Hey young guy here been trying to restore an 88 C4 I bought from a shady house haha. It was rat ---- and finally finished fixing (mostly proffesionally) the wiring. Although I have plans let's cut to the chase?

1.) I've replaced the torque converter but the tail shaft bushing needs to be replaced. It was definitely overheated bc of previous owner. When the transmission is in overdrive it wobbles bad when im in the low rpm range of 3rd ( pretty sure tail shaft) in STD dr it's fine.

2.) Once I got it running the Idle was perfect but when Im in Dr and stopped it shakes (IAC was replaced and TPS). At first I thought it may have had a spun bearing but looks like the engine was rebuilt within 30k miles. Replaced rod bearings anyway due to hearing a tick. Tick was coming from distributor cap and one of the lifters. I plan on pulling the lifters tomorrow.

3.) When I pulled the valve covers oil was even on one side but on the other bank one of my rockers is shooting a clearly excessive amount of oil. (it has 1.6 roller rockers in it lol cam sounds stock tho and looks like they used incorrect lock down nuts)

4.) I swapped the stock headers bc previous owner did a shoddy job of deleting air pump system. Removed obsolete air pump and replaced with idler but the exhaust leaks from their job were insane. Anyway after installing my long tube's I noticed that there was wet carbon residue in the exhaust port 3rd from the front on both sides. After me and my Friends father inspected it he said it's not oil but smells like fuel that's been burnt off in the chamber due to not being ignited or properly atomizer. Fast forward these two ports are next to each other on the distributor. The distributor cap was held in by a single bolt, the terminals were scored on the inside irregularly, I cleaned them up but seems the cap still needs to be replaced as the paint on the headers has not burnt off on those two ports. Compression check was good btw

5.) I know I'm young and although I know quite a lot for my age (25) I also understand that I can always learn more. I've provided this info in hopes those who have forgotten more than I've learned can give me tips in my restoration or reassurance that I'm on the correct path.

Is the bad lifter causing the rough idle in dr?
Should I rebuild the transmission?
Is the Rotor and distributor cap F*****?

My plans for this build is reliable 350 horsepower but we will get to that later. Anyway I'm an active service member of 6yrs and as an NCO I'm very busy. I promise I'll read all the advice and respond when I get the time. Thank you in advance, sincerely Vince.

 

Well lot of people I hope to help you out, here with good advice.

Let me the first to Thank you for your Service, my only advice with 6 years in stay for retirement, it's worth it at the end of your career.