No spark / running out of ideas

I put the Performer RPM on mine with no cork gaskets on the “China wall” but used Permatex Ultra Black. I also used Fel Pro on the intake gaskets instead of the Edelbrock.  I also applied Ultra Black around the water ports.  Worked well.  Strong running engine with Edelbrock intake, QF carby and DUI dizzy.

If you use silicone for the China wall seal at both ends of the intake manifold make sure to test fit the manifold before adding silicone.  You need to know how high you need to apply the silicone to fill the gap.  Every machine shop I called converted to using silicone on the China walls many years ago.  It is leak free so long as your block and manifold are clean and you put it on thick enough.  You don’t want excess but you have to have enough height to fill the gap.

MourningWood wrote: Good points. Also, it is best to let the silicone 'set' for a while, to gain some stiffness before installing manifold.  Seals better.

I learned that the third try on valve covers on an Audi S8 that kept leaking. Those sharp corners really needed some time to get set up.

However if the consensus opinion is that this is fatal error then I guess I should go ahead and pull it

My bias is to go with an opinion that allows me to move forward...

I used the ultrablack permatex. The directions didn’t say anything about waiting. Just says apply a continuous bead, remove excess with a knife, then assemble parts immediately.

24 hours should be enough curing time right?

I guess maybe curing wasn’t the right word. I meant how long before it’s ok to run it on the hose. Not that I’m really at that point.

I’ve got everything back together. I’m waiting for a fuel filter to show up then I’ll give it go. I set the timing tonight. It cranked over a whole lot faster without the oil/water sludge in it :).

Well I gave it a shot. The engine cranked well and pick up speed like it was trying to catch. Significantly faster than before.

I set the timing and it looked good. I know I was a tdc when i put the distributor back in. I watched the intake valve close and then went on to the mark. Did the slo mo timing video again and it was dead on.

The spark plug inline tester lit.

I can see fuel coming out of the jets in the carb. I tried squirting some gas down the primary passages. It really seemed like it was going to catch.

I checked the compression. Couple of things I’m not sure about. I opened the throttle all the way. I worked my way around from one to eight pulling each testing that one and then replacing it. I had the battery on the charger and another one hooked on it with jumper cables so I seemed to have decent cranking power/speed. Got about 80-85 on each. I couldn’t see the gauge while I cranked but would crank for a slow four count. I hope I’m doing something wrong or maybe I’m looking at new short block.

Do I need to do it dry then again with some fogging oil?

I drained the tank before this go. Fresh gas and fresh fuel filter .

Good means it started and ran fine when I went to pick it up. I didn’t try and pull a skier or anything so maybe the appears. I drove it for a about 10 min on the river and then headed out (I’m sure I should have been more thorough and that’s just one of the useful lessons I’ve learned).

The only time I see fuel is if I pump the accelerator and it spirits.

I’ll try to validate the gauge.

If the pressure comes up with the oil then it should be the rings correct? It seems like it should be anyway since the heads are reman.

It redo the compression test Sunday with all the plugs out.

Anything else I should check out?

I doubt I got a full six cycles. I’ll do it again with all the plugs out and try to validate the gauge. Thank you for your support of Jim’s eternal goat rodeo.

Any possibility the pushrods aren't correct for the new heads?

So my understanding was the pushrods should behave been fine for the heads. I guess if in the rebuild it has been altered then maybe not. When I attached the rockers I watched valve opposite the one I was working on. So if I 1e was fully open I would attach 1i as that one should have been on the base of the lobe. I got it to zero lash and then all torqued to 20lb within one turn of wrench.

How to I go back and test the rod length?

Well I checked the gauge against my air compressor and it was close. At worst it’s a slight underestimate.

Dry I’m getting close to 80 in all of the cylinders except #8 this time. Not sure it read 85 last time and this time it was like 100.

After the oil they all get over 100 except #4 is at 90. Most get close to 110.

Not sure how to square it in my head. When i drove it seemed to have decent midrange power and it started right up....

Anything else I need to check?