Started her up!

[vancelot69]

Finally started the Beast this afternoon! First time since June, and first time since doing the HEI swap. I was happy that I got the firing order right first try!

But now there are a couple other issues. It's smoking (see the second two videos). I couldn't tell if it was blue or white. And when I was revving it up, if I goosed it, it would die (did it at least once in the video). And there is a sooty substance that came out of the exhaust pipes (see pic - I took two, but it keeps telling me a security token was missing when I try to upload the other one). I'm thinking these issues are related, and they are related to the carburetor, which I'm pretty sure I need to tune anyway. It's a Holley with a manual choke.

There's also a rattle when I rev it up in the first video that I think is the fan clutch. While it was off, I stored it horizontal and I think some of the viscous goo leaked out. It could also be the water pump - someone mentioned to me several months ago that he thought it was going bad. I have a new one, but I don't want to put it on until I flush the engine completely because I don't want any of the junk getting into the new water pump, new radiator, or new heater core.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtZlYXNgOtI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaGRkEH2yLI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdMiNUOvXXI

[hemi43]

It's condensation. The black soot is crap from the exhaust system. If you had new pipes and mufflers you wouldn't get this residue.

[geezer#99]

THe stumble/die could be a couple of (or both) things.
Lack of initial timing or accelerator pump adjustment.

What's your initial timing?

[vancelot69]

Right now I think it's close to 0*, maybe a little before. I don't know exactly, I didn't watch it super close, I just got it to where it would idle and let it run for a bit, then accelerated it some and tried to video the exhaust smoking while accelerating.

I got out this afternoon and started it again because I wanted to get it up to temperature to open the thermostat (I'm not sure if I let it turn that long yesterday) and it seemed to me like it was smoking the whole time, and definitely worse when I rev it up.

[geezer#99]

Put your initial at 10 to start. Let it warm up until the thermostat opens. You'll be able to feel heat in the rad hose when it opens.
Don't forget to plug off the vac advance when you set the timing.

[vancelot69]

ok, I did (do) have the vacuum advance connected.

[geezer#99]

Leave your vac advance plugged off until you finalize your timing, your idle and your mixture screws.
Do you know why you need it plugged off when setting timing?

[vancelot69]

I have no idea why it needs to be plugged when setting. I imagine it has something to do with the vacuum force has the potential to pull it off where I set it when I let go.

Here are some more videos of it smoking after starting it up this afternoon. Not really sure what it could be, sort of fishing for ideas if anyone has any. I haven't messed with the carb or adjusted the timing any since I got it started yesterday. I just wanted to go out and run it to operating temperature to open the thermostat to try to cycle the bottle of flush some since I don't think I let it run that long yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hReOCfRV_JU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXO9iZedjvw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avD4bjp0LUE

[geezer#99]

You leave it plugged off because you don't want the vac advance pot to add any timing to your motor. If your motor is running a bit rough the vac advance will make the timing fluctuate a bit, not giving you a true reading.
You also need to get your idle down near 700 rpm when setting initial. THe reason for that is usually at 800 rpm the mechanical advance starts coming in in the distributor. You want your initial to be true. No vac advance and no mechanical.
Another tip is once you adjust the distributor lock it down so it won't move. If slightly loose the distributor will rotate cw retarding your timing.

Your smoke could be fuel vapour. FRom poor combustion.
In your video's I can hear your motor struggling. LIkely due to not enough initial.

What other mods to your motor besides the holley?

[vancelot69]

I'm not sure what other mods it has, I bought it like this pretty much. The only thing I've done is buy a set of valve covers with baffles for the PCV as the set that was on it before wasn't baffled.

I haven't adjusted the carburetor. To be honest, I've never adjusted a carburetor. Do I need to set that before I set the timing to get the idle down for timing like you mentioned? Would it be worth it to get a carburetor with an electric choke or some other type of automatic choke? I've never had a manual choke on a car, so I have no clue how to play with the choke cable except for choke to start, no choke to run, and maybe partial choke to warm up. Eventually I would like to get a TBI kit, but those are way out of my price range right now, but I could probably fit a $300 - $400 carb in the budget.

I appreciate all the insight and assistance geezer#99. Please keep it coming!

[geezer#99]

I'd keep what you got and learn from there.
Carbs are simple things.
Basically just a big syphon with a few additional parts to help with starting, idling and accelerating.
You should always do timing first, carb second.
Manual choke is great. Easy to use and consistent. JUst start a new thread in the engine section and ask away how to use it. Actually you might be better served to get a mod to move this thread over there.

