New engine issues

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Don't know but if you where to use a steel strait edge and sit it down on the gasket surface of the engine where the head sits with piston at top dead center the top of the piston will just touch the strait edge. I don't think 0.010 feeler gauge would slide between them?
 


Here’s our cammed 318.

Stock 1983 318.

Refreshed with bearings and gaskets.

Cam is a 214/224 @.050, .444/.466 lift.

We degreed it in and set the intake centerline at 105.

Not a lot of seat time yet, but the early intake centerline makes it very snappy down low.

We’re lucky if it’s got 8.0-1 comp. but dynamic compression does wonders. Lol.

Good luck with your build brother.

Eric
 
dazedand confused said:
Don't know but if you where to use a steel strait edge and sit it down on the gasket surface of the engine where the head sits with piston at top dead center the top of the piston will just touch the strait edge. I don't think 0.010 feeler gauge would slide between them?
Click to expand...

Wow. That would be like .060 deck.

Did they angle mill the intake?
 
I think it's more the pistion then milling the block I think it's a taller piston or combo of piston and rods? He just resurfaced the block so the gaskets would sit flat .
 
My pistons at top dead center!

20190102_204847.jpg
 
OK, 526's per the spec sheet photo provided would standard aftermarket 318 pistons. Compression height is indeed 1.74" or very close to that. The 9:1 reference in that catalog listing is not the actual you will get in a standard block; that is just the marketing number Mopar used. Real SCR of these in a standard block is 8:1, + or - with the typical LA heads.

Thanks for the pix.... but that last pix is not of 526P pistons tops... Dunno what they are; those swirly shadows sure are funky and look like some sort of reliefs. Are you sure this is your engine or has someone been messing with your camera? LOL Looks like some crazy Toyota piston top.

With those, I can maybe see the highest areas being almost level with the block. But with what look to be some sort of swirly dishes in the piston tops, that are fairly deep (like .050" deep), those will lower the CR back down some. I sure would like to find out what those pistons are....

Is this a later 318 block?
 
I'd like to put in my vote with the guys questioning that Erson cam. All that duration and not much lift. I had the same cam in a 318 Challenger with power steering and air. Just a touch of stall in the converter. 600 vacuum sec. holley, headers. A real slug !!! Took the front of that thing back apart and stuck in a split pattern Crane with about 260 / 268 or so and car ran real good. Get rid of that cam !!
 
I was just using that photo of the piston at the top of the cylinder as an example. It's not even my motor . That's level the top of the piston is at top dead center.
 
OK understood... but honestly, you can't tell how far down they are without an actual measurement. It can look pretty darned level with that large piston top area but can be many ten's of thousandths down in the hole when you make a precise measurement.

All this was to figure out what you have so as to understand the engine combination. It is what it is, and the compression readings are what we have to go by.

Have you been able to try any of the suggestions to help the symptoms? And was the 20" of vacuum at idle, or was it while driving around, maybe while coasting?
 
At this point, I guess I’d try a different carb, verify the lifter preload, timing curve, cranking compression, and vacuum at idle(see if you can borrow another compression tester and vacuum gauge to verify your readings).
If everything checks out the same, and the carb doesn’t help at all...... I’d look into a cam swap to something with much less advertised duration....... like a Comp 260H.
 
Since I forgot to leave the throttle plates wide open when i was doing a compression test I'm hoping the results change when I redo the rest properly
 
So we have a small block that hesitates or won’t rev up very much at all? What is the total timing and at what rpm is it all in at? I have never seen a stock fuel pump sink a float. Also at higher rpm when the pump is pumping more the motor is using more. I don’t think The “simple” stuff has been checked yet. What does it do when you try to bring the rpm up? Pop/snort or just cuts out?
 
So I got rid of the ticking under the valve cover by switching back to the sold factory push rods. Then I inspected the carb thoroughly and the floats where a little off and some how dust or some kind of filth got into the carb and moved through out the passage ways and some what clogged up the tiny little ports. So after carb and choke cleaner and back flushing everything and retighting bolts some I found a little loose the carb is running much better. Also I found a bad ground at the heat sink where my 4 prong ignition control module is mounted. Vehicle runs much better but still have an issue with timing ? I'm running the mopar performance distributor with performance curv.
 
dazedand confused said:
So I got rid of the ticking under the valve cover by switching back to the sold factory push rods. Then I inspected the carb thoroughly and the floats where a little off and some how dust or some kind of filth got into the carb and moved through out the passage ways and some what clogged up the tiny little ports. So after carb and choke cleaner and back flushing everything and retighting bolts some I found a little loose the carb is running much better. Also I found a bad ground at the heat sink where my 4 prong ignition control module is mounted. Vehicle runs much better but still have an issue with timing ? I'm running the mopar performance distributor with performance curv.
Click to expand...

What is your base idle timing. Vacuum advance plugged off.
 
And the performance curve just brings the advance in faster and limits total advance I believe.

You really need to check base timing.

I’m wondering if it’s to low
 
dazedand confused said:
Was able to get 130 psi each cylinder after leaving the throttle plates wide open like I was suppose to
Click to expand...
Good.. you are back to where a factory engine was. Glad to hear you found those other issue... they all sound pretty common. Can you better describe the 'issue with timing' for us?
 
So I fired up the engine today and after fully warmed up i plugged off the vaccum ports on edelbrock carb and a cap over the vaccum port on the vaccum advance . Hooked up the timing light and the number was very low . I adjusted timing to 36º is this right? Seems to be idling good?
 
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