I have a 69 malibu that I just installed a rebuilt 350 in. I pre lubed the engine with the drill and oil came up through the rods. I then removed the distributor and knocked the engine over until I felt pressure through #1 spark plug hole, the lied it up with 0 on timing mark. The car started up after a couple of turns and I ran it for 20 min. giving it a little gas. I then put the timing light on it and get it around 6 on the tab. It seems to be running good and I rev it up a little and it sounds good. I did adjust the idle a little bit on the carb in order for it to stay alive when I wasn't giving it gas. Then I drive it down to the exhaust shop and while driving it it feels really weak, almost like I am towing a boat or something. I gave it some gas but it barely got up to 35 and it felt bad. I got it home and in the garage but can't figure out what to do next.

It could be lots of things, and probobly is. Maybe its the carb an edelbrock 600, or possibly the timing.Do I need to plug a vacume line when using timing lite? Or maybe its a vacume problem, tranny problem, it seemed like it was shifting though. Overheating everything was hot, hoses (heater,water pump) my gauge read almost 230 after I shut it off!!! Big problem, I only drove 3 miles! And on top of it I smelled something burning and my voltmeter was jumping all over the place.

I am having several problems and any help is appriciated.
thanks alot

steve

If your distributer has vaccum advance on it, then yes you need to remove the vaccum line and plug the carberator side when you set your timing. Low on power and running hot sound like symptoms of not enough timing.

I did not plug the hole but put it around 6 on the tab, would it throw the timing of that much without plugging line? Also it sounded pretty good in park does that make any difference?

Hooaugh.....your gauge panel looks kick a$$! nice job! How hard was it to drop an LT1 into your car? I've been having people recommend that i do it.

Originally posted by 10bolt:

Do I need to plug a vacume line when using timing lite?

steve Steve,

Yes, you need to do two things: disconnect the vacuum line at the distributor AND plug the vacuum line (source). You are disconnecting the vacuum source from the distributor to eliminate vacuum advance from your reading on the tab. You are plugging the line that delivers the vacuum so as to not create a vacuum leak in the process.

If the engine feels week and you have 6 degrees of initial timing (vacuum advance disconnected and at your desired idle RPM):

Where is your timing at idle with the vacuum advance reconnected? It should be ~10-14 degrees more than it was with it disconnected.

What RPM is your idle set at?

What is your vacuum reading at idle? At 1000 RPM?

Is your choke opening fully?

When the engine is fully warmed up is there much smoke coming out of the exhaust? Does it smell like coolant?

Is it possible that one or more brakes are dragging?

Do you have a compression gauge? If so, what's the compression on each of the cylinders?

Just a couple of things to check. You'll find the problem.

Mike

You said you ran it for 20 minutes, but did you keep the RPM's above 2000 for cam break-in?

I do not have a tac,so when I ran it for 20 min, I just reved it a little. trying to get as close as possile to 2000 rpms. maybe one of the front brakes is dragging. I rebuilt t he front end as well and took it all apart. How can you test if it is. should the wheels spin without friction on the brakes? How do you check? And Fix?

Originally posted by 10bolt:
I do not have a tac,so when I ran it for 20 min, I just reved it a little. trying to get as close as possile to 2000 rpms. So how do you know that you were close to 2000 rpms without a tach? Since everything is heating up, I would go deeper than thinking that a caliper is dragging.

Symptoms sound like a timing issue....

If you had a brake dragging enough to rob you of that much power the car would stop when you released the throttle. It may be that the timing gears were installed a tooth off. I have run into this with a friends engine. It ran smooth and revved up nice but didn't have any power. I pulled the timing cover off aligned the gears properly and restored all his lost power.

thats the thing I don't know if was at 2000 rpms. I figured push down almost half way. I am going to bring it to school tom. to my auto shop class and try and figure it out. Also I noticed the oil pressure dropping almost all the way down at a stop sign and going up when I gavei gas. Isn't there suppose to be a constant pressure? I am using a Auto gage from Summit the one that send oil directly to the unit.
thanks for all the help

Does your balancer and timing cover pointer match? It sounds like your timing is waay retarded. Some small blocks have a balancer that the timing mark goes straight up behind the water pump at tdc. Others are on the drivers side as normal. If you get the straight up balancer on a vehicle with the pointer on the side, you'll set your timing waaay retarded. Result, no power, overheating, manifolds glowing red etc.

