Hello all -

Yesterday I installed the Pertronix ignition (Was very easy and seemed to smooth out revs some), timed the engine and adjusted the valves (Should have done that the first day I got the car; like me, it was pretty maladjusted). I have two questions.

When doing the timing, I wasn't able to adust it enough to get to where it seemed happy. I have the dist. turned clockwise as far as it can go and the secondary adjustment under the dist. as far as it can go and it's about 5 degrees BTDC. I removed the adjusting screw and it seemed to like around 8 or 9 BTDC. I settled on around 12 BTDC with the screw catching the outer edge of the adjustment flange which it liked better than 5 BTDC.

I tried pulling the dist and moving it one tooth but after adjusting the secondary adjustment screw all the way the other direction, there was limited range of motion (vaccum housing in the way) and it was around 5 degrees after TDC.

I know I can grind the adjustment flange to get it to time correctly but does this mean that the timing chain is stretched or is there something else I can try? I am planning on rebuilding the motor at some point in the future but would like to have it running as well as possible now.

The other issue is that when I opened up the valve cover to do the valves, I found gunk everywhere. It looks like dried oil and is stuck to the valve cover, the head, the cam, and down into the lower part of the engine. The valves and lifters are not so bad and seem to be getting oil. I tried scraping it off the valve cover and its hard underneath but kind of flaky on top. I've seen it before on other engines but never this bad. The head is what worries me most since it is flaky all around the valves in little mounds that I can push around with my finger.

I know this can't be good but the engine seems strong with no hesitation and good acceleration. I does miss at idle but I was suspecting a vaccum leak somewhere. It also burns around a quart of oil every 250 miles.

Is there a way I can clean this up? I'm a little nervous about flushing it since then all that stuff will be floating around loose. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Nick

I had a similar situation with a'78 400 4bbl. I tried to be really careful removing that stuff, so that none would end up in the sump. But I don't think it can be done. Even if you don't loosen and drop any of it, it'll still break loose somewhere(because regular oil changes will clean it out bit by bit) and plug up the pickup, or worse. On mine, the pieces got through the pickup screen and accumulated on the oil pump rotors until it actually stopped them from rotating and something's got to give. On a V8, the quill shaft will break, don't know about sl/6, suspect oil pump to cam gear will fail. If I had it to do over again, I'd pull the hood, oil pan, and the valve cover, and use a pressure washer to just blast the stuff right on through the botm.

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'70 Cuda AAR
'74 Duster 360
'79 MagnumGT
'79 Chrysler 300

Damn, I thought I was logged on when I wrote these questions. Too bad you can't replace brain parts when they go bad.
That's what I'm worried about. I've been driving the car quite a bit lately and now I'm wondering if oil pump is pumping like it should. It's probably been getting gunked for a while let alone what would happen if I mix the stuff up.

I like your idea of pulling the pan and cleaning everything out. That way I could clean up the pump and be sure everything is clean. I don't know about the spraywasher though. Couldn't that cause problems if water got into the head?

I know I would need either high pressure or a strong solvent. Some of it is stuck on pretty hard. What if I pulled the pan, soaked everything with diesel, and scrubbed it off? The advice in another thread is to add diesel to the oil and run it for a while. I just think that that would cause the problem we just discussed.

Thanks,

Nick

I like Gunk engine flush . Some just change to a good deisel grade motor oil, like Delo 400-30 and run it for a couple of oil changes. Whatever you use you need to watch your oil pressure real close during the flushing period....and dropping the pan to clean it and the pick-up screen is a must do. Sometimes you'll have to do it twice. Whatever the case if it's really gunked up bad you probably will have to live with it never being real clean ...unless you do a rebuild.
I advise folks who arn't willing to drop the pan, to not flush the thing at all.

Trysix

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65 Coronet 4dr
Always being Modified