New update and problems found! I have been having a hell of a time trying to get this T to run right! After about 70 miles on the car, I detected what I thought was a miss or poping sound under load. It would idle ok but the vacuum was runing only about 13 lbs at idle. The poping (miss) kept getting worse and it sounded just like a fouled plug that will eventually clear its self if you raise the RPM under no load. That didn't work so I installed new plugs. No Change, installed new wires, no change, installed a pertronix electronic ignition, no change, installed new rotor cap and rotor, no change.....you get the idea! I have now eliminated everything electrical so now I know that I need to hit it with a hammer as one of our Members would say! I limp the car over to a friends diagnostic machine where we would kill one cylinder at a time and note the readings. I had already checked the compression on all cylinders and the lowest was 150 and the higest was 160. I was surprised that the compression was so high but was told that this was a fresh rebuilt 350. Anyway, #7 cylinder was my problem! When #7 was killed, the engine gained 900 rpm! You engine guys can probably figure it out from here but what I found was not a collapsed lifter but a wiped cam exhaust lobe! The #7 exhaust valve was not opening so that I was getting a compression stroke on the exhaust and when the intake on #7 opened, all that pressure blew into the intake! As time went buy and I put miles on the car, the cam wore down to the point that it cupped the lifter and there was no lift to open the valve. The cam was apparently never broken in on this car before I got it. Anyway, the new cam and lifters arrive on Tuesday. I am installing new valve springs because these seem weak and I don't trust them. I am dropping the pan and installing a new HP oil pump. I think the motor will be fine as far as metal goes and I can't wait to see what this thing runs like with the new parts. I am not upset about all of this, it is hot rodding after all. We live for the challenges and the problem solving and I have learned more than I knew before so it is all good.
