Help/Advice trying to identify parts on my engine

[1969 Project]

I have had my truck for about 8 months now. The PO stated that the engine was rebuilt about 30k miles ago. He stated it has been rebuilt as a 383 stroker and all he could provided me with is that it has dart heads.I have been doing some research and found that the heads are in fact Dart (IRON EAGLE 23° 165CC SBC S/S), It also has the Edelbrock performer RPM intake, Can anyone tell me if these are any good? I also have a pretty wild CAM, is there any way to find out which exact CAM I have? Where would I find numbers on the engine block to help me identify where it came from? When I look up my truck by the VIN it shows that it came with a 6 cylinder from the factory. The truck runs pretty strong and it sucks that I have no clue what has been done to it.

[geezer#99]

Look here for casting locations and what some of them mean.
http://www.mortec.com/
And here for a list of suffix codes.
http://www.nastyz28.com/chevy-engine...ngs.php#suffix

To find out what cam you'll need to put a degree wheel on the balancer and use a dial indicator to plot the info. It won't tell you who's cam it is but it'll let you know everything about it. It could be a tedious job.

THe heads, intake and cam likely need to run best at higher rpm.
What tranny you got?
What rear gears?

[1969 Project]

Thanks for the info Geezer.

TH350. As far as the gears I am not sure. When I replaced the axles I did notice that the PO installed an older rear end (12bolt) with no Posi.

[geezer#99]

Do you know what your idle rpm is?
And how much vacuum at idle?

And what your initial timing is?

[GASoline71]

If it's the truck in your profile pic. I came from the factory with a 12 bolt. Unless it is an early 16 spline 12 bolt that was swapped in.

Gary

[1969 Project]

Idle RPM is 700-730
Idle Vacuum is 8-10
initial timing is 18 and total is 32 and with vacuum it is 45.

It is an earlier 16 spline as I had to replace the spider gears to match the new 30 spline axles.

[DieselSJ]

Originally Posted by 1969 Project

Idle RPM is 700-730
Idle Vacuum is 8-10
initial timing is 18 and total is 32 and with vacuum it is 45.

It is an earlier 16 spline as I had to replace the spider gears to match the new 30 spline axles.

45 total is crazy high. You want like 36 total.

[geezer#99]

He has 32 total.
He's adding another 13 from vac advance to give him 45 which is likely about right.

[DieselSJ]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

He has 32 total.
He's adding another 13 from vac advance to give him 45 which is likely about right.

No.

He has 14 mechanical plus 13 vacuum for a total of 27 degrees of advance.

18 (static) + 14 (mechanical) + 13 (vacuum) = 45 total timing.

IMHO that is WAAAYYYY too much.

http://outintheshop.com/faq/Lars%20timing%20.pdf

[geezer#99]

Not even close!!
Did you know that smog motors from the mid seventies ran as much as 56 degrees total timing.
Initial plus mechanical plus vac advance.

[DieselSJ]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

Not even close!!
Did you know that smog motors from the mid seventies ran as much as 56 degrees total timing.
Initial plus mechanical plus vac advance.

You mean back in the 70's when they thought that reducing the compression ratio on an engine was a good thing? LOL, we aren't talking some anemic low compression, huge inefficient combustion chamber here. Those are good heads with a decent chamber and it does not need that much timing. If he had a Vortec style head then he'd want no more than about 32 degrees because those had such an efficient chamber design. What they did in the 70's has zero bearing here as we aren't talking about an engine from the 70's.

1969 Project - pull the total timing back to 36-38 overall and let us know how it feels.

[1969 Project]

I actually take my truck to a shop as I am totally lost when it comes to tuning engines. My mechanic has played with the timing a few times the last time I took it in there which was about a few weeks ago he bumped up the timing and it actually runs a lot better. I was getting hesitation and hard starts with the previous set timing. The only thing I am concerned about is my idle it seems high and a little rough to me but can that be due to the wild CAM?
I'll give him a call next week to see what he had it set at before.

[Dead Parrot]

Originally Posted by DieselSJ

No.

He has 14 mechanical plus 13 vacuum for a total of 27 degrees of advance.

18 (static) + 14 (mechanical) + 13 (vacuum) = 45 total timing.

IMHO that is WAAAYYYY too much.

http://outintheshop.com/faq/Lars%20timing%20.pdf

I read the article you linked to. It does specify about 36 timing, with the vacuum pot disconnected. It goes on to say that you want as much vacuum advance as possible without getting knocking under acceleration or jerking or chugging at cruise throttle. So static + mechanical of 36 + 12~16 vacuum gives 48-52 total.

To the OP, the only way to find the exact cam is to pull the timing chain cover and hope the cam is labeled on the chain end. If not, pull the cam. Probably more work then you want to do unless you are really curious.

You can get the cam profile by doing what geezer#99 said to do.

If you like how the truck runs and the mileage you get, just enjoy and have fun until something needs fixing.

[1969 Project]

So just to be clear does my timing seem to be where it needs to be? Yeah, i'll prob just deal with not knowing the cam profile.

I definitely like how the truck runs not so much the gas mileage but that is not what I bought the truck for and I am definitely having fun with it. (Most of the time)
It's always good to get other peoples input.... thanks guys!

[geezer#99]

Run it and enjoy it like it is!!
Your timing is in line with what you need on your motor.

[cadillac_al]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

Run it and enjoy it like it is!!
Your timing is in line with what you need on your motor.

Exactly. Tell the kids it's a 3/4 race cam. Idling at 700 doesn't sound all that wild.