Bojo's 73 Project

[MechEng]

Sounds like you're doing a good job of checking and double checking everything. Just keep a level head and don't do anything rash! That's when things get expensive. Wish I could offer more help, trying it with a basic carb may be a good idea if MSD can't offer anything concrete for you to try.

 

[jbojo]

3/1/14

So after some thought on the issues I have decided to go back to the beginning and measure the push rods lengths to make sure they are correct. I will also re-lube the cam lobes and lifters and redo the pre loads on the lifters. Starting this effort today.

-jbojo

update: I checked the length and I think that I need a shorter length push rod. See the thread I started in the engine section.

 

[Go Time]

At the risk of sounding like an Idiot which I am, are you certain you have your distributer set correct. On of the easiest mistakes for me on the older engines is getting them 180 degrees off so its trying to fire on the exhaust stroke. Just think out loud here Im not an engine guru like some of the others but I've seen this mistake made on a few occasions by some very experienced people. Usually if you have done this It will fire, just back fire huge. Just trying to help sorry if I wasted your time and grey matter.

 

[jbojo]

At the risk of sounding like an Idiot which I am, are you certain you have your distributer set correct. On of the easiest mistakes for me on the older engines is getting them 180 degrees off so its trying to fire on the exhaust stroke. Just think out loud here Im not an engine guru like some of the others but I've seen this mistake made on a few occasions by some very experienced people. Usually if you have done this It will fire, just back fire huge. Just trying to help sorry if I wasted your time and grey matter.

Go Time.

I appreciate your inputs. Yeah, before I set the distributor and manifold on I made sure that both lifters were down and set the crank at 12* BTDC. There was no backfiring or anything. I believe that I had an ignition issue and wasn't sure if the preloads on the rockers were set properly. Decided to just double check everything again. Glad I did because I found that the push rods are a tad long so it didn't have the proper valve geometry. Hopefully the next attempt works better.

-jbojo

 

[jbojo]

3/6/14

Just a quick update here. I ordered a pushrod length checker but got the wrong one. I should be getting the correct one tomorrow and I'll be measuring what I need and the ordering the correct length ones. Hopefully I'll be on track again sometime next week.

-jbojo

 

[jbojo]

3/8/14

Got the Comp Cams pushrod length checker tool and checked some random valve tip patterns with this tool. With a nice centered wear pattern on the stem tips the length that I need is 8.15 inches. I was using 8.40 pushrods so I am thinking the valves were probably not seating completely. Hope that this was the cause of the starting issue that I was having.

Going to order these on Monday with the oil restrictors as recommended by Qcode351mach. He also recommended to use 3/8 inch ones instead of the 5/16 however I may have clearance issues because when I use the 5/16 rods I only have .016 clearance between the rod and the sides of the guide plates. I will order the thicker walled tubes though. Here is the company that I'll be ordering the pushrods from:

http://www.pushrods.net/index.html

They are located in Oregon and have a 24 hr turnaround so I should be able to get them in a couple of days.

-jbojo

 

[Qcode351mach]

3/8/14

Got the Comp Cams pushrod length checker tool and checked some random valve tip patterns with this tool. With a nice centered wear pattern on the stem tips the length that I need is 8.15 inches. I was using 8.40 pushrods so I am thinking the valves were probably not seating completely. Hope that this was the cause of the starting issue that I was having.

Going to order these on Monday with the oil restrictors as recommended by Qcode351mach. He also recommended to use 3/8 inch ones instead of the 5/16 however I may have clearance issues because when I use the 5/16 rods I only have .016 clearance between the rod and the sides of the guide plates. I will order the thicker walled tubes though. Here is the company that I'll be ordering the pushrods from:

http://www.pushrods.net/index.html

-jbojo

If your ordering the 5/16" just get the thicker wall NO Restrictor..The restrictor would be for a 3/8 didn't realize you had guide plates..Makes lots of sense that the valves were not closing completely..& might have been being pushed to far open too..

 

[jbojo]

3/8/14

Got the Comp Cams pushrod length checker tool and checked some random valve tip patterns with this tool. With a nice centered wear pattern on the stem tips the length that I need is 8.15 inches. I was using 8.40 pushrods so I am thinking the valves were probably not seating completely. Hope that this was the cause of the starting issue that I was having.

Going to order these on Monday with the oil restrictors as recommended by Qcode351mach. He also recommended to use 3/8 inch ones instead of the 5/16 however I may have clearance issues because when I use the 5/16 rods I only have .016 clearance between the rod and the sides of the guide plates. I will order the thicker walled tubes though. Here is the company that I'll be ordering the pushrods from:

http://www.pushrods.net/index.html

-jbojo

If your ordering the 5/16" just get the thicker wall NO Restrictor..The restrictor would be for a 3/8 didn't realize you had guide plates..Makes lots of sense that the valves were not closing completely..& might have been being pushed to far open too..

Thx Q, ordered my rods this morning and will get them on Wednesday. Got the 5/16th heat treated, case hardened in 8.15 length. Hopefully this takes care of my issues.

