Welcome to the Corvette Forums at the Corvette Action Center!

FINALLY, some good news!!

Joined
Apr 2, 2004
Messages
4,611
Location
Newark, Delaware
Corvette
1965 Coupe L76 / 1978 L82
Well, I'm sure most of you have seen my threads on the continuing saga of BABY's timing/distributor/idle etc problems.
She has been into 2 different mechanics and 5 shop visits and they made her progressively worst.

Well. I drove her over to my neighbors house this morning to give him the latest update of the saga and he pulled out the timing light, vacuum gauge, and some tools.
one and a half hours later BABY is now running great!!
She is idleing correctly at a good steady 800rpm without hanging up at 1200-1400rpm. She is fairly responsive off the line (the 327/365 isn't the most torquey motor at low rpms), and at the high rpm range there is NO breakup at all. When we took her for a test drive I started to push her a bit to see how the high rpms were running and instead of breakup starting at approx 5700-5900rpm she pegged the redline easily at 6500 with no problem and wanted to go more before I backed off!

What a relief to finally get this problem solved!
Amazing though that an amateur car guy in his driveway could do in 1.5 hrs what 2 "professional" mechanics that come highly recommended couldn't accomplish after all the time they spent and the monney it cost me. :mad

In case anyone is interested in what the cure was....he took out the plug from the vacuum line and as soon as he did the idle went back up REAL high with the vacuum line plugged into the vac. can. What he ended up doing was simply adjusting the timing by rotating the distributor and adjusting idle and keep making adjustments that way until she sounded and felt right.

The issue I have to deal with now is getting to the bottom of the oil blowback I'm experiencing.
The mechanic mentioned it to me when I picked her up last night but I didn't really now what he meant until we worked on her today at my neighbors. As soon as we took off the aircleaner we saw a lot of oil in it and the air filter is pretty wet with oil!
In a couple of days my neighbor said we will work on that problem and he will check the compression on all cyinders and also do a leak-down test.
He was looking for a pvc valve he said on the oil intake tube but there isn't one. is there suppose to be one on a '65 327/365.

Barry
 
Barryk,

There is no valve but the fitting on the side of the carb (that connects to the oil tube) is a special fitting. The opening is restricted and limits the airflow. If you remove your air cleaner and place your hand over the tube that connects to the back of the block you should feel a very slow sucking. By "slow" I mean it will take a few seconds for the vacuum to develop.

The PCV system on a '65 is simple - restircted vacuum from the carb pulls air from the the air cleaner housing through the block and into the combustion chambers and burns it off.

Glad to hear that your situation is improving.
Brian
 
allcoupedup said:
Barryk,

There is no valve but the fitting on the side of the carb (that connects to the oil tube) is a special fitting. The opening is restricted and limits the airflow. If you remove your air cleaner and place your hand over the tube that connects to the back of the block you should feel a very slow sucking. By "slow" I mean it will take a few seconds for the vacuum to develop.

The PCV system on a '65 is simple - restircted vacuum from the carb pulls air from the the air cleaner housing through the block and into the combustion chambers and burns it off.

Glad to hear that your situation is improving.
Brian


Hi Brian

is the tube you are refering to that I should feel a sucking from the thick black stiff tube that angles down from the air cleaner into a fitting at the back of the intake manifold? Is this where the oil blowback would be coming from? I would assume the oil was coming up from the oil intake tube thru the smaller rubber hose that goes into a 90 degree fitting into the side of the carb?

Thanks, I'm glad that other issue seems to be better. Still not sure if the timing and advance numbers are now "by the book" but the car sure runs better and there is no BS "plugging the vacuum line" work around fix being utilized which makes me feel better.
Of course, one problem down and now another crops up but I guess that the life in owning an old car!
 
Amazing though that an amateur car guy in his driveway could do in 1.5 hrs what 2 "professional" mechanics that come highly recommended couldn't accomplish after all the time they spent




Barry

Just because some one works in a shop and works on cars it does not make them a mecanic.

