I stuck a pencil in it and made sure it was at the top. It's close enough I think.

So I got it running at 2k long enough for me to do some snooping and it basically destroyed itself.

A couple of the bolts on the valve covers leak now, rip the paint job I just did. The radiator burst or something happened because there's coolant everywhere. I plugged the port for the PCV just to make sure. I unplugged it after I got the engine at 13° and white smoke billowed out of the port. I'm not completely sure what's going on other than I feel like the engine is not very happy at all.

The oil looks fine to me and there's not white smoke coming out of the exhaust. I really don't know.

 

Might pull the spark plugs to see if any coolant got on the pistons. If none, then consider a coolant pressure test to find the leak.

Sounds like you still have timing issues and possibly a leaky intake...coolant and air...maybe.

 

Well the leak was from the radiator. It just threw up all over the fan and made a nice mist to irritate my eyes.

None seemed to get in to the Pistons, the spark plugs look fine.

 

A quick way to check if the manifold is sealed to the crankcase. Remove the oil fill breather and pcv from the valve cover, start the engine and put your hands over the holes and there should not be a vacuum, if so then it is time to pull the manifold. It is also possible the gaskets were either damaged or installed in reverse. I am even guilty of doing that years ago. Save yourself a lot of headaches and purchase an Edelbrock or similar. That iron manifold may have been milled in the past to fit heads that were also milled.

 

Wish I had the money for a nice intake. Unfortunately college is a sucker.

I'd love to try that method but I can't get the car to run at 13°. I feel like it should at least stay running for a little bit but it just won't stay running.

I got a new fuel filter and new line and hose clamped everything to make sure I wasn't sucking air in the fuel line and tried it again and it just shot flames out of the carb. I don't understand how it could do that at 13°, that's a bit confusing. Maybe 13° is not 13°? But it was still shooting flames at 30° which is what I pulled it back from, so why here?

I have a feeling I messed up the carburator or forgot a check ball somewhere. The intake hasn't been touched before, no signs of any machining and it matched the gasket. I put rtv around the water ports and cranked it all down in the correct pattern so I don't believe it's the manifold. I could have put it upside down though. That's plausible. I really want to stick it on the carb though as it's the one thing I'm most unsure about.

What could I have messed up in the carb that could cause this? Since it's only running under throttle, regardless if the choke is open or not, would the carb be running lean?

 

Won't hurt anything to borrow a known working carb and see if the engine runs on it. Doesn't have to be perfect for your engine, just keep it running at idle and maybe easy cruise.

 

Carburetors are just a calibrated fuel leak. So long as all the big parts are there it should idle and run reasonably OK.

Could also try a "vacuum lift" test. With the carburetor throttle plates fully closed ignition disabled crank the engine over with the starter for a few seconds. The vacuum gauge should rise to about 5" Hg. steady. I think if there was a major intake gasket derangement or something like that, it would show that.

 

 

previous post meant for different thread.

 

My 390 behaved that way once. The fuel level on the carb was set too high so fuel was pouring in all the time.
When it was revved up it could handle the extra fuel, but not when idling.