-jbojo

 

[jbojo]

3/15/14

Success!!!!!

It finally started after these last few weeks working out the problems. Only ran it for a few minutes because the temperature was reaching 210* and I didn't want to do any damage. I am thinking that its a timing issue so if anyone thinks of things that I should check please let me know. I did shoot a quick video of the startup and please excuse the bumpy pictures as I was holding the camera while trying to do other things too. I also tried to let you hear the exhaust too. I just have a pair of header mufflers connected so that I wouldn't get faulty O2 sensor readings. More tomorrow.



-jbojo

 

[MechEng]

Congratulations! What an awesome feeling that must be to finally hear it fire up! This may be a knucklehead question but did you make sure your thermostat was one of the Cleveland approved ones with the top hat?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jbojo]

Congratulations! What an awesome feeling that must be to finally hear it fire up! This may be a knucklehead question but did you make sure your thermostat was one of the Cleveland approved ones with the top hat?

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MechEng,

I thought that I got the correct thermostat. By any chance do you have a correct part number so that I can make sure? I believe that I got mine from NAPA but I don't remember the part number offhand.

thx

-jbojo

 

[Qcode351mach]

Congratulations! What an awesome feeling that must be to finally hear it fire up! This may be a knucklehead question but did you make sure your thermostat was one of the Cleveland approved ones with the top hat?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MechEng,

I thought that I got the correct thermostat. By any chance do you have a correct part number so that I can make sure? I believe that I got mine from NAPA but I don't remember the part number offhand.

thx

-jbojo

Over the counter thermo's are not going to do the job..here's what you need order direct from flow kooler..you can see the difference in the 2nd pic which is a thermo that the parts houses give you for a 351C

 

[MustangMyWay]

Congratulations! What an awesome feeling that must be to finally hear it fire up! This may be a knucklehead question but did you make sure your thermostat was one of the Cleveland approved ones with the top hat?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MechEng,

I thought that I got the correct thermostat. By any chance do you have a correct part number so that I can make sure? I believe that I got mine from NAPA but I don't remember the part number offhand.

thx

-jbojo

Over the counter thermo's are not going to do the job..here's what you need order direct from flow kooler..you can see the difference in the 2nd pic which is a thermo that the parts houses give you for a 351C

I bought one like that at the local auto parts store. I think it was Mr. Gasket. It rates at 165 degrees and then declared that it wasn't for street use. I have no idea why that would matter. I used it anyway but the car ended up having a head gasket issue so it didn't solve my problem in that case.

 

[jeff8877]

Congrats on the start up and progress...I think there are a lot of us who wish we were to that point. Going to be one nice car

 

[jbojo]

Thanks guys for all the comments and help. I believe that I have the correct thermostat but that will be the first thing I check. I was also doing some research last night and one of the items mentioned was air trapped in the cooling system preventing proper flow. The article said to raise the front end so that air would flow towards the radiator. Also noticed that the newer cars have air bleeders along the cooling system to bleed out trapped air. Too bad the car doesn't have that.

Thx again all, I appreciate all the help.

-jbojo

Oh yeah, I'll try to post an update this evening after I look at this some more today.

 

[Go Time]

Nice Video. I have really enjoyed your thread, great Job, I bet its a great feeling getting it running. It sounds great.

 

[hyena429]

Awesome John..Ill have to come check it out next weekend...Ya got to watch out for air pockets in cooling systems...We had a subaru that would get big air bubble and hydro lock alot.

 

[Doug The Dog]

Right on!!! She sounds GREAT!!! I'm glad you got the bugs worked out. Looking forward to the video of the first test drive!

-Travis

 

[jbojo]

Well problems seem to never end. I am now having almost non existent oil pressure. The oil is almost the consistency of water. I have a thread in the engine performance section about this issue. I have never had so many issues before in other builds. Not sure what's up.

-jbojo

 

[jbojo]

3/22/2014

I drained the oil today and filtered it to see if there were any metal particles in it and I came up with nothing. Still have the problem though its changed a little now. When I primed the motor with a drill I got good back pressure and about 60lbs of pressure on both mechanical and electrical gage. As the motor warmed up the pressure began to drop on both gages and at the end the mechanical gage had zero however the electrical showed about 25 lbs at idle. There are no unusual noises coming from the motor and no lifter noise so I believe that the motor is being oiled properly.

Tomorrow I am going to remove the tee that I am using for the electrical oil sensor and mechanical gage to see it that makes any difference. One question that was asked was whether I was sure that the oil pickup was the right one for the deep sump oil pan. I couldn't verify it visually however when I filled the oil again I put 5 qts in and tried to prime the motor. It immediately primed and filled up the oil filter and kept up good pressure the whole time I was priming. I then added an additional 4 qts so there should be plenty of oil.

Depending on the outcome tomorrow I'll decide whether to go ahead and pull the motor which I really don't want to do.

-jbojo