Skill,knowledge,exsperiance,know how, and common sence do make a mecanic.

And it seems you finally found a "mecanic" to get your car running correct


PS

I would be carefull winding that motor up to 6500 you miss a gear up there and the motor will be toast recently rebuilt or not.

Congrats on getting the car running correct
 
Yep - this stiff black tube actually connects to the back of the block - this opening is unique to the small-journal 327 (1963-1967).

Quick question - are you running the original foam type air cleaner? If so, this MUST be oily to be effective. The shop manual procedure suggests cleaning with Keorsene, dipping in oil, and wringing out. If you have a paper element air cleaner, it should not be oily.

Back to the original question - if your rings are worn part of the combustion pressure will leak past the rings into the crankcase. The purpose of this pcv system is to suck those fumes (explosive mixture) back into the carb to be burned off.

Someone else will know better I don't see how blow-by can show up as oil in the air cleaner unless so much blowby pressure caused reversal of the airflow in the system and air actually came out of that black tube....(maybe at high RPM?) The 90 degree fitting at the carb is exposed to manifold vacuum so I don't think any oil residue in this area would show up in the air cleaner.
 
IH2LOSE said:
Just because some one works in a shop and works on cars it does not make them a mecanic.

Skill,knowledge,exsperiance,know how, and common sence do make a mecanic.

And it seems you finally found a "mecanic" to get your car running correct


PS

I would be carefull winding that motor up to 6500 you miss a gear up there and the motor will be toast recently rebuilt or not.




Aint that the truth!!! But please don't get me wrong, by NO means at all was I referring to the "amateur guy in his driveway" in a disparaging way! Just seeing all the knowleadge in this forum by guys that are driveway DIY'ers gives me a LOT of respect from these people. In fact, right now a lot more respect than I'm giving to most of these "pro" guys

Honestly, I never push the car that hard up to redline. It was just to see how she is running during the test drive. My normal driving usually doesn't exceed past 5000rpms and rarely do I even get up to there.
 
I would be willing to bet that most "Enthusiest or Hobbyiest" Mechanics are more skilled then most working at "shops". Most learn by experiance which is the best teacher. The cost of the equipment required to work on the new "computer controlled" cars has driven many of the smaller shops out of business. Back in the dark ages when I lived in New Jersey one of the more reliable shops in my neighborhood was pretty much forced out of the repair business because he could not justify the cost of the new equipment required for emmissions testing. Last time I was back there they were only selling gas.
Good luck
 
allcoupedup said:
Yep - this stiff black tube actually connects to the back of the block - this opening is unique to the small-journal 327 (1963-1967).

Quick question - are you running the original foam type air cleaner? If so, this MUST be oily to be effective. The shop manual procedure suggests cleaning with Keorsene, dipping in oil, and wringing out. If you have a paper element air cleaner, it should not be oily.

Back to the original question - if your rings are worn part of the combustion pressure will leak past the rings into the crankcase. The purpose of this pcv system is to suck those fumes (explosive mixture) back into the carb to be burned off.

Someone else will know better I don't see how blow-by can show up as oil in the air cleaner unless so much blowby pressure caused reversal of the airflow in the system and air actually came out of that black tube....(maybe at high RPM?) The 90 degree fitting at the carb is exposed to manifold vacuum so I don't think any oil residue in this area would show up in the air cleaner.

Yes, the air cleaner that is in there is a foam type. I didn't know that was suppose to be oily.I had assumed the oil was from the "blowback" and making the filter oily. sorry, shows how little I know about all this stuff. Would I be better off going with a more standard type paper element filter?

As for air out of the black tube, as we were working on it it backfired a few times before we got it running right and there was smoke coming from that black tube.
 
bossvette said:
I would be willing to bet that most "Enthusiest or Hobbyiest" Mechanics are more skilled then most working at "shops". Good luck

Well, so far from my experience that sure seems to be the case around here
 
you mean LADY and BABY may finally be able to meet in person, again! Both running, FINALLY!?
 
c5vetter said:
you mean LADY and BABY may finally be able to meet in person, again! Both running, FINALLY!?

