Yes - you should warm the motor first.
On the lifter question - Take a valve cover off, and use a pen light or something similar to look through the holes in head into the lifter valley. You can see the tops of the lifters where the pushrods seat. Hydraulic lifters will have a C or U shaped clip made of wire holding the guts in. Also, if they are hydraulic you can depress them a few thousandths by simply pushing hard on the rocker arm or pushrod. If you pick the right hole on the head you can actually watch this with the flashlight. It may be easier to remove one rocker arm and pushrod depending on what type of rocker arms you have.
But it really sounds like you have a carb problem. Have you had the top of the carb off?

 

L46 350/350hp

Ok....Hydraulic lifters. What setup do you guys recommend? I can warm the engine but want to adjust not running.

I took the Carb apart and everything is clean and seems to be setup ok. Nothing gunked or sticking. Float seems correct. I plan on cleaning body with gumout carb cleaner and rebuilding it. Any suggestions before I reassemble? I will follow Lars Q-jet tuning paper.

Thanx
Buddy

 

Adjusting valves, Hydraulic:

Start with all the rockers loosend up and remove all spark plugs.

FOR EACH CYLINDER; Rotate the crankshaft in the normal direction of rotation until the exhaust valve just starts to open - adjust the INTAKE valve for that cylinder only. Then rotate the crankshaft some more until the intake valve just starts to close - adjust the exhaust valve for that cylinder only. This procedure ensures that the lifter for the valve being adjusted is on the base circle of the cam. Move to next cylinder set of valves and repeat.

Proper (acceptable) adjustment is reached by tightening the rocker nut until there is zero lash (take up until there is no slop- no gap between the rocker and pushrod or rocker and valve tip), then tighten 1/2 turn additional.

 

I adjusted the valves this way and only tightened 1/4 turn more. The motor spun like a top with no compression. The valves never closed. When I looked down at the lifters I saw a 1/8 lip around the top with a snap ring holding the solid center piece. A previous post suggested these are Hyd but solid lifters has this config as well. I am back to thinking these are solid lifters. I do not think my problem is here.

Buddy

 

If solid lifters the procedure is the same, except for using a feeler gauge of the proper thickness to set the lash at the valve tip. If lash specification is unavailable, try .020 - .022 inch - cold.

 

Solid lifters have the clip too. Maybe I wasn't clear on what to look for. At this point even using the .020 method, the engine should still idle steady enough to get a vacuum reading. If you are convinced the valves are set correctly, warm the motor up and get it to idle as steady as you can. Now check the manifold vacuum. There is a reason your pulling fuel from the main metering system and the vacuum gauge will help narrow it down.
Does the exhaust stink of raw fuel?

 

I rebuilt the carb but no help, I am going to get another carb to try before I waste anymore of mine or you guys time. I will post what happens in a day or so..

Thx so much for your patience.

Buddy

 

Good luck man. Some of these can be a real PITA, but you can't help but learn from them!

 

It definitely sounds to me like you have a solid lifter cam. A hydraulic lifter will bleed down after you add the preload so if they aren't then they are solid. Has the car ever idled smoothly below 1500? Have you double checked the ignition timing at idle? I see that all in at 3000 you've got 36 but where are you at initial and are you checking that all in figure with the vacuum advance connected? SO if you have 36 including a bunch of vacuum advance then your initial may actually be retarded from TDC and causing you an issue at idle. The other thing that could be in play here also is the the cam may not have been degreed and could be installed advanced several degrees which wouldn't help things on the low end. Not knowing what is in there and if it was installed correctly puts you at a disadvantage.

 

You got that right, I got this car 5 years ago and never saw it run or drive. The fact that the cam is solid lifter means someone has f*#ked with it and makes you wonder just what the hell I have. I DO NOT want to disassemble the motor but in the end may have to.

Arrgggg!!!!

Buddy

 

There really aren't any "small" solid cams. If you're running a bone stock '79 q-jet the idle circuit will be in adequate. The late 70s q-jets can be made into very good performers as they are actually 800 cfm units, the idle circuit is very lean though. Probably why yours is pulling fuel from the main jets.

 

I'll setup my indicator and at least measure the lift of the cam. This may help.

Thx

 

The idle circuit has several metering points, but often you can get where you need to be by simply modifying the throttle plate.

Use a 3/32" drill bit (it's a common size you probably have in your tool box) to open up the idle screw holes. This alone may do it.

While you have the throttle plate out working on it, you can also open the idle bypass air ports, but this is a bit more subtle (i.e. you need to know what you are doing), and requires special drill bits. It is, however, very easy and between these two mods you can almost always get the air and fuel you need below the throttle plates to eliminate the nozzle drip.

God bless, Sensei

 

All the time in rebuilding and swapping carbs and throwing wrenches is it really less trouble than pulling the water pump and timing cover and checking for some part numbers on the front of the cam? Start from the top. Is compression within 10lbs or so on all cylinders? Since the previous guy put a cam in there did you double check you've got no coil bind or anything that could cause a real problem from some ham fisted hot rodders previous mods? Maybe you have stock springs with a big cam and getting it running will lead to killing it. I'd get to the front of the cam. Get a part number and identify it. Put a degree wheel on it along with your guage and degree the cam to spec. Adjust the valves with 20 thou clearance, double check you don't have any coil bind in the sprigs. Disconnect the vacuum advance and check the initial timing. I'd ask a SBC expert here but you should have some initial advance with a hotter cam I'd say 10 deg would be a good starting point but I'm a FE Ford guy and I run 18 initial on my 390 & 410. DOuble check for vacuum leaks some soapy water is a cheap way to find out why your motor isn't running properly. Now you have a properly degreed cam, you have proper timing and have ensured you have a sealed intake system. You know the valve-train parts on the car will not cause death to the motor if you start romping on it. You also know if the cam is actually so big that you are going to have idle circuit problems. At this point you may have a carb issue and you can start chasing that gremlin. That IMO. FYI I once bought a car drove it home and then went to tune it to get it running correct. I found a hydraulic aftermarket cam installed with lash set like a solid. I then found coil bind because the cam was too big for the stock springs. If the idiot hadn't put 24 thou of lash on the cam then I probably would have had a spring break and suck a valve on the drive home. Lesson is you have no idea what you are tuning until you tear it apart.