Cascade Crew

[Quasi-Traction]

Well, decided to screw around with the Berlinetta today.

Idles really irratically cold and won't seem to stay idling unless you stay on the throttle a bit. Just put in 4 1/2 Quarts of Castrol HM 10-30 last week, and Oil pressure seems to be pretty good around 50-60psi cold.

After idling it for a minute or two, the header tubes for 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, all get warm, while 4, 2 and 7 were ice cold. Double checked the plug wires on 4,2 and 7, to make sure all were sitting snug. That was ok. I borrowed Dad's timing light to see if the dizzy was giving current to the plugs. Yep. I took 4, 2 and 7's plugs out and they were soaked in oil pretty badly. Cleaned them out and put them back in. Idled great for about 5 minutes all the header tubes seemed to warm, and then started bucking and shaking badly. Pulled #4 again, and it was fouled in the same way as before.

Could this be just Valve seals? Or am I facing Blown rings?

Am I dammed? I seem to have a propensity to get Camaros with motors on their last legs. Its not like I drive these things hard either. Hell, I hardly even get to drive them at all.

Dammit.

[Xophertony]

well, looks like it is leak down test time. we should leak down test it. if it does not leak through rings or valves we can replace the valve guide seals.

if you need any help i am your man, i have never leak down tested a car and would love to learn how. no better way to learn then by doing.

[Twilightoptics]

Sometimes you can't clean plugs. Try new ones and see if you get the same result.

[izcain]

Once you clean those plugs they are WAY easier to foul out again. I would be performing a leak down test right away!

[Quasi-Traction]

I'll take paul's suggestion first and pick up some new Delco TS-43's. We'll see how that improves things.

If she yields the same results, its leakdown test time.

[chevymad]

Chevy ran for 40 years without any valve stem seals at all(just the retainer o-rings) so I don't think they can be the problem.

Just out of curiosity.. lookit your intake manifold. Which cylinders are grouped together? I dont remember which but half the cylinders will be fed by one side of the carb, and half the other. One set of runners is usually lower then the other set. 2 cylinders per side. I'm just curious if all these dead cylinders have one side of the carb in common.

Also if you do a leak down/compression test. Be sure to test any bad cylinders again, but with a few squirts of oil in the hole. This will help seal the rings. If the #s get better then its a ring sealing problem. If you've washed the cylinders down with too much fuel, they'll lose compression too. Sometimes a few squirts of oil in these holes... then run the motor for awhile will reseat the rings.

[Twilightoptics]

I'm finding the leakdown to prove not very useful.

Of course you need sealed valves I guess to really find out about the rings, but how do you know it's a ring leaking and not a valve?!

[alloy]

[Quasi-Traction]

Brandon,

4 and 2 might be the same runner on the intake manifold. 7 is in the back on the driver side, with a totally seperate runner. Intresting about the fuel washout idea....I wondered at one point if that's what caused the 305 to seize

It might be a couple days before I can do the compression test. I hate having to rely on other people's tools and their availability.

Paul,

no faith in the leakdown test? I supposed compressed air achieves the same results....I'm not assuming its a ring, just the way the plugs fouled and how quickly...took the two most likely diagnostics that I knew of for such a condition.

I like to try to be optimistic about these things (especally when I can't exactly afford a teardown and rebuild..)

anyways..plugs first, then we'll see.

[chevymad]

Chris, there will be 4 seperate runners.. but all will connect to one side of the carb. Hence the dual plane. 2 cylinders from one side of the motor and 2 cylinders from the other side are all grouped together to one half of the carb. I just can't remember which cylinders are grouped... so its entirely possible that 7 is grouped with the others. I've seen a carb dump too much fuel down one side and wash out 4 cylinders before. Just something else to look for.

[Quasi-Traction]

Replaced the plugs.

Ran ok for a bit but the same symptom after about 15 min of idling. Cleaned the new ones, tried some oil down the plug holes that weren't firing...Idled ok again.

I think its probably a washout problem.

one time when I tried to start it "backfired" some gas out the butterfly of the carb.

[BigDaddyVu]

you can use starter fluid which contains "ether" to clean and dry up the oil in the cylinder and try fresh plugs with a different heat range. but it does seem strange that multiple plugs are fouling unless you wires are baking on the headers causing them to leak voltage (arking). if your poor you can buy a "non-fouler" it works but it retards the timing in that cylinder

[BigDaddyVu]

check the cap for ionizing hobb goblims too

[Twilightoptics]

You said you put in 43s.... I don't remember what the delco heat ranges are like. I believe NGK is numerically higher, lower the heat range. Autolite is higher number higher heat range.

You might have some really cold plugs in there. I thought our cars stock mostly came with 45s?

[Quasi-Traction]

The 43's were what was in there when bobby had the car. Also the 43's are a bit shorter which keeps the plug wire further from the header.

Is there really that much difference between the heat range on 43's Vs 45's?

Not a big fan of NGK's. Had nothing but problems with incosistant gaps and poor electrode quality with multiple vehicles.

[Twilightoptics]

Well if it's the same as between an autolite 23 and an autolite 25... then yes it's a huge difference. (depending on which way). I use 25s... if I went with nitrous and needed a colder plug I'd go with 23s.

[Sellmanb]

Chris,

If you're trying to salvage the berlinetta... you have some big balls lol. If you take the breather tube or PCV out while the car is running you'll see that it has some hella blowby.... my best guess is that the rings are shot.

[Quasi-Traction]

noted...I was afraid of that.

I may take the pass side head off and have a look.

Seems to have pretty high oil pressure too.