Autopendium :: ctagg's 1971 Chevrolet Camaro 2nd Generation

Engine rebuild update

Needed a degree wheel in a hurry, so made one myself out of a printo... see more

It's 2-months since my last post about the Camaro's engine, but there's a good reason for that. Or, rather, there's a reason.

Try as I might, I just couldn't get the darned thing to start. After much struggling, a fair bit of head-scratching about what went where, draining the fuel tank of very old petrol, and a new battery (which though it's the same code as the last one, is annoyingly a couple of centimetres bigger, and so Doesn't Quite Fit. After all that, I was ready to fire here up.

And... nothing. Not a cough, splutter, or hint of ignition. First thing, is there a spark? Check. Fuel in the carb? Check (though it smelt kinda odd). Played around with the ignition timing. Nothing. De Nada. Zip. Diddly Squat.

So, for the past I don't know how many weeks, I've been going down to the lockup, trying one possible solution after another.

First I thought it was the Holley Double Pumper I'd rebuilt. Particularly after I found the main squirter was blocked. After a couple of tear downs, I discovered there wasn't a problem with the carb, but the fuel. Even though I'd drained the tank, I hadn't realised how much crap would still be left in there, and more to the point, what evil, vicious crap it would be, the result of pterol standing in there for 10+ years. Take a look at the photo of the NEW fuel filter that I'd put in. Unfortunately, it had also managed to make its way past the filter and into the carb -- hence the repeated blocking of the squirter.

So, pulled out the fuel tank, cleaned out all the lines, dropped some old rocker arm nuts into the (baffled race) tank to loosen and clear out the gunk, got myself a fresh gallon of super unleaded and a new heavy duty fuel filter and I was ready to go. Nothing.

This time, I focused on the ignition. Perhaps the spark was weak. Changed the condensor (and getting a new one was not as easy as you'd think). Perhaps there was some other problem with the old Accel Dual-Point dizzy. Changed it for the old HEI one that used to be in the Dayvan. Nope.

Finally, I tested the compression. Bingo. Or rather zero. This also tied in with the lack of pumping noise the engine was making when I turned it over.

So, after a week of hesitating, I got myself a dial gauge, popped the rocker cover off, and did a rough and ready test of when the intake valve was opening and closing. Way off.

Annoying. But, I was glad I'd found the problem, and so yesterday I took the timing cover off (oh, if only it was that simple -- what I meant was: drain the coolant, take all the accessories off, take the water pump off, take the damper off, drain the oil, lower the pan and then take the timing cover off, all in a tiny space with no room to move), and put the crank gear and cam gear in the right place.

I'm pretty sure I know what happened. Basically, I misread the marks on the crank gear and so was matching up to the 4-degree advance mark, but positioning on the 0-degree notch.

Now all I've got to do, is put everything back on, and hope there isn't a hulking oil leak from the front oil seal.