so i put a k-kit in my car a couple of weeks ago. finally got it running good last week. i mean amazing. it was brilliant. however when i did the cam swap i did not get the timing cover sealed very good because it leaks oil bad. i thought however that it was the oil pan where it meets the timing cover so i took it took a local do it yourself garage and left the motor connected to the tranny but took out motor mount bolts, dist cap, and manual fuel pump because it was in the way of the motor mount bolts. after replacing the pan gasket, i put it all back together. could not get it to start i did all of the normal troubleshooting. well my starter started turnign over really slowly and of course i thought for sure it was a dead battery, after replacing the battery and the starter i realized it was neither. so i poured oil over both the heads thinking that somehow they may have seized and moved all of my plugs forward one position at the advice of the do it yourself help mechanic. it started rioght off. now that i have the timing and carb what seems to be set...... the motor has no power and rocks and shutters horribly durring acceleration and slightly during constant rpm or speed. any ideas is it possible that i bent rods or something or maybe worse?

Need some elaboration on these two procedures. But, is it safe to assume that you jacked the engine up to change the oil pan gasket? If so did the distributor hit the fire wall and bend the shaft? This would be a possible cause of the symptoms you describe. Then again, I don't know if you pulled all the plug wires from the distro and then maybe have them incorrectly installed on the cap? the firing order is 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2. With more info we can figure out what's going or not going on.

So you guys have D-I-Y shops where you live? That's cool. We don't have those anymore because of insurance. You know somebody gets hurt they want to sue the garage for millions? Yeah that's why we don't have those here.

yeah im in the marine corps so there is one on base here that i can use for about 6 dollars a day and they have every tool except machining stuff.

[quote=csmith3;4228835]But, is it safe to assume that you jacked the engine up to change the oil pan gasket? If so did the distributor hit the fire wall and bend the shaft? This would be a possible cause of the symptoms you describe. quote]

no im pretty sure there is no way that i hit the dist on the firewall behind the engine because to be honest that was one of my main concerns. so i watched that like a hawk so to speak..

well it just kept turning over so slow and i was desperate for a answer as to why so i figured since it was dry and open for about a day maybe it had seized somehow and since you only put oil in one side if the engine i pulled the breather out of the opposite head cover and added a quart there...... as for the plugs i had the right order the guy thats works at the diy place just looked at my chiltens manual and said he thought that my plugs were exactly one off count clockwise, however i marked them and the dist cap before removal and they were exactly as they were when i drove it to the diy place.

only thing is i moved them right after i put the oil in so now i cant be sure which made the fix the oil or the plug wires.

yes you definetly cant get the pan off until you jack it up about 3 or 3.5 in or so.

origionally when it wouldnt start i just figured it was because i had taken the fuel pump off you know cause had to get that fuel running again and then i ended up flooding it really good for sure.


oh ya and during the whole thing of trying to start it, it did start once but i turned it off after i reved it up once and the engine almost came out of the car. i have never seen nor have i heard an engine sound like that when it started up. it was like all the parts were in the motor but none of them were bolted down

When in doubt and unsure of putting things back together correctly (like I've done), I always start with the simplest things. First was the car running good after the cam swap ? If so, then try setting timing from ground zero. Find tdc and line up your dist #1 to spark plug # 1 and make sure your firing order is correct. Should fire up at that point.

so start over completely with timing you think because its running already

Maybe you forgot to tighten the motor mounts.

ill go check right now but would that leave me with a loss of power to?

well just removed and reinstalled the distributor... did not fix it .... set timing about four times checked.... did not fix it. motor mount bolts are tight.... anybody got any other suggestions? it feels like the engine is shaking and my whole car is shaking... but during each little shake of the engine and car it feels like there is a great loss of power in the car and it actuallly sounds sort of quiet... any ideas at all would be great right now i am willing to try anything

just bringing this to the top in hopes of some help

did it start running that way when you swapped the cam, or after?

Make sure you didn't blow an injector bank fuse. Check to make sure you have power to both injector banks when the key is on.

i was just about to say that it could possibly be the fuel system... just something like a routine checkup all around..

Have not been on here for a few days. Check the compression in all cylinders. I swapped a cam and I messed up causing a valve to bend and break the spring. No compression in that cyl. gave the same symptom you describe. Engine shaking violently, loss of power and overheating.