[vancelot69]

Would I ask for the move in here, or in a PM? If in here, would it be possible to get this thread moved to the engine section? Thanks!

[geezer#99]

Pm works best.
Try a mod over there like
truckdude239 or cableguy0

[vancelot69]

Well, the thread hasn't been moved yet (I did PM one of the two you suggested).

I wanted to add that I still haven't gotten back out to mess with the initial timing.

I wanted to ask what you mean by accelerator pump? Is that part of the carburetor? The truck has had a stumble ever since I've had it. Since it's a manual choke, and the cable isn't connected, I start it, let it idle a few minutes, then when I go to move, every time, even after it's warmed up, I have to feather the accelerator a bit to keep it running, even before I did the HEI swap.

[vancelot69]

I got out yesterday afternoon to dink around with my truck some. Hadn't messed with it since last November, but it started up on the second try, so that was cool. I capped off the vacuum line to the distributor as suggested, tinkered with the timing a bit, then tightened the distributor hold down bolt a little so it hopefully won't move on it's own, but I should still be able to move it by hand.

I took a video of the timing (first video), then took a video of me revving it up (2nd video). In the 1st video, I had my wife accelerate some because I was using one hand to trigger the timing light and the other to hold the camera. In the 2nd video, I accelerated it manually. It still stumbled, but it didn't die. Also in this video, I noticed the fan wobbling, so I'm pretty sure I need a new one (see the original post).

The 3rd video is just showing more smoke from the exhaust blowing down the road.

The 4th video I was trying to listen to the clickety-clack, but you can't really hear it that well, but I noticed that I could see the exhaust smoking pretty vividly while underneath. In the video, I say from the driver's side, but when watching it, I noticed smoke was coming pretty good from both sides. Also in the video, I mentioned some of the parts I think could be the culprit for the noise, two of which I mentioned in the original post (fan clutch or water pump), but in the video I also mentioned it could be the power steering pump since it currently has no power steering fluid. After taking this video, I got out the mechanic's stethoscope and tried to listen to the power steering pump, water pump, and front main seal. It kind of sounded like the water pump was the noisiest, but none of them were really all that noisy.

Then I climbed under behind the front tire to look at the flywheel. The clickety-clack was really obvious coming from here, so I listened to the rear main seal with the stethoscope, but it wasn't super obnoxious here either. I also saw something that didn't look right to me, there was something that looked like it was just slinging around on the flywheel, so I took another video (video 5), and in this video, you can hear the clickety-clack pretty well. When I shut the engine off and looked at the flywheel, it looks like the thing I was seeing is the counterweight on it. Speaking of this counterweight, how do you know which direction it needs to be? Are there guide hole(s) on the crankshaft?

After re-reading this thread, I forgot to connect my tach/dwell to see if it was at 700 RPM, so I still don't know about that part.

So, it seems good to me that it didn't die when it stumbled during hard acceleration, but then again, I had the vacuum disconnected, so it could just be a by product of that. It's also boggling me why it constantly smokes. And I can't tell if it's white or blue. It kind of smells rich, and I don't think it's coolant, it doesn't smell sweet (never has), but at this point it's just water and super flush, but I just don't know.

video 1
video 2
video 3
video 4
video 5

[vancelot69]

I got out and started it again Tuesday afternoon to see if I could figure any more out on the noise. I used the stethoscope to listen to the clutch yoke and it was quiet, listened to the throwout bearing and it was quiet. So I listened to the lip of the oil pan by the rear main seal again and it had a slight noise as noted before, but I don't know if it was what I was looking for. So I tracked around the oil pan lip by the oil filter and had similar results. Then I touched the bottom of the oil pan (the sump area) and it had a clickey-clack noise that was loud AF. I touched the bottom of the oil pan towards the front, near the front main seal, and it was relatively quiet, but the fat part, where the oil pickup would be, was fricken loud. Not sure what it could be - rods crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed that because they wouldn't be that low, otherwise the front part wouldn't be so shallow. Maybe the oil pickup is loose? Either way, it sounds like I need to drop the oil pan and check everything out in there.

Anyone got any other ideas? Of course, without hearing it in person, I would guess not.

[dirish]

Just looked over this and did not read all, but I had a ticking noise under load, hard acceleration. It was the starter to close to fly wheel. It only did when driving. Put internal shim in ( mini GM starter) and took care of it. Took 6 months to figure it out.