I recently bought a Duster with a 73 360 motor,edelbrock intake, edelbrock csrb, headers, it was running really poor when i fired it up, turns out it had 30 degrees initial timing, so i backed it off to 16, stripped the edelbrock carb, cleaned, checked and replaced a few gaskets and it ran a lot better. When i put my vac gauge on it, it read around 8 inches vac ? Driving it, it feels soft down low untill it gets rolling, it's got a 7-1/4 axle that feels pretty high geared and it feels like a stock converter but i thought it would be more punchy so i did a comp test today.
Engine was cold, accelerator fully open, dry then wet.
Opinions please.
2 4 6 8 1 3 5 7
Dry 120 115 145 120 120 125 120 100
Wet 135 125 150 130 135 130 135 110

Number 7 may have a flat cam lobe.That is a wide range of variance in compression.

If the lobe is flat then why cant i here it and it idles fairly steady,needle on vac gauge was jumping around 1 inch.
Mick

8" is very low vacuum and #7 still has some compression. The term flat is somewhat misleading. It still could has some lobe but not near what it should have. It may even be a valve going bad and not seating all the way around. You could feed that cylinder compressed air and listen to see if you can hear it escaping through the carb or the exhaust(bad valve) or into the pan(bad rings).

#7 rings/seal may be a bit more worn than the others. How wild is the cam? what springs are in the dist? what is the total now & what RPM does it max at? Lets figure out the low vac #

Motor info is unknown to me, i bought the car from west VA and got very few specifics, 16 initial, 36 max mechanical now.Not sure what RPM no tach, seems better once it gets going.

36 is a good ballpark total (initial+slots) & I'm assuming this is with the can plugged. 16 is OK for a stock cam.

Yes can plugged. I've been doing other stuff to the car and ideally should be finishing my 470 for my Dart but [censored] like this keeps getting in the way.

Me too, holler with any new developments.

I would let it warm up then re-test and see what numbers you get.

Way back I had many stockers that ran fair and never ticked with a round lobe and caved in lifter bottom, always though it odd.

hi

mabey cam is retarded ,

bump it up 4 deg !

I was toying with the idea of advancing the cam because of the low comp and tall gears.

Cam is probably bigger than optimum.

Do you think advancing the cam might help Dwayne ? also what's your thoughts on the seven cylinder, i dont think it's cam wear but could it be a valve sticking ?

You are going to stay sluggish until you forget that 36 total crap. Get your dist setup for mech advance and let it rip start with 20 initial and 42 degrees total. and go up from there I run 45 degrees total timing no issue You have a low comp 360 they all have similar comp tests Your no. 7 is probably a head gasket getting ready to go been there done that several times over the years. Possible just crap built up on valve Sea Foam or marvel will help Don't expect the world but that engine will run better with a Holley 650 dbl pumper and a good 2 inch spacer Comp 268 high energy will help and some good gears in back

I'm going to flush the engine, put fresh oil and a filter on it first.
Mick

perform a leak down test on each cylinder.

No 7 was right under the header, so fairly hard to get the fitting on, anyway i thought i'll do that cylinder again today and got 110 dry, 120 wet ?
I picked a fresh set of plugs up today.

how wild/mild is the cam? what does it idle at?