Last Indian

Ok, that could at least be some of the compression issue, if not all! When you replaced the valves did you inspect the the valve seats in the heads? Did you inspect the valve guides for cracks? Cracks I the guides could weaken the guides or they could have been deformation that allows enough movement in the valves so they don’t seat properly. Additionally new valves need ground to mate the valve seat! And I always like to lap my valves into their seats as good insurance of a good seal!

All good thoughts! Wrongway let me ask this! I forgot that you had the valve issue until Bear mentioned it. So when you broke them and replaced them, did you as Bear asked redo the head? That’s one, but two did you have the new valves ground as well? And did you lap any of them?

You two are hilarious! I didn’t get any warranty! I came with a buyer beware notice!🥴

No sorry needed! I’m not the best writer in the world! Sometimes what’s in my head doesn’t always come out right in writing! So I easily may not have said it well enough!

I agree Bear, but I didn’t say the intake caused the compression issue. I said I would pull the intake and drop the exhaust manifolds so he could see the valves! Reason being without a borescope not many other ways the see the valves without pulling the heads. Because if it’s not valves it only leaves rings, and zero for a ring issue is not likely! And inspecting the gasket when removing it to me is just logical!

Yeah, I don’t think a leak down is going to answer any questions! I also don’t think this is relative to the timing set! There may be a problem there, but that’s not causing this oddity of compression numbers! The first thing that comes to mind is the intake manifold! The odds of both heads having a gasket leak in matching position cylinders is highly doubtful. Plus the variation of cylinder pressures could be rings, but coupled with the zero pressure readings of 5 & 6!? If it were mine I would bite the bullet and pull the intake & drop the exhaust manifold! Then you can see the valves. When you if you pull the intake pay close attention to the intake gasket on both heads! Most likely there will be signs of leakage or poor sealing at 5 & 6 if there was gasket failure. If you find nothing there, you’re going to have to pull the heads! If you do any or all of that let us know what you find & we’ll try to help you plan the next move.

My, My, you have been a busy little snowman! Ahh, you know what they say, practice makes perfect! This is clearly one of those jobs that JustA mushroomed and then some! You’ll notice a nice difference in the LEDs!

All the information the guys are giving is great! But, once again I think you need to take a breath! I don’t think any of us know where this motor is at! Like everyone else I considered the timing chain/gears setup, but not being there has its own set of restrictions! So I think you must go to the beginning as much as you can and start over! For now forget the carb! ( I see what you said about the base plate! Basically what I was saying, but with the right gaskets you can run one, but I don’t know if you can get the right gaskets.) The guys have told you what to do for checking the valve timing, that’s a good deal! My 2 cents worth is, do it by hand. Remove all the plugs. Get a breaker bar or long handled 1/2” ratchet and socket to fit the crank pulley bolt, roll the motor over that way. With the drivers valve cover off, put a dial indicator on the intake rocker arm at the valve. Using JustA’s method bring #1 to TDC with watching the indicator on the intake valve. If it opens and close before the pencil reaches TDC, slowly rotate the crank pulley more while looking at where the TDC mark on the harmonic is. When the pencil reaches the top, stop, see where the harmonic is. If this proves that the timing is ok, but I have my doubts! Do the compression test! When those are done, let us know the results.

Well, that would depend on that it is you want to do? Your question is kind of open ended. In theory after a certain size rim you can keep increasing the diameter of the rim, but will have to reduce the sidewall of the tire. If you what to keep the speedometer right, that’s a whole other math problem! You will also have to take into consideration the back space as you continue to increase wheel & tire size.

One last thing! I know JustA asked you, but I’ll ask again and expound on it! Do you have the distributor & the engine wired right? Looking at the top of the distributor going counterclockwise. It 18436572 for firing order & siting ing the drivers set, #1 cylinder is the first cylinder on the left at the front of the engine. I have seen more than one veteran mechanic get this wrong just because they were preoccupied with a problem! Just double check it! I’ve seen guys flip flop 5 & 7!

Ok! At this point this is the proverbial dog chasing his tail! We need to eliminate the obvious things that need answered before continuing to try and solve the mystery! You need to do a compression check & a leak down test! Once that is either ruled out or in trying to solve the mystery may get easier! Also the gage issue between the hand held one and the car may be nothing more the the car gage is dampened! This is common in car gages as a bouncing needle is hard to read when driving!

The spacer plate is fine, if that’s what you want, but what’s important is that you have the correct gasket that mate the spacer with the manifold, that you have the correct gasket that mates the carb to the spacer & that you have the correct spacer material! Those are all relative to what you are trying to do! Example a 1” - 2” spacer is used often to increase low end torque & help with fuel atomization! A fiber composite material spacer is used to deal with heat that can cause fuel percolating, and so on. the front cap you show in this picture should be manifold vacuum!

Wrongway, at this point what Bear said is similar to what I said! Take a step back, breath and then start going through it again from the beginning. I don’t recall if Bear gave an order to start in, but just presume that something has been missed, but you don’t know what! Since you say it’s not going to be a daily drive, you have time! So start with the valve lash! Back them all out and start over and set them all! Next, if you have the new distributor by then, pull the old one out! Bring #1 up on compression stroke TDC and drop in the new or the old whichever, aligning the rotor where you what it for #1, rotate the housing in the direction that you what it to fire the spark, (initial advance) and lock it down! Cap off any vac to the distributor, now you are sit to fire the engine, but not before you done some initial adjustments to the current carb. On the air fuel idle adjustment screws. Turn them all the way in. Then back each one out 3 full turns, this will be close enough for an initial start. Also on the back throttle shaft, refer to the modified picture I posted. There should be a very small screw on one side or the other that’s part of the linkage! This is an adjustment for the back throttle plates. That screw should be adjusted so there is a crack of daylight between the plates and the side walls of the Venturi bore. Not a lot, but enough that they don’t touch the wall. Start the engine and follow the rest of the thing Bear said, fuel pressure, resetting the carb while running, timing, vac, etc. Good luck buddy!

