teamo

The front suspension is basically done so now it is on to some engine work. Going to pull off the carb for a rebuild, the distributor for a rebuild, and remove the intake for sand blasting and painting. After that I need to replace the valve stem seals. So the question is what sequence to do things. All of the push rods seem a little loose so I am assuming that it is because the lifters have no oil pressure in them due to the engine being idle for so long. Should I prime the engine with a distributor tool, replace the oil seals, and adjust the rockers prior to removing the intake? Or should I remove the intake and rebuild everything, put it back together, and then run the engine prior to replacing the seals? I have the engine at TDC compression stroke on the #1 cylinder so I am concerned about getting the distributor dropped back in at the correct spot without rotating the engine over to do the oil seals/rocker adjustment.

DUB

I myself would take off the intake so when I was doing the valve seals..I could remove some of the lifter and see if they are dished out or not.

I never worry about if I loose #1TDC due to I can easily find it again

As for adjusting hydraulic lifters...they do not need to be pumped up due to I set them when they are cold so it also does not matter.

DUB

HeadsU.P.

H-m-m-m-m. All the pushrods seem a little loose. When you do pull the intake to get at the lifters, take a real hard look at the base of the lifters and the lobes of the cam. Look for extreme wear patterns and a concave lifter base. Have you been running oil with Zinc for the last several years? If not, you have a bigger project in store for you. Its possible the lifters bled down from sitting. Lets hope so.

The oil primer tool is normally used just minutes before firing-up a sleeping engine. Make sure you use the correct primer with a collar, not a cheapie.

The valvestem seals can be replaced at your convenience. Always double check that the cylinder you are working on has the piston at TDC. Use a couple of feet of soft rope to hold the valves up for you as you remove the springs / retainers. You could do that chore last, after the dizzy is installed, if you are concerned about returning the dizzy to its proper mark.

teamo

The car has not run for a very long time, probably the mid nineties, so I don't know what was used for oil when it did run. It does turn over manually and I've been putting oil in the cylinders occasionally to keep them free while I've been working on the rest of the project. I'll pull the distributor and intake and have a look at the lifters. Thanks all.

Rescue Rogers

the oil change with the zinc removed was in the 2000's (2004 i believe) so you dont have to worry about the oil being the problem, but check everything anyway. Its always good to check things out when you have the opportunity.

stingr69

Advice (assuming it was running before it was parked) - Do not mess with the intake or the seals/valves until after the start up. You can rebuild the carb and mess with the distributor if you really need to but getting it running first is a good plan. Do the other stuff after you get it to run right. This will save you from a lot of potential rework.

You might want to run a pre-oiler if you can find or make one. Old distributor and a hand drill is what I use and is actually better than a lot of cheap pre oiler tools out there. You need the old distributor in there to build pressure. The cheap pre oiler tools do not block the oil passage right so they will not work properly.

I don't go too crazy with the pre oiler. It will load up the drill motor when it starts to build pressure once the passages are all full. Having some oil in the galleries is definitely better than a full dry start up.

DUB

:"A couple feet of small rope"????

I am assuming you are putting that into the cylinder with spark plug out??? and then rotating the engine to push the rope up under the valves so they do not move or drop down???

Interesting way of doing it that I am sure it works due to I know you surely have done it. Good to know if my tool fails ....which I hope not....or have to do this at someone's house who does not have an air compressor.

I use my compression tester and pressurize the cylinder with compressed air to keep the valves up and all the ones I have done so far...I have not yet dropped a valve in the cylinder.

DUB

HeadsU.P.

I do not know about rope materials very well, so I'm guessing its a nylon? Maybe rayon? Anyway, I still have the rope, very soft, easy to cram into sparkplug hole. Leave about 10" hanging out. With the piston coming up to TDC and just short of TDC, you cram about 2 ft in the cylinder then finish bringing the piston up by hand cranking.

I have an air compressor and the sparkplug hose tool, but with header tubes in the way it was near impossible to snug the hose fitting with a wrench. So air hissed out constantly. Also if the piston / con-rod are not perfectly at TDC the engine will roll over. Sometimes backwards.
So that is why the disappearing rope trick is better than compressed air.

Also, problem #2. When using your valvespring compressor tool if the valve opens ever so slightly, use lose your air pressure in that cyl. Sometimes the splitlocks/ retainer won't let go. That problem is not existent with the rope trick. The rope is not going anywhere, its permanent. Compressed air is temporary, you could lose pressure, valve could drop a tad I suppose. In other words with the rope in cylinder you can walk away, come back another day if needed.

stingr69

Rope works great. Synthetic material is soft and works well. Clothesline is OK in a pinch. Use it all the time.

DUB

Good to know. At least I have good back-up way of doing it if needed. Luckily the Snap-On tool I have has a good flexible hose on iti that allows me to thread it in by hand and so far no header equipped engines have caused me any problems..

And I do not know why I do it this way but it was how I was shown by another mechanic a very long time ago when I started to work on my car before I chose this a profession . I always use the tool in the firing order of the engine. So I start with #1 cylinder then got to #8 and so on. So I know when I am done with cylinder #2...I know the compression stroke for cylinder one is coming up.

DUB

HeadsU.P.

For Sale: One slightly used Sparkplug Air Hose Adaptor Tool. Used twice. Has a two hammer marks on it.

HeadsU.P.

I'm not smart enough to use the firing order. I do it the hard way, one bank of cylinders at a time, front to back. More work.

Vette5311

teamo

Advice (assuming it was running before it was parked) - Do not mess with the intake or the seals/valves until after the start up. You can rebuild the carb and mess with the distributor if you really need to but getting it running first is a good plan. Do the other stuff after you get it to run right. This will save you from a lot of potential rework.

It was running when it was parked. I was going to pull the intake to paint it and replace gaskets. I think the distributor will work as is but I'm not sure the vacuum advance is any good. The mechanical advance is free and moves by hand.

DUB

It is easy to verify if the vacuum advance pod work or not by putting hose on it and then either use an hand vacuum pump or suck on the hosed and see if the pod moves or not.

I see why people are saying to get engine running first due to it has sat for so long. I guess if you pre-oil it and then get it running to see if all is well would be a good start then take the intake off.

DUB