Maybe use a piston stop to find TDC, then look to see if the timing marks line up.

Well I think you guys figured it out. I plugged the vac hose and put my timing light on it. I set it around 6 on the tab(drivers side) and it was running good. Another problem I think was I tied the spark plug wires together with zip ties to keep the off my headers. After cutting them and adjusting the timing it ran good. Coundn't drive more than a block b/c I haven't gotten my front end and tires balanced after rebuild.I don't want to mess that up by driving on it too much.
I think a little more tuning and a trip to the tire shop and It will be good to go.

I would like to post some pics, but can't get it to work,I have digital camera.
thanks
steve

I guess that I'm from the old school. I only use a timing light when it doesn't want to start. On a running engine I always move it around (adv/retard) until you find a sweet spot. Drive it under load a listen for pinging, if none advance until you get a little then back off 2-3 degress. I have seen too many timing tabs bent and harmonic balancers that have shifted and give you incorrect timing readings. Besides timing is an individual thing, what is good for one engine of the same size may not be so good for another engine of the same size but different components.

the oil pressure probably decayed because the temp was going up when it was overheating

What cam are you running,give us the specs like int dur @.05,lift,L/S angle? If it's a perf cam and not a bone stock factory cam then 6 deg btdc is too retartded and will also make the motor run hot and feel real lazy just like you state the motor is running.

On avg most perf hyd street perf cams need anywhere from 14-18 deg btdc intial timing with the vacuum advance plugged when setting it at a low idle like apporx 500-600rpm's which will keep the mechanical advance from comming in.

Also,check for some kind of vacuum leak leaning things out. With the way you say your motor is running you should be able to hear a load sucking noise (not at carb intake but elsewhere) if there is a leak but get the timing corrected first then look at the carb and or intake/fuel system if the timing does not correct your situation

Scott

honestly I don't know much about cams and was told it was a 270 comp cam. I don't know the specs on it. Dads friends, friend built the engine and told me this about it:
Pistons,
sealed power, feral mogul
Cam
270 comp cam
194 heads
z/28 springs
30 over
standard crank
cleavite 77 bearings

Also I have noticed a ticking when I jump on the gas. Like tick tick tick pretty loud and quick.
any ideas
thanks
steve

Steve,the loud tic tic tic you get when you JUMP on the gas could be a noisy lifter/s (re-adjust them,if still tics then possibly bad cam/lifters),detonation/pining due to overly advanced timing or to much cylender pressure due to incorrect cam choice vs compression of your motor,or possibly an exhaust leak of some kind too.

Steve,please dont take this the wrong way but from your responce to our questions i get the impression your not very experienced at working on/tuning/dialing motors which there is nothing wrong with,we all must start somehwere. But it sounds to me like you could have more than one problem going on at the same time and i would suggest you find out from the local people that are into chevy's who in the area is a very good motor building/tuning/dial in person and have them listen/look at your motor. You could learn a lot from watching & listening to them as they get your car dialed in with good basic tuning skills.

Not that you could not get it corrected with experienced help from this site and trying it yourself
but there is a lot to be learned from being involved in watching/doing it first hand with someone that has that experience and is willing to pass it on to new commers to the hobby.
Some guys including myself actually enjoy the challenge of dialing in a motor that needs some fine tuning and would be glad to help someone out new to the hobby so find that type person in your area and start learning first hand about tuning motors if you fell you need the help.

I learned a lot early on by getting help from experienced people,reading on the tuning of chey's from books/Hotrod/Super Chev then trying it 1st hand . But we did not have the web and T/C in thoses days either which is great for todays new commers to the classic muscle car hobby.

There are great books out on the sibject of tuning SBC/BBC at your local bookstore from Smokey Unik,Jonh Lingenfelter,Grummpy Jenkins,Dave Wizzard(?),etc that you can get good solid tuning & motor building bassics/info from. You can also get the book from summit,jegs,OPG,etc.

Scott

Yes you are correct, I am learning as I go. The car is at the tranny shop and the guy is going to finish dialing in the motor as well. Thanks for all the help.