1970 olds 350 looking to learn how to inspect engine to make sure everything is running great?

any tips i have vacuum gauge and couple other tools

 

Like what, a screwdriver and a pair of nail clippers?

Can you be more specific?


Overall, this is kind of an odd question. The obvious first thing to ask is, how does the engine sound when it's running? Idle smoothly without racing? No stumbling, etc.? How does it run when the car is moving? No hesitation? Smooth acceleration from a stoplight and when you stomp on the pedal to pass someone when the car is already going 55? Does it start OK when cold and warm up smoothly? In other words, is the choke working OK?

Most people take their cue as to how well an engine is running by the kinds of things mentioned above. How does it sound? How does it perform?

If you really want to be sure that it's running at peak efficiency, you want to check all of the things that one would do during a tune-up. Remove the spark plugs and check their gaps and their appearance. Check the plug wires and replace any that are worn, cracked, etc. I think most people will replace the entire set of plug wires if any are bad. Ditto for the spark plugs.

Check the timing. Check the condition of the distributor and the components under there (rotor, points, condenser, etc.) and replace any that are worn. Ditto for the coil. Check dwell. Adjust idle speeds to factory specs.

While a vacuum gauge is certainly useful in helping to diagnose engine problems, you'll need more than that to check the timing, the dwell angle, and the idle speed. Timing lights are often just that, but tachometers for checking idle speed often have dwell angle gauges as well.

 

Overall, this is kind of an understatement.



To add to Jaunty's answer:

• Vacuum gauge - vacuum level and steadiness
• Dwell Meter
• Volt Meter (function of the electrical system is part of engine function)
• Tachometer
• Compression tester
• Wideband oxygen sensor
• SUN machine
• Dynamometer, if you're really serious

• Check spark plugs, wires, cap, rotor, points, condenser, as Jaunty said.
• Do standard tune-up: Dwell, Timing, check proper function of mechanical and vacuum advance, set pull-off, fast and slow idle on carburetor.
• Run engine on SUN machine to check for hidden problems in spark and combustion chambers.
• Fine-tune engine mixture using wideband O2 sensor.

Or just decide whether it feels and sounds like it's running well.

- Eric

 

Sorry about the general nature of the question ive recently had the carb tuned its brand new 4150 holley vacuum secondary, the timing is 10 degrees advance. it has a lopey cam in it so the idle is a tad rough but it runs great idles fine starts cold with a small touch on the accelerator before hitting the key. The distributor is new, Plugs are brand new and gapped to .45, the plug wires are in good condition, the only thing that i can notice is when holding a low speed say between 30-45 with your foot barley on the pedal theres a low small pop pop pop from the exhaust sounds like one pipe.

I hope thats some better starting points. Its not a completley stock engine, its bored .050 and has the lopey cam, and high rise performer rpm manifold. with a 411 gear and 2500 stall shift kit.

 

oh and ive since done a complete chassis harness replacement electrical is kind of my thing im a beast at wiring and relays

 

ive got it run threw 2 140 amp circuit breakers with a auxillary fuse panel ready to go for electric fans and msd once i get there second battery in the box, got 10 12v relay strip with appropriate ground terminals and breakers with button throw so i can use theft deterence from under the hood.

 

i also had the heads off recently and they look great clean and polished, the valves had little to no carbon build up.

 

tools beside sockets wrenchs and nail clippers.

Vacuum gauge
Volt meter/multi meter
spark plug gapper
compression test
timing light
thats about it for specialty.

 

Once you loosen up you do quite well with your explanation. If that pop pop goes away at a higher RPM you might have a bad valve but if you have used those tools you have you probably have eliminated that from the mix.... Tedd