Starting to understand why building engines may be best left to the professional

[turbohunter]

Just a follow up to Drews comments.
Those Innova lights are cool but only the high dollar red light (#5568 IIRC) is good with MSD ignitions.
I made the mistake of buying what they called an electronic light (second highest dollars to buy) and it does not work.
I called them and gave 'em a ration of sh-t for calling it electronic and not working on an electronic system.
They said, "We're sorry you misunderstood".

[Yellow Truck]

Marc - that is a classic "non-apology" - translation "we are sorry you are unhappy with our bad behaviour, but not sorry about our behaviour". It may be the light, I was seriously not impressed with it to begin with. It came with a dial so you could enter the advance on the light and see TDC at the mark. The dial kept falling off and since I didn't need it (that is why they put the marks on the balancer) I glued it on and in the zero position.

I'll have a look with the old school snapon light. Kind of distracted this week, my wife is in the hospital following a cardiac episode, so the truck will wait.

[turbohunter]

Oh crap
Hope she's ok.
Yeah take care of her.

[Yellow Truck]

Thanks Marc. Life wins over fun projects. Turns out she didn't do any harm to her heart, but she is booked for a triple in a few days. She feels good at the moment, trick is to keep her that way.

She made the comment that she had had a "mild" heart attack. I pointed out that cardiologists only know of two kinds of heart attacks. The kind where they are talking to the patient, and the other kind.

[Lenz]

I had one of those 2 kinds almost 15 years ago.  It truly is great what capabilities they now have to handle these issues.  Prayers for your wife for a successful operation and speedy recovery.

[Yellow Truck]

Well, Trudy is recovering very well from her bypass, but my engine seems to be suffering from angina. I gave the truck to a shop to do some exhaust work and lean the carb down a bunch while Trudy was in the hospital - they put a 3.5 power valve in, took the front jets down from 76 to 72 and the rear jets down from 78 to 74 and the pump to 35. It no longer makes your eyes water form incomplete combustion. It was still running on so I had them wire in the resistor that MSD provides - I should have done it sooner but was distracted by the distributor. They also put in colder plugs.

The Ford distributor was jumping around and the MSD - as noted on another thread (may it rest in peace) - came back so we tried it again. It lasted 40 minutes this time, we did as MSD directed and confirmed that the module was fried. My guy was going to take the old Ford dizzy apart and see what he could do (I was still a full time maid and dog walker at the time) but I gave him a new rotor that seemed to fit better.

I've had time to put about 30 miles on it, but I've noticed the timing was up at 24 degrees two days ago, and yesterday it was at 20. Vacuum is stubbornly in the 6 to 7 range. Also the cap is looking pretty bad again (this is a new cap with 30 miles on it).


MSD did offer to swap straight across for a version of the distributor that doesn't have a module or a vacuum canister, and I'm not sure how useful a vacuum canister is at 6 inches of mercury. I did have the O2 sensor bungs welded into the collectors and should get an LM2 kit in the courier next week. I'm not happy with how it is running, it actually had more snap and was more drivable when it was too rich. O2 readings should help.

[gdaddy01]

this months Hot Rod mag has some good imfo in it that may help you out .

[Yellow Truck]

this months Hot Rod mag has some good imfo in it that may help you out .

gdaddy - I had a look at the website and didn't see anything that seemed particularly relevant.

BTW I also realized that I am mistaken. The cap in the picture was on the distributor with the rotor that didn't fit. The shop didn't put on the one I gave them - it was beige.

[gdaddy01]

It wasn't an article on Fe's , but a sbc , but had good points on timing and vacuum advance , what jets to run , power valves . there is two different articles that I thought where good .   really sounded like some of your issues .  maybe not .

[TJ]

My computer won't let me see your dyno sheet or cam specs, but if you think 6 in of Hg is way low for vacuum then might do a leak down test to see if all your valves are closing...considering all the rocker adjustment challenges you've had. 

Might also replace the PCV valve with a breather until you get things sorted out.

[Yellow Truck]

Thank TJ, PCV is blocked at present, and all the cylinders showed about 120-125 PSI when I did the test last time. Not that high for the compression this engine should make.

[TJ]

Sounds like you tested compression.  I'm recommending you set each piston to TDC, hook it up to 100 psi, and listen for leaks.  Or use an actual leak down gauge if you have one handy.  Will probably leak a little past the rings but shouldn't leak past the valves.

[My427stang]

This whole tune seems odd, leaning it out, small power valve, just doesn't seem necessary for your build.  Must be something goofy going on

[scott foxwell]

Thank TJ, PCV is blocked at present, and all the cylinders showed about 120-125 PSI when I did the test last time. Not that high for the compression this engine should make.

Did you degree the cam when you installed it? Static compression and cranking cylinder pressure aren't always related.

[Yellow Truck]

We installed it as the cam instructions called - zero degrees. On the question of cranking pressure vs static compression one of my buddies told me to calm down and get it broken in. I still have less than 200 miles on it.

I'm grasping at straws on the whole vacuum thing. It is starting easily and running ok, but it is quite variable. It is hesitant and jerky on steady cruise some times, and quite happy at others. Seems happiest after about 20 minutes of running, worth noting that the coolant temp is steady so it isn't getting really hot.

Seemed to have more punch before we backed everything off, but it was fouling the plugs before we did. I just put a different distributor cap on and will put a few miles on it and see if it is still arcing and burning the inside of the cap. The timing was set by ear the last time we put the old Ford distributor in (after the second MSD fail), and a day later I got my light on it and it was at 24 degrees, next day when I started it the timing was at 20. There is definitely something fishy with this old distributor.

I have the option of swapping the MSD 8595 ready to run (has a bad module) for an MSD 8594 with no module, but also no vacuum pot. I've asked MSD if a pot can be added to the 8594. My alternative is to return it (hate to stick Barry R with it, but he is a big boy and won't complain) and buy a new Duraspark.

It is also still firing backwards on shut down sometimes. I've added the resistor that MSD recommend with 6AL box. When it doesn't fire backwards it shuts down cleanly, before the reduction in jets and powervalve it was running on or firing backwards. BTW with vacuum at 6 inches the stock powervalve was probably open at idle.