Ok, ladies an germs. I just replaced the plug wires on the 283 we just put in my '54 Chevy 210. Decided to back it outta the garage to wash it and it died in the driveway. I'd had it idling before with no problems, but when I'd switch to R, she'd die. Pushed it back into the garage and had my father-in-law and dad check the timing. They adjusted it and the points and it was idling again, I could even get in gear, but driving from the garage to the street it'd backfire and feel like the engine was bogging down. My dad thought I had water in my tank, so we dumped a can of sea foam in it. Drove it down the street and back, still backfiring and not a lot of power. Got back and pulled the plugs. Some were gapped at 40, some 43. Reset all of them to 35. Test drove it again. My father-in-law kept trying to remind me that I lost a lot of HP going from a 327 with a q-jet to a 283 with a 2 barrel. I won't argue that, but I don't feel this is normal. I wouldn't feel safe driving it like this on an onramp, let alone the highway. When I replaced the plug wires, I did it one at a time to avoid crossing them, however, I'll check again to make sure. I believe I bump the engine over until the timing marks line up to find TDC, take off the cap and make sure the rotor's pointed to the number 1 cylinder, right? Then go from there. I've never adjusted points, I'll have to have my dad help there. Anything else I should look for? The 2GC appears complete, except for the choke, which I'll be repairing since I would like a choke. Any help appreciated! Thanks! It's primitive technology that is further compromised in the name of vanity.- HAMBer Cleatus Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Do you know any history on the 283? Kinda sounds like a flat cam......if the plug wires are right that is.
Sounds like crossed wires Was it running OK before you replaced the wires? If it was, then somehow they got crossed If you did not run the engine before you changed the wires but replaced them one at a time there is the chance that they were crossed before you touched them. Check the firing order, make sure you have #1 on TDC compression stroke. If all is OK, look elsewhere....as stated above maybe a flat cam lobe(s)
My 283 has plugs gapped at 42. My plugs came gapped at 42 but I also verified the gap in the the "old car manual project" web site. I'll look for a link Edit: Jim is correct mixing up my cars
I would first pull the distributor cap off and take a good look at it inside and out. Look for carbon tracks, especially if the car was just washed, moisture may have gotten up into the cap.
The firing order in a chevy is 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2, if your staring at the distributor from the front of the motor, the number one plug wire should be to the right of the middle/front plug, and the the distributor turns clockwise to the front which is the number 8, and then so on. So as everyone has mentioned double check the order, and dont forget that if it as that way it doesnt mean it was right, because most motors are usually pulled out because they had a problem so just because it was that way its still worth a double check. if the wires are crossed though the motor will usually shake also so if its not dancing around you might wanna check your timing, I think its usually 8 degrees out from tdc but I could be wrong but some people set them to 0 degrees. best of luck and keep us posted
How did it run before the wire change? Have you ever had this thing running correctly? What else did you do to it since it was running correctly? If you have some history , you can just retrace your steps back to when it was running. If you don't have history you'll need to start at square one and come up.
We had the cap off at one point and it seemed ok, but I'll check again while checking for crossed wires. It did seem to be shaking to me, which makes me want to check the wires. Not violently shaking, just a tremor as it goes through the RPMs. We'd started it up and it'd idled, but this was the first time the car moved under its own power since the engine install. I'll give it a once over and report back my findings. Thanks, everyone! It's primitive technology that is further compromised in the name of vanity.- HAMBer Cleatus Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Ok I'll try to ask better questions - So is this is the first time you've seen this engine run, ever?
The rebuilder ran it for us on a stand before we bought it and we fired it up once before I changed the plug wires and connected the throttle. It's primitive technology that is further compromised in the name of vanity.- HAMBer Cleatus Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
What trans are you using? I'm wanting to know if it Has a vacuum modulator. And do you also type your signature into every post? It shows twice FYI. Verify your #1 location on the distributor cap. Bring #1 up on compression and see where the rotor is pointing in relation to the cap terminal. Check your firing order - then check it twice more. If you still have trouble,,, Square one- Do a piston stop test to verify your timing marks. Run a compression test to see where you are at and record the info. That will take you every bit of 30 mins and give you a good place to start with piece of mind and no tail chasing. If those pass then it's just trouble shooting 101. That's testing not parts tossing or money throwing.