How did you degree the camshaft when you installed it? And you might try moving all your plug wires 180 degrees. Believe it or not it will run with the timing 180 degrees off. Just not well. TDC for #6 can sometimes look like TDC for #1. I did a top end swap on a 396 and did just that. Moved all the plug wires 4 over and it ran like a champ.

Also where in North Carolina are you? Im Stationed over in Cherry Point.

im kinda having this problem too. my car shakes like crazy when i accelerate. i just recently took the engine and tranny out and put them back in. i could possibly have the wires mixed up though. anyone know of a diagram of which wires are supossed to go to which plug? and flames came outta the carb a couple of time lol. but i get to go to cherry point too! im leaving in October for basic. my MOS is heli crew chief.

well congrats and good luck with the new occupation.

well i cleaned all the plugs and checked all the wires for about the 600th time. no problems.

crancked it over with each spark plug out one at a time and i could feel air being pushed out at each cylender from each plug hole but i dont have the compression checking tool and my car is stuck at the house till i fix this because i am not going to really break something you know. as for the rods none are broken because i pulled the intake off just now and they are all intacked.

can i tell if the valves are stuck or the springs are broken by pulling off the valve covers and looking at them .? keep in mind that my intake is currently removed so starting the car is now a no no since the dist is out and the oil pump wont be pumping.

i didnt see what i thought looked like abnormal wear and tear on the rods or lifters. obviously i cant really see the cam but

it happened after i raised the engine and changed the pan last

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i am going to have to assume this does not apply to me considering that my car is carburated

i did check and also all of my fuel parts are brand new with the exception of the tank in the back.


any help please thanks if i did not answer any of your questions good enough then please ask me again and more into detail please i would really like to help you help me

Yeah you'll be able to tell if something goofy is going on with teh valves by pulling the valve covers. Look for broken springs and misalligned rockers.

well it looks like all the rockers are good and so are the springs is their any way to compress the springs to see if my valves are stuck. ?

well you can turn the motor over by hand and watch everything. But if you've got hydraulic lifters I doubt that will work all that well actually...

ya couldnt tell anything guess im gonna pull off the heads tomarow to see if i can find the problem on the bottom side

The engine was running well BEFORE it began rocking and rolling, and only had an oil leak, right?

If all you did was remove the Distributor CAP and NOT the distributor itself, then your should NOT have moved the spark plug wires. There was no need to move the wires. Set the timing with a timing light, maybe, but move the wires. NO.

So you fixed the leak but MOVED the spark plug wires at the distributor cap and NOW it's rock and roll time.

Don't over-analyze this. Go back to the point where the engine was running well. Then identify what change(s) you made AFTER that point - that's where you'll find the cause. Whatever you changed is causing your problem.

Remove the #1 spark plug, crank the engine with your finger stuck in the spark plug hole and find TDC on the COMPRESSION stroke. The check to see where the distributor rotor's pointing and adjust the plug wires as necessary.

You could well have a couple of plug wires crossed - Have a fresh set of eyes look at how you have them plugged in. Sometimes people lose their objectivity after looking at the same thing for too long - Problem may be right in front of you but you're just NOT seeing it.

Jake

West Point ROCKS!

well i did have an ase buddy come over after work and duble check me. he said it was all good and he did set tit to tdc. it timed good and all. light was used. just dont know but i think that i jumped the gun by tearing the intake back off and stuff i just had a hip surgery and to be honest i think that i do not have the durability and the strength for this car any longer. i am going to sell it. it is a great car but i physicaly cannot keep up with the demand of this car anymore. if there is anyone out there who would like to see it or may be interested let me know vardaman6406@ec.rr.com. thanks for everyones help but this just cant be done by me anymore.

ha fixed it!!!!!!!!! the dang gum cap on my distributor had a groove in it on the side so when i saw that i looked really close at the rotor and then i saw it!! the rotor tip had actually cracked and chipped off and so at certain cylenders there was no connection for spark that is why my compression was good and plug wires and plugs were good but no good motor..... replaced cap rotor plugs and wires, had a pro come over and set my timing and show me how to tune my new carb and man that thing is mean now... well as mean as a 305 can be anyway thanks for everyones help this ended up a great success at a low cost god bless you all

ok so after a few weeks of running good now again it runs like crazy shakes. timing good valves and valve lash and springs all good. any thoughts at all just started shaking again even when not under load