After my cam, lifters and pushrods got replaced in my 340 I fired up the car and it seemed it was running good....Not great. Drove the car for a few miles without any issues. I have heard a lot about valve adjustment and preload being a 1/4 to 3/4 turn after 0 lash. I initially did 3/4 of a turn.I removed the valve covers and backed it off 1/4 turn to 1/2 turn from the initial 3/4. I'm using 273 adjustable rockers that were already in the car. Today I took the car out and when I started it up cold it sounded like a hot start with the timing advanced to much with starter kick back. It did start and the idle was low and the engine was bouncing all over. I bumped up the idle a bit and it eliminated some but not all of the bouncing. I went out for a ride and it was running ok. Then I got to a big hill my car has climbed before and it was way down on power and pinging. I nursed her home and now thats where she sits. On a side note when I try to time the car I cannot see the balancer line ever moving the timing advanced or retarded where it runs. Where would you start? Do any of the symptoms sound like maybe my chain is off a tooth? Did I fry my new cam? A little freaked out. Or should I put the preload back where it was? The timing line not being visible has been that way since I initially got the car running.
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