I'm trying to adjust the valves and I've never done that with stud girdles in place.. Do I have to loosen the bolts (marked 1) first and then loosen #2..
What exactly (and in what order) do I have to do to adjust the valves with my setup?

 

I check them with the stud girdle clamped and then loosen the girdle and adjust as needed. The stud girdle helps keep the studs aligned from deflecting, and they can change some from being clamped by the girdle and then unclamped.

All initial adjustments are done without the girdles to get them close, then checked after the girdle is installed.

 

George posted this site a while ago and I really like this method. That doesn't deal with the girdle but how to set the valves.

Sorry I forgot to add the link

http://www.thedirtforum.com/chevyvalves.htm
I loosen the girdle just enough to rotate the adjusting nut.
I don't think you have the set screw lock in the center?? That is another problem or way of tightening.

 

I have 3 adjustments:
1) the bolts that hold the girdle (9/16)
2) the adjusting nut (9/16)
3) set screw in the center (hex key)

 

You have the set screw in the middle. For those I set the valve slightly looser then turn the wrench and the set screw tighter at the same time to lock it securely to the stud.
If I am setting say .020 I will make the gage slightly loose then turn the wrench and the allen wrench at the same time which closes the gas slightly,

 

You might not want any info from me because i was told on www.digitalcorvettes.com that it's obvious that I don't know how to do anything. I'm not sure how he figured that out, but being their moderator he was able to cut my replies out.

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/foru...threadid=43588

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The first thing I would say is I don't like your stud girdle

I have owned three different small block models and found the Crane gold to be the best. Because you can deal with two valve only at a time. Your appears to loosen all 8 at once.

So what I would do Oliver is: Loosen the girdle four bolts just enough to be able to rotate the stud nuts.

It is best to set valve lash on a motor that's been brought up to temp and then allowed to cool to where it's hot to the touch, but not where it will burn you.

Everybodies sense of drag on a feeler gauge is different. So the best recheck after setting is: Use the next .001 - .002 larger and if it won't fit in with every thing tight. But your correct feeler gauge width should also slide in with some drag.

With allen locking nuts it's best to get the lash very close to correct, but on the loose side. then you tighten down the Allen which takes the slop out of the stud to nut threads. Then you tighten down the nut to where tight is the correct lash with some drag.

It just takes some practice as to when to tighten the allen because you might only be able to get a 1/4 Clockwise turn on the nut. This keeps everything tight and less frequency of adjustment. Because the 1/4 turn of the nut against the already snug allen really hold it in place

With Crane stud girdle you have to work on only a pair a valves at a time and never loosen the two stud type bar more than just the ability to rotate the rocker nut.

The best tools to use is a T-handle Allen set and a set of angled feeler gauges.

 

Thanks for the info.. Just set the lash on the right cylinders..

Most valves were within .002 of the specs..
(spec is .018 and most of them were .019 - .020)
However, one of the valves was .000 - zero lash

I hope that this didn't cause any damage

Checked the plugs too. All plugs are free of oil and the color is light gray... almost too light.. Might increase the secondary jet size to 86. Currently I use 84's front and back on my 1000 cfm Holley..

 

I'm still trying to figure out my hesitation issue.... Plugs look good.. lash so far looks mostly ok....
I just had the carb fixed and the hesitation is still there...
The only 2 things that I could thihnk of that cause that problem could be the carb or the ignition... The ignition is basically still new.. Only 7 passes on the new ignition.. and the carb was just fixed up...

I have no idea how to figure out what causes the hesitation...

Is there a way to test my ignition??

 

IMO - Lash plus or minus .004 won't cause damage. Outside of that you will have binding on the to tight side and noise from getting it beat up on the to loose side.

IMO - With modern ignitions once it's set with correct curves and advance that they either work or they don't work. It's the last place to look if the motor runs.

Hesitation is caused by a lean condition at the crack of the throttle. The squirter arms have to be adjusted on the primary side to leak out gas at even the tiniest slow opening of the throttle blades.

My demon carb kicked my butt on the barely moving the throttle and gas flow. I had to change the factory wrong position of the pink squirter cam. It has to place the pump arm on the cam lobe to give instant squirt at the tiniest of rotation.

 

The engine doesn't hesitate at or off idle.. It starts hesitating above 4000 RPM ... it's almost like a miss...
I still suspect the carb even though it's supposed to be fixed..

Just finished the lash on the cylinders at the left.. 2 of the valves were .002 to loose and the others were right on the money..

 

Yes, without big fancy gear other than a good dial timing light.

The best ignition check check is: A motor with the load of a rear wheel dyno will show things like spark scatter at high cylinder pressure. But with a timing light you should be able to hook on to every spark plug wire and run the motor to say 5000 and watch the light for intermitent miss fire. it could be weak coil, bad wire or wires, or even something as simple as to much plug gap.

If your motor has a power loss at 4000 rpm at WOT. That could be the RPM point of max cylinder pressure and your blowing out the spark. That's why I went to 10.4 mm spirol plug wires and Platinum plugs with only .050 gap. You might even find retarding the timing might help. I only run 32 max

 

You small block guys think your stud girdle gets in the way??

 

Hesitation is the carburetors inability to respond to changes in throttle position. It is generaly because of a lean spot that the accelerator pump is designed to cover up.

Why are you moving the throttle around in the middle of a drag race?

BigBlockk

Later.....

 

Norval - I also see that even Crane thinks big block guy are kind of stupid!

They have to spell out what is exhaust and intake!

 

Thanks for the information.. The issue is that the engine ran perfect with the exact same setup before.. (same timing, same jetting, same spark plug gapping etc.). I'm currently running a bit on the lean side (light gray spark plugs) but nothing to be concerned about.
I'll try hooking up the timing light to every cylinder and see if I'll notice anything unusual at higher rpms on any of the cylinders..
I really suspect the carb to be the problem..... Everything that I could've possibly checked so far looked good..

 

The throttle is always at WOT, but the engine starts hesitating/missing at about 4000 - 6500 RPM during the entire pass.. The throttle position is always wide open..

 

here's a video of the hesitation during acceleration!

http://media.putfile.com/hesitating2

 

Wow, that's weird! Sounds like it's running out of fuel for sure.

 

yup, it sounds like it but I had plenty of fuel in the tank... Too bad that I don't have a fuel pressure gauge that can be seen from the inside...
That hesitation also happens when I rev the car up at idle, so it's not just under load...

 

A fuel pressure gauge will rule out alot. I tape one to the outside of a customers windshield when diagnosing your type of problem The way it falls off way down the track says it's not the accelerator pumps, your way past their responsibilities.