I thought cheap Chinese chrome was bad. Somehow im not surprised that they have found a way to make it even more trailer park.

I second the neck tattoos....

Alright.... enough trailer trash talk. Carb fixed the sustained sideways starve issue. I can attest to that with several sideways drifts today on course. Soaking wet, one tire fire all the way. Honestly a diff would have dropped me 2-3 seconds easy.

New problem popped up on the way home. Cruising at 3k (68mph) for about 10-15 minutes and it started to load up and surge. 2 wot pulls from 2500-4300 and it cleared right up. I'm guessing I'm still rich? Need to pull a plug or two and take a look. It also started with the hard to start warm crap. It would almost catch on initial turn over and then would crank forever before a couple pumps of fuel would get it to catch. The. It would run rough as hell until you rev'd it a couple times and good to go. After that it ran like a raped ape.

My Rochester needs flood-clear-mode for any re-start other than dead cold. Works reasonably dandy all year-round, just seems to flood itself on fumes when parked.

Pulled pkugs. 1 and 3 are oil fouled. 2,4 and 6 look clean and about right.

One tire fire all day long

Bobzilla wrote: One tire fire all day long

Quoted because awesome.

Sounds like you're having a lot of fun with the truck, keep up the good work!

I want to see the go-pro video.

funny, I didn't even take it. This event, I didn't even bring an air gauge. Such a difference in a year. Last year I was SRS BZNS this year is "go have fun and hope nothing breaks."

also, plug pics:

1

2

3

4

5

6, 7 and 8 all looked like 4 and 5. Looks like other than the oil, the carb is pretty close on tuning.

Intake manifold gaskets. Small block Chevy Chevy's art notorious for the manifold gaskets failing and sucking oil out of the lifter Valley.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

valve seals and intake gaskets aren't going to make this much blow-by though would they? I mean, the entire drivers side valve cover is covered in a mist of oil from higher rpm usage.

So I signed up for the CAM challenge at Peru. So....I think I'm going to be smart about this. It's a 63 mile drive each way. Speedlimits are 60-65. Truck would get 12-14mpg on the transit, burn a quart of oil each day. OR.... I use it smartly. Put the bike in the truck. Make the trip up once. Ride home, then back the next morning. I can go the "normal" speeds. I'll get 49+mpg doing so and the truck won't rack up extra useless miles. I bet I'll be the most useful CAM car there.

Bobzilla wrote: In reply to Dusterbd13: valve seals and intake gaskets aren't going to make this much blow-by though would they? I mean, the entire drivers side valve cover is covered in a mist of oil from higher rpm usage.

They suck about blowby, even when fresh. Just not a tight engine.

I would check the gaskets and seals before assuming it needs a rebuild. Im willing to bet that both are bad, and replacement will cyt oil loss dramatically.

WELL, i think plug wires, cap and rotor are in order now. Raining pretty good today, occasional backfire at high load, low rpm and random miss at steady state cruising. Wires were suspect, and I haven't even pulled the cap to see how bad it is.

If the idle is set too low (idling now right at 580-600rpms), could that cause slow speed take off backfires?

You know what, never mind. I need to fix the ignition issues first.

Also check your idle air bleeds. They are right beside them where the booster in the primaries mates to the Venturi of the carburetor. Ethanol gas and Holly's are known to cause a crusty build up that blocks off two of them out of the four which causes on driveability issues.

the carb is almost new. It was ran for a hundred or so miles before getting replaced for something bigger and was cleaned and emptied at the time. Anything's possible though.

My last new holley would plug them up every 200 miles or so. 10 seconds with a dental pick and good to go again. Only have to remove the air cleaner.

Anyone have a good suggestion on spark plug wires that don't suck? Considering the MSD 31359 part number. with discount code at advance they're $70

So Im running into a "problem" (first world problems). The truck has 4.10's. The TKO trans I'll be swapping to has a 1.89 second gear. On the tire I want to run, that would put 60mph at 5700rpm. Current engine that won't work. IT's done at 5100. That's good for about 54-ish. 3rd gear is 1.34 and would work fine, but that makes slower corners down in the 2k rpm range which is below where I would like it.

Now... if I swap to 3.73.s that gives me 60mph at 5200rpm, 30mph at 2800 in second. and in the interim (until I can afford this $2500 transmission) helps me on the highway. I'm seeing a win/win here.

Will I regret this if I swap the gears? what am I missing?

I don't think you'll hate the 3.73's vs. the 4.10's, it'll probably cruise a little nicer and have enough torque to make up the little difference down low.

I would also imagine you're a cam/springs swap away from getting your current engine to rev to 5700. Might be a hair out of it's powerband but I'm imagining you won't be doing prolonged driving at peak RPM, just some inbetween corner blasts.

Six of one half dozen of another. Horse a piece. And other colloquialisms.

I have 3.73's in my C10. They are a good compromise of good acceleration vs. highway cruising rpm (~3000rpm at 62mph with a 3-speed). I'd prefer 4.10's for more grunt, but I'd want an overdrive for that.

If you are changing gears, install a limited slip if you don't have one already - you will love it.

yeah, this engine isn't long for this world. I imagine I've got at best another 18 months before rebuild is a must not a want. The plan then is just that, aluminum heads, cam etc. Like to get a 6k redline if possible.

The reason I'm considering is the LSD. I'm looking for one now and for another $100-150 I can swap gears.

THe more I think about it... I think the 4.10's should stay. I'll just swap over this ring gear onto an LSD unit of myu choosing.

If your engine needs a crank, you might as well do a stroker. Get DECENT rods, and while forged pistons make clatter and smoke a bit when it's cold, they handle quite a bit of abuse.

oH, also acheived double digits with auto-x'ing. 10.6mpg.

Bobzilla wrote: In reply to Dusterbd13: valve seals and intake gaskets aren't going to make this much blow-by though would they? I mean, the entire drivers side valve cover is covered in a mist of oil from higher rpm usage.

I looked back at your engine picture on the previous page. I don't see a PCV valve, just a breather cap on each side. If you're not running one, a PCV makes a lot of difference and sure helps keep the blowby from making a mess of everything.