I'm sure i'm not ther first person and i'm definatly not the last....

I bought a 67 camino from a guy thats about an hour and a half away from me. Saw the ad in the collector car trader... we went down there the first time. It smelled of bad gas and had an exhaust leak but overall seemed fairly decent. The ad said it had a rebuilt 350/400. It looked as if it had been gone through, the block had fresh paint and the heads looked to be sandblasted/cleaned up well so i paid for the car...returned and picked it up with a trailer (planned non-op) Stupid me - i just asked how it ran when i originally saw it. It was under planned non-op so it wasn't legal to be driven and it was raining... the guy seemed very respecatble... bla bla bla... first mistake...

I'm jumping around i know and i apologize... so i grab the trailer, the car wouldn't start-it's out of gas and the battery is dead... battery gets charged... more gas tossed in.... anyway we back it out of the driveway and the steering gear is shot.... clunking and popping barely turns the car.... all the rattles instantly appeared and i just went oh my what did i buy? Anyway, loaded it up on the trailer and took it to my buddies house. We fire it up the next day and he tells me he hears a slight miss. i figure no biggie it has a fresh 350 maybe just plugs, or wires or the fact the carb was flowing some old gas... it stunk... I found the headers were smashed and that was the exhaust leak, swapped those out with new plugs, wires, cap and rotor..... miss is still there. Look at the #7 header pipe and it's white when all the rest are black still... GREAT ! So i open up the valve covers to check the valve adjustment....

I find i have 305 heads. pass side is 14014416 and the driver side is 376450. Block numbers come out as a 327 or 350 ... so at least thats decent....

I have a lot of money into this thing as it is with repairing all the things i have found wrong. I didn't buy a show car and i don't want one. I just need a dependable daily driver and thats what we talked about when i bought this... it has now been in my driveway for about 3 weeks and hasn't run very well.

I found the timing at 40 degrees at idle i set it to 14 and now it doesn't ping but it has no power..... wondering if the carb is gunked up... i happen to have a fresh carb sitting here but i am reluctant to install it as i wonder if there is anything i can do about getting ripped off on this engine deal.... am i screwed with these 2 different 305 heads?

I think so.... but i'm also flat broke with a maxed out credit card on buying stuff for this daily driver that won't drive me daily....

just needed to vent and hopefully get some opinions... should i call the guy and ask what the hell? Used cars are as-is and i know that but when you are told one thing and you find many other things....

A couple of low cost suggestions to get it running better.

First, drain out all the old gas and fill with fresh. I just went through this on my 64, it just wouldn't run well on the mix of old gas.

Second, your timing. Get the vacuum advance connected to manifold vacuum. Your base 14 is a good start. Add the full manifold vac advance and it will restore your idle quality and throttle response without the pinging.

Is it still the points distributor. If so, replace the points and condenser (yes the condenser too.) I assume your plugs, wires, cap, rotor are brand new?

I understand your concern about #7. Is the cylinder actually not firing? Is that header tube cold? A quick spritz of water on each tube will indicate.

I can't comment on the heads, other than the valves are small. But this fact alone does account for why you have cylinder missing.

thanks for the reply.

drained and filled with fresh gas you stated. There was just a cylinder not completly firing, you can hear the thud... just abnormal.

It is an HEI set-up. Upon removal of the distributor i found the advance mechanism is completly gunked up and sticking. So thats probably my reason for lack of power when i got on it and stumble..... no problem

Heads are off. Valves are different sizes... no biggie. I will list the heads on ebay or craigslist for sale seperate from each other... i am looking for some heads but i have a .465 cam and new holley carb that will go in once i get my head problem squared away. I got the car to be decent and almost ready for my daily driver but the engine just wasn't right. i'm glad i yanked both valve covers as the casting marks on the heads were the same....

I will post some pics in a bit....

coolant was like a poo green, no thermostat..... the car would get hot just idling (210-215 before i would shut her down) so at least i can tackle this now too. I have dual 12" electric fans so i need to make sure they are flowing enough.

buddy sent me an email - he has a complete 400 small block that runs - just has low oil pressure.

gonna get more info. That would be a nice addition to the elky :-)

update :

I passed on the 400 - would have costed too much to get going on top of the cost of the motor.

I found a 350 engine with 880 block roller cam and 92+ heads (supposedly decent flowing), they said just needed head gaskets and it would be good to go. Bought it then thought about what all i would need to do to make it work with my camino... now it's just sitting...

Buddy of mine called me about some edelbrock heads - ready to go... i thought about it ... I bought this camino with a "rebuilt" 350 it had 2 different 305 heads, a bad distributor..... what did they do to the block?

I came to the conclusion iw as going to need a complete engine to be happy. Talked with another buddy of mine. He had a TARGET motor? guess it had 500 miles on it... burning through oil. They dissassembled it and found it was missing some seals. Guy got a whole new motor.. so i bought this one for dirt cheap. This thing looks brand new. I just need to reassemble it with some new parts. It's an 880 block - non-roller cam and 462624 heads (1.94/1.5).

lunati voodoo cam .489/.504, Lunati Valve Train, Edelbrock Torker Manifold, holley 750, Billet HEI .....

I'm pretty stoked !

Wife isn't too happy with 3 350's sitting here and a newly purchased camino sitting in the driveway missing some key parts :-)

Hoping to have this running by next sunday. We'll see, just depends on the parts deliveries !