributor, I advanced the rotor one more tooth than I had been to allow for the distributor to get the timing right. This time I could hear the engine trying to fire. After several attempts with the pour down the throat method, it was obvious that the accelerator pump was not working. Off with the carb and back to the rebuilder. The carb is UPS inbound to me tomorrow with some notes.
The point here for me is, new distributor is supposed to work and my job is to get it installed right. CHECK! I bought the most recommended HEI from a reputable source and the correct new wires and AC plugs gapped correctly, yet the module failed. The carburetor is supposed to work properly after a rebuild and it is my job to get it installed tight, with linkage and choke working correctly. A non-working accelerator pump does not compute with a brand new rebuild. I took the lazy route, having many tell me that with hydraulic lifters, stock pushrods would be fine and they weren't. Even the cam guy said stock! A new NAPA battery tender should not boil a battery and kill a cell, but it apparently did. It was a new in late 2019 Wally-World battery, so again I take my share of the blame for cheap instead of best! It now has a Optima Yellow top. With a new battery, distributor, (professionally rebuilt carb), AND THE CORRECT TIMING, it should have fired in October 2020. When it backfired twice and quit firing, two bent pushrods were the indicators of too short pushrods finally. I asked for help along the way and no one was willing/ I offered to pay with mileage but no takers. I had questions totally ignored in PMs. Today it is close to running, but then it was 17 months ago as well. I have little confidence in the "shops" to know about a musclecar era engines. I live 25 miles from any type of shop and I cannot get them interested in old-fashioned troubleshooting. So my project continues and it will run once I get all of the systems working. At 69, I only hope I get some fun in the sun with it now. Step one is still hearing it run, and breaking in the cam etc. Step one is fine if there is no step two!
The point here for me is, new distributor is supposed to work and my job is to get it installed right. CHECK! I bought the most recommended HEI from a reputable source and the correct new wires and AC plugs gapped correctly, yet the module failed. The carburetor is supposed to work properly after a rebuild and it is my job to get it installed tight, with linkage and choke working correctly. A non-working accelerator pump does not compute with a brand new rebuild. I took the lazy route, having many tell me that with hydraulic lifters, stock pushrods would be fine and they weren't. Even the cam guy said stock! A new NAPA battery tender should not boil a battery and kill a cell, but it apparently did. It was a new in late 2019 Wally-World battery, so again I take my share of the blame for cheap instead of best! It now has a Optima Yellow top. With a new battery, distributor, (professionally rebuilt carb), AND THE CORRECT TIMING, it should have fired in October 2020. When it backfired twice and quit firing, two bent pushrods were the indicators of too short pushrods finally. I asked for help along the way and no one was willing/ I offered to pay with mileage but no takers. I had questions totally ignored in PMs. Today it is close to running, but then it was 17 months ago as well. I have little confidence in the "shops" to know about a musclecar era engines. I live 25 miles from any type of shop and I cannot get them interested in old-fashioned troubleshooting. So my project continues and it will run once I get all of the systems working. At 69, I only hope I get some fun in the sun with it now. Step one is still hearing it run, and breaking in the cam etc. Step one is fine if there is no step two!