Yes the OEM duel plane is a great manifold! It’s what I would have used! And yes the carb you show is a spread bore as Bear said, but it’s not quite as simple as that! You pick a manifold for a specific set of engine perimeters and than a carb to enhance those! In that process you may want too take some advantage of some specific power band area because of gearing, transmission, etc. all of those things will influence what gasket and or spacer you use! These are choices you need to make, but if you pick this or that, mix and match so to speak this can cause you some real headaches later on! So I would just encourage you to step through this logically and not in a hurry! So when you’re done; you’re done! And FYI, those butterfly things are throttle plates! And that’s what I was speaking of before. The back ones need set a specific way! Even from the factory they are not always set correctly for a specific setup!

Sweet! Welcome!

Wrongway, no that’s not a good ignition spark and I see you said you ordered a new distributor. I assume that comes with the coil? Because more than likely that’s at least part of the problem there! I’m not sure you got it, but on your old carb, on the passenger side of it, at the bottom is where the two, front and rear throttle shafts are. still the bigger question is this! Since you are buying a new carb, you need to make sure you get the correct carb to manifold gasket! The wrong gasket will give you nightmares. The manifold you are running is stock right? If so it’s a duel plane manifold! Are you sure that carb is good with a duel plane? Duel planes work best with a divided gasket and the right bottom porting placement in the gasket to matchup with the carb to manifold. Yes you can do mods to basically do away with the duel plane function, but those need to than match a new type gasket! Just make sure it all goes with each other!

Well, no, that’s not it, if I understand right! She was sitting shotgun on a day that, well let’s just say could have gone better! And has never ever been forgotten! when you have raced as long as I had, at that point in time, and some A hole on a crotch rocket thinks he’s exempt from the law! Things can get ugly quick! 600+ hp in a 3200 pound car with 4:11 gears! No the crotch rocket is not gonna win, but that wasn’t the ugly part! Not my proudest moment, but the look on the A holes face made it a bit satisfying as I look back!

Ok, I’m starting to think more and more it’s the carb! A 4 barrel carb has two front ventures and two back ventures. The back throttle plates have to be adjusted correctly or the car won’t idle right! It can also effect performance when you punch it. venturi vac increases as the throttle increases while manifold vac decreases when throttle increases! They are use for different functions. For both the motor as well as the car!

No, No, No, you can never ever tell them!! It will not end well, trust me!! When you have 600+ hp under you and things go a certain way - - - sh - - t happens; and when they’re sitting next to you!!! Well! Trust me if they’re not there don’t tell em!

Sorry, but I been working for the kid so haven’t really been following to well the last few days. I did skim through the post though and all good advice. One thing strikes me though, at this point we’re still at either fuel, spark or vac! So based on that, two of the three interface more so, fuel & vac! You say idle is the issue more so the upper rpm revs!? So try this get the engine warm, then while idling squirt some fuel down the front two barrels see if it smooth out, bogs down or what! Then if it bogs slowly manually at the carb crack the back throttle plates. If either of those cause an improvement you need to go through the carb and mak sure you have manifold vacuum, where needed is manifold vacuum & Venturi vacuum, where needed is Venturi vacuum. Also did you check the point dwell and the distributor advance?

Sorry I know this is a little belated! My guess is you more than likely have a carb the leaks fuel either due to a bad gasket or needle valve, jets or throttle shaft. Basically when you shut the car off the fuel drains out of the bowl into the intake. This allows the float to open over and over till the pressure is relieved enough to stop flowing into the fuel bowl. Then the bowl empties and the carb is dry. So when you try to start the car it’s Trying to start a new carb for the first time. if you drive the car, get it hot, shut it off for 5, 10 or 15 minutes is it hard to start?

Now that’s a great plan! Cruzin, burger, cruzin! What could be better! Well maybe a little racin!

Wrongway, do me a favor take some good pictures of the carb & manifold where the carb bolts to it, also showing the vacuum connections. Also check your firing order! And bring #1 cylinder up on tdc manually, take off the distributor cap and see where the rotor is pointing! If it’s not pointing directly at #1 pin in the cap, you’re off a tooth, because somethings off! That motor is idling way to rough!

As long as it starts right up I guess I wouldn’t worry, but a good system should hold pressure between the pump and the carburetor! When the needle valve shuts off the in coming gas flow the pressure should stay between the carb and pump! FYI! What Bear says about the vac is good advice. For me though I think I’d just start with the ether since it sounds like you’re not really sure where the leak is! Start around the carb, than move to the manifold, but first check all your hoses and hose connections.

Kiwi I’m so glad things came together for you. Different improvement in the illumination and I’m sure it’s more dramatic in person! FYI, I believe the HIDs and the LEDs consume about the same power, but as a bulb the HIDs will burn you were as the LEDs won’t! I think the LEDs ballast get hotter than the HIDs though. I’ve thought of trying the LEDs in the Indian, but I don’t think there is enough room behind the housings, as the LEDs need the ballast attached to them! looks really good mate!