3&4 cylinder rich

[SteveJ]

update: Finally got a little time to work on the z today. I did a compression check and all cylinders have 125 to 130 except 3 which has 120. A little low but fairly even across the board.

Before doing that I pulled wires with it running and 3 didn't drop rpm as much as others. Although the spark looked good. I could back the wire almost an inch away from the plug before it would lose its arc and it was nice and blue. No real suprises.

I ohmed the wires and they show 1.2 ohms? Not sure if thats right . Seems good though. The old plugs were gapped at .030 I gapped these at .035 Hope that is not too wide.

I drove the car and it runs fine. Still coldblooded but it does ok if you feather the throttle and keep it about 2000 rpm till it warms up a little.I did notice it idles about 1000 rpm when warm now. A little higher, maybe due to the wider gap.

Still haven't got a timing light on it. Maybe tomorrow..

I think I have finally got my son convinced that this car / engine was not designed to drive 3 blocks to school and shut off using the choke all the time. This needs to be his evening / weekend car. I'll educate him on this old school hotrod yet:cool:

Need to do some more reading and make sure I've got the procedure right for checking timing. And I'd like to check valve clearance. I expected this engine to make a little racket with a mechanical cam but it is quiet. Normal? It looks like it should be .020 in. and .025 ex. cold I think.

The valve clearances are in the FSM, and the numbers you posted aren't right. Kammy's Valve Adjustment Procedure is one of the more popular ways of checking your valves. (The FSM will also have all sorts of other specs such as spark plug gaps. Download a copy yesterday.)

Also, have you checked your thermostat to make sure it is closed when the car is cold? A thermostat stuck open will cause poor running when the engine is cold.

[torker]

Thanks for the link. I downloaded the FSM. Sorry I added a decimal place:stupid: I just checked and it said .20 in. and .25 ex. cold and .25 in. and .30 ex. warm ?? this should look better.

I haven't checked the thermostat but it actually warms up pretty quick. I just ran it for a couple min. and then drove it about 3 mi. and it was almost to oper. temp.

I think my son thought that it should act like a newer fuel inj. car. Start it and go. Gotta go to work so more tomorrow hopefully.

[SteveJ]

Thanks for the link. I downloaded the FSM. Sorry I added a decimal place:stupid: I just checked and it said .20 in. and .25 ex. cold and .25 in. and .30 ex. warm ?? this should look better.

Actually, that's a WHOLE LOT worse. Where are you getting this info from?

[zKars]

Torker:

You're getting your millimeters and your inches mixed up! Read those specs again!

For a guy from Kansas,

0.080 (Intake) and 0.010 (Exhaust) in INCHES cold!

0.010 (I) and 0.012 (E) in INCHES hot!

FSM grab attached.

Jim

[SteveJ]

Torker:

You're getting your millimeters and your inches mixed up! Read those specs again!

For a guy from Kansas,

0.080 (Intake) and 0.010 (Exhaust) in INCHES cold!

0.010 (I) and 0.012 (E) in INCHES hot!

FSM grab attached.

Jim

See, that's why we need Canadians participating in these forums to remind us Americans that the metric system exists.

[torker]

oops thank you 0.20 mm. and 0.25 mm. cold See that is why I post here. My first metric vehicle...

[Walter Moore]

I guess I am the odd man out here. All of my feeler gauges are in mm, and I have to convert from inches to mm when I work on old American cars.

[SteveJ]

I guess I am the odd man out here. All of my feeler gauges are in mm, and I have to convert from inches to mm when I work on old American cars.

You MUST have bought those in Canadaland.

[beandip]

torker, I think you are going to find that there is not much parallel between a L-6 and a Chev. V-8.

As for your cold bloodiness. It's simply the nature of the beast. Especially this time of year. The advise to use NGK plugs was vary good advise. For some reason the others just don't work as well. I have tried believe me.

Gary

[torker]

It does idle a lot higher with the new plugs. My son even noticed.

Today I'm going to check timing and adjust the idle and mixture. Do these solid cams tick at all? I assumed it would but it seems really quiet. That is why I'm wondering, I want to make sure they're not too tight. I'm sure it is different than a solid cam with solid lifters like I am used to.

The similarities I notice to the smallblock is the parts swapping and the ability to get to stuff to work on it, 10 min. to change a starter:love:. And the cam. My truck has 480 lift 232 dur. @.050 and 108 lobe sep. 6000 rpm redline. Kinda like the "aggressive" cams for these engines.

[torker]

Alright, found one of my problems. The locknut on the rear carbs bellcrank was loose. The front carb would open about 1/8 " before the back would even move. So I bent the tab up and tightened the nut and bent the tab back down to lock it. Much better.

I lowered the idle and readjusted the mixture. Of course everytime the idle would go back up so I did this 3 or 4 times and now you can idle away from a stop. Yay!

I can really start to see the potential of this little motor. It looks like the timing is a little fast still but as soon as I found the linkage problem I tackled it first.

Now I have got to go after the clunk in the rear. A slightly greasier job:ermm:

Thanks again to all who have helped.. I'm starting to really get in the zone working on this. So much funner than the latemodel crap that takes a contortionist and a computer degree.

I have been twisting wrenches for close to 35 yrs. but I haven't done more than oil changes and brakes for the last ten yrs. till I got this. Not even my car..But it's all good..