Resurrecting my 77..

[adamsredlines]

Just some reading for Eric...
http://www.chevymania.com/tech/383.htm 

[deluxe77]

To add to what adam already said.  I retested the bad cylinder with adding a little oil like i was told to try.  The compression pressure didn't change at all.  I'm still going to pull the valve cover to make sure the valves are moving..  After that i will pull the head and replace the valves if needed.  Im thinking about taking the head to a shop and having it looked at?  Any recommendations at this point would be helpful as im not familiar with what to look for in the internal of the motor.

I am also unsure if this will solve my lack of power issues.  I have seen cars that still operated fine with one cylinder down, granted they didn't run great but were still able to make some kind of power.  The friend that let me use his carb to test the truck also suggested that maybe the timing chain jumped a tooth.  Does anyone have a take on that.

And as Adam also posted i acquired another motor to do as i want to with.  I am looking for suggestions on what i should build with it.  It is a 350 block that has been bored .030...  Everything is there with the motor except the intake....  I can start a new post if needed but would like some ideas on what to do with it. 

[adamsredlines]

'Nother update.....

Pulled the head off today, cylinder walls showed no scoring so thats good, but on one of the cylinders that built compression, the rocker arm stud had pulled out some and the pushrod was all kinds of loose.  Noticed that pretty quick, so thats another issue to work out.  I took the head home with me, talked to my uncle and he suggested a water test to see if the combustion chambers hold water, and low and behold the one that doesnt build compression leaked right out, so I think we probably found two of our culprits. 
He suggested a local shop, so I think Eric is going to look around this week and see what he can find out, and maybe drop the head off next weekend to get it checked out.

[deluxe77]

Ok another update just incase someone is interested in what is wrong with the motor and could cause my problem.  I took the heads to the machine shop to have them tested and worked on.  It seems from what the guy told me "all the valves have basically been sucked up into the heads,  More than likely cause by an intake leak and or a bad carb"  So he is replacing all the Valves and Reseating the one stud that backed out.  I should have the heads back by Friday.  So Ill post the outcome of the install and see if it solves all my lack of power issues Just incase anyone is still reading this thread.

[VileZambonie]

What year are the heads? Do they have hardened seats? A cylinder leakage test would have revealed where your loss of compression was.

[deluxe77]

I dont know what year the heads were manufactured i can tell you the year they were purchased.  I bought them from a shop back in '98.  the only number i remember from talking to the guy is 883     and when we did the compression test only one cylinder showed a loss of compression.  and it was the number 4 cylinder.   But visually inspecting the heads you could tell something was wrong with the valves.  I had a second set of heads with me and the smaller of the two valves (I dont know which are the intake and which are the exhaust valves)  were not the same as the ones on the other set of heads.  and this was the case with all 8 cylinders.  So they are doing a complete valve job on both heads...    side note the other set of heads i was given had a crack in the number 1 cylinder 

[deluxe77]

correction might possibly have been  882 heads

[Captkaos]

Can you not physically look at them and give us the casting number?

[deluxe77]

I could have if they weren't at the machine shop.  But they are 882 heads for a small block 350.  Which i also found out that one of the heads off of the truck was bad as well.  I have a good working set now and will be installing them shortly.

[deluxe77]

Ok heres the latest..   Got the heads back and installed them.  Took it for a test drive and it is gaining speed in 3 and 4th (it is a 4 speed tranny).  but not a drastic gain.  Still seems to be a loss of power from what i remember the truck having before. Im out of ideas of what could be wrong.

list of new parts...

Heads reworked.   New distributor cap and rotor.  New wires and plugs.  Different Carb.  new fuel pump and fuel filter. 

Any other ideas???

[deluxe77]

Oh yeah i forgot to mention.  On the test drive i spun the U-joint and dropped the drive shaft 

[SUX2BU99]

Any reason that your exhaust might be severely plugged? Is your throttle cable working correctly? Any reason that the fuel line might be pinched somewhere?

[deluxe77]

i guess there could be a possibilty something got up in the exhaust while it was parked....  fuel lines are ok i replaced the rubber hoses and all metal lines are fine.  And the throttle cable has no kinks or hangups.  Goes through full motion when floored...