I don't type my signature and I didn't know it posted twice! I had the iPhone app set to use it and I guess the web site set to use it so that caused the double post? I turned it off in the app, let's see if that helps! Thanks for the advice, all of it I plan on doing! It should be a 350 trans. There is a vacuum tube coming off of it, and my father-in-law believes we have our vacuum lines connected incorrectly, which keeps the distributor from advancing (in theory) but I want to look over it before I say it's wrong. Since I never had it out of the car and rarely crawl under the transmission, I've relied on photographs, which are always great to have anyway for parts reference! Here's what I saw when I crawled under the oil pan to add the clips that hold the longest plug wires away from the exhaust. We have a vacuum from the trans, one from the distributor and I put a PCV valve in the back of the block where the old road draft tube was and have a hose running from that to the carb. Where would you guys connect all these to? I'm running a Rochester 2GC and I thought I'd ask the experts Thanks! Also, after the last test drive, I noticed these burn marks (?) on my intake? I know they're a spot for heat to go (that's why the choke thermostat goes there) but should I be concerned? Yes, I know the piece for the divorced choke is wrong. That's off my old q-jet. My dad and father-in-law stuck that on there for some reason...
I would not Tee the PCV valve to the transmission modulator, see if you can find somewhere else to connect it. not many fittings on an early intake, I know...maybe use a hollow carb stud, like chevy did around then.
Yeah, I know some vacuum ports wanna be dedicated, not shared. Gotta try to retrofit it! I've got videos of it running in various points of our tuning. I used to be able to post vids from the iPhone app, but not any more? LOL in my defense, the tremor is more noticeable with an air cleaner on it, but I only had a 4 barrel one and I JUST got an adapter
You have a hollow carb stud, There's a screw in it. You also have a plug in the intake manifold vacume port. #8 runner. Your distributor looks like its off based on the location of the points window.
are 3 and 6 crossed? if 1 in the photo is on the left and there is one behind it i can not see that heads toward the passenger side [even] then 4 [passenger side] then 3 should head toward driver side and 6 back to passenger side, then 5 [driver] 7 driver 2 passenger side. or am i looking at it wrong?
I'd looked at that before, but isn't that where my heat tube should go for the choke? Like I said, I know it's missing some parts right now, but I'd like to get it functional. I haven't had the chance to check for crossed wires yet, since the car isn't stored at home. I should be able to go over the whole car this weekend. Thanks for all the advice! I'll also have access to a timing light then, too. I've saved this diagram to my phone, is it worth referring to?
Squirrel, I was doing some searching and posts I'd seen on chevytalk lead me to believe there's a T at the trans line splitting it to the advance and to the back of the carb? http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/302230/ sorry for linking another site if it's not allowed! Currently, the advance goes to the front of the carb and the PCV and trans vacuum are T'd to the back of the carb, if I remember correctly. I don't have a pic to verify, though. Thanks for all the advice, everyone! I'll post more when I get back under the hood.
That looks off to me - My eyes tell me that #1 should be in the # 7 spot and the window should face towards the passenger side. In this pic, i tried to duplicate your photo angle & The yellow tape wire is #1 Also you may be able to make out the "F" vacuum fitting in #8 runner. With it Here you can connect both your vacuum advance and transmission modulator. However it really doesn't matter much how the distributor is dropped in as long as you know where #1 is and the vacuume advance pot doesn't contact anything while adjusting timing and you can access the points adjustment. You'll find correct diagrams that show #1 against the fire wall too. Problem is you don't know how the dizzy was dropped unless you check by having 1 up on compression and removing the cap - or you dropped the dizzy in. I always have the rotor point towards #1 cylinder. Keeps it simple and it makes perfect sense 99 percent of the time. A numbered flat crossfire cap would be the 1%
With the engine off pump the throttle. The jets are on top and they will send a stream into the throttle bores. If there is no stream of gas check that the linkage is attached. In one of the photos it appears that it is. The pump is rebuildable.
Thanks! I'd seen a few rebuilding videos on YouTube, but never knew how to test it! Looks like there's several kinds of pumps, but certain ones can't be rebuilt? I'll test it out! Thanks!
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