Rick

That's right, LADY and BABY are overdue for another day of "women bonding" and they both deserve it.
Actually, BABY has been running all this time, just not very well for the last month or so. Now she is finally running a lot better!
:)
 
Barry, the brass elbow on the driver's side of the carb that connects the hose from the oil fill tube has an .090" orifice in it, which meters the flow of crankcase vapors into the carb (instead of the PCV valve on '66 and later cars); it's supposed to be removed and cleaned with a piece of wire to make sure the orifice is open at every tune-up interval, but almost nobody knows that, and most of them are plugged, so the PCV system doesn't work properly. Remove the fitting, clean it, and re-install it, and the system will be functional again.

As Allcoupedup said, the foam air cleaner element is supposed to be oily - that's how it traps dirt and holds it. Just clean it occasionally per the instructions in your owner's manual. If it gets crumbly, Paragon has the correct replacement.

Told you someone who knew what they're doing could get it humming again! These things are pretty simple, but many "modern" mechanics don't have the old-school knowledge and experience to set them up properly.
:beer
 
JohnZ said:
Barry, the brass elbow on the driver's side of the carb that connects the hose from the oil fill tube has an .090" orifice in it, which meters the flow of crankcase vapors into the carb (instead of the PCV valve on '66 and later cars); it's supposed to be removed and cleaned with a piece of wire to make sure the orifice is open at every tune-up interval, but almost nobody knows that, and most of them are plugged, so the PCV system doesn't work properly. Remove the fitting, clean it, and re-install it, and the system will be functional again.

As Allcoupedup said, the foam air cleaner element is supposed to be oily - that's how it traps dirt and holds it. Just clean it occasionally per the instructions in your owner's manual. If it gets crumbly, Paragon has the correct replacement.

Told you someone who knew what they're doing could get it humming again! These things are pretty simple, but many "modern" mechanics don't have the old-school knowledge and experience to set them up properly.
:beer


John

thanks for the info. As always you have the answers!
I pretty sure even I can handle that fitting and the air cleaner. :D

Yep, I got real lucky with my neighbor. What I'm just amazed about is both these "mechanics" that I tried ARE "old-school" type guys. Both have been around a long time and are ex-dragracers. The last one in particular is supposably the "expert-guru" in this area for old cars, especially old Vettes and other muscle cars. Go figure.
Oh well, an extremely expensive lesson learned here.
 
JohnZ wrote: "it's supposed to be removed and cleaned with a piece of wire to make sure the orifice is open at every tune-up interval, but almost nobody knows that"

Hey, I didn't know that! (Making mental note to conduct a little underhood recon tonight on my 65, will likely encounter a completely cruded-up orifice).
 
ctjackster said:
JohnZ wrote: "it's supposed to be removed and cleaned with a piece of wire to make sure the orifice is open at every tune-up interval, but almost nobody knows that"

Hey, I didn't know that! (Making mental note to conduct a little underhood recon tonight on my 65, will likely encounter a completely cruded-up orifice).

I beat you to it Ct. I did mine as soon as I got up this morning!
LOL
I guess that contitutes my first "DIY" job on my car. Ok, Ok, so it's probably the most easy thing that could be done on the car but it's a start anyway!
LOL
Now I just have to get some kerosene to clean air filter as per the owners manual.
 
Backfired?

BarryK said:
As for air out of the black tube, as we were working on it it backfired a few times before we got it running right and there was smoke coming from that black tube.
Glad you got it figured out. You have to be careful of backfires though. If you car has a pre-67 Holley carb, a backfire could takeout the powervalve.
 

Corvette Forums

Not a member of the Corvette Action Center?  Join now!  It's free!

Help support the Corvette Action Center!

Supporting Vendors

Dealers:

MacMulkin Chevrolet - The Second Largest Corvette Dealer in the Country!

Advertise with the Corvette Action Center!

Double Your Chances!

Our Partners

Back
Top Bottom