Can anyone tell me what a 350 ZZ4 motor would do if it was timed at 4 or 5 degrees retarded??? Ive been chasing a miss in this motor since I got it. It SUCKS I cant drive it and since the day I brought it home it has had a miss in it.

Its the classic story.............find a car in west virginia drive 2 days to get it. It runs great but when ya get it home you cant wait to tune it up and tinker around with it and make it "BETTER" right? Well I did this with new cap rotor wires plugs and changed the oil and filter. Took the Holley off cleaned it and put it back on. I developed this miss that seems like a plug wire is off. She idles and runs like a tractor. BUT NOT ALL THE TIME. I can feel it come in and out as Im driving. I have changed the cap and rotor 3 times in case I got a bad one and still no luck. Ive changed the plugs as well and the wires.

The only thing I havent done is change full timing to 36 or 38 degrees as Ive been told here on this site. The specs for the ZZ4 say 32 degrees and thats where I set it...................So my question is, how would the motor run if infact the timimg was retearded 4 or 5 degrees? Could that be causeing my miss and problem? ANY and ALL opinions would be GREAT!!!! thanks...

well.......when I first got my new ZZ4 fired up......I discovered that I was actually about 24* retarded!!! talk about rough......look at the video posted in my progress thread.......but that, along with a mal-adjusted choke on the Holley carb, combined for a VERY rich condition as well....all contributing to a very poor running engine......it's all ironed out now, but in the spring, it's going in for some dyno-tuning.

could you be a full 180* out?:screwup:

I didnt pull the distributor, but yea something seemed fishy when I replaced the wires and fired her up. First of all I got the wires right the FIRST time ( NEVER happened before) and number 1 is pointing at 6oclock. I always thought that #1 should be about 5 oclock. DAMN IT this is driving me insane! Anybody live near me? Come on over I got a heated garage!

Maybe take into consideration that the previous owner had the wires set up different than what you think is right. They could all have been one over and ran fine, and you could have installed them the right way. In a nutshell, it may be worth while to pull the distributor and start over.

Something else to consider, you didn't lean out the carb did you? Burnt valves are a PITA.

I didnt do anything to the carb as far as leaning it out. I think you may have HIT IT with the "previous owner" thing. Ive known all along that pulling the dist and starting over is the best way to know for sure. I just dont want the hassle but I think Im gonna have to do it. THANK YOU for your advice.

greg

you may have HIT IT with the "previous owner" thing. Ive known all along that pulling the dist and starting over is the best way to know for sure. I just dont want the hassle but
greg

You find its not really that big a hassle. The other thing to remember is it connects to a little oil pump drive rod that you can line up with a long straight head screwdriver if you need to. The gears will cause the distributor to "turn" about 30 degrees as it comes out. You need to account for that as well but for most this isn't that difficult at all.

What would 4 or 5 degrees retarded feel like?

http://i38.tinypic.com/35bcrgn.jpg


;)

http://i38.tinypic.com/35bcrgn.jpg


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LOL!

http://i38.tinypic.com/35bcrgn.jpg


;)


Thats funny right there!

I didnt pull the distributor, but yea something seemed fishy when I replaced the wires and fired her up. First of all I got the wires right the FIRST time ( NEVER happened before) and number 1 is pointing at 6oclock. I always thought that #1 should be about 5 oclock. DAMN IT this is driving me insane! Anybody live near me? Come on over I got a heated garage!

If number 1 is at 6 o'clock, you are a tooth off. Move it to 5 o'clock.

Yes, it will start, run, idle, and your engine temps will be fine, but if you move it to 5 o'clock, you'll see a big difference.

This still doesn't explain the miss, though.

Thanks guys I dug in today, fired up the heater and spent the afternoon in the garage. I pulled the distributor turned the oil pump shaft to set up the dist to point at #1 cylinder ( it was at 6oclock) and dropped her back in and rewired all the plug wires. I also set the full timing at 34* instead of 32. The car seems to run better and at idle I dont hear the miss. It is winter hear and it snowed and rained all day so I didnt take her out for a test drive. The only thing is I still have "run on" when I shut the key off. The idle is set at 900-1000 and every thing else seems to be fine. MAN what the heck is this run on about? I CAN NOT find a good timing spot for this motor!!!

Whats the plugs look like? run-on can be caused by carbon deposits in the combustion area of the heads or on the valves acting as glow plugs. Could be the cause of the intermittent miss you describe as well.
Try some sea-foam and see if it cleans it out some.

The orientation of the dizzy makes NO difference. You can stab the dizzy with the vac pointed in any direction you want and if the firing order and timing is right it wont mean squat.

terry, glad yer here man. lol

Whats the plugs look like? run-on can be caused by carbon deposits in the combustion area of the heads or on the valves acting as glow plugs. Could be the cause of the intermittent miss you describe as well.
Try some sea-foam and see if it cleans it out some.

The orientation of the dizzy makes NO difference. You can stab the dizzy with the vac pointed in any direction you want and if the firing order and timing is right it wont mean squat.

terry, glad yer here man. lol



I understand about the dizzy and the orientation of it. It just bugged me that it wasnt right. I found some plugs were black and some were brand new looking. They deffinatly are not all the same. Im gonna drive it today and if the miss is still there Ill be lookin for the "for sale" section of this site!

I don't know much about the new crate motors, but is there a chance that the cam has been changed to one that has the 4 & 7 swap firing order ? Or do they come that way ?

Suggest you throw a new set of plugs in it, that may be your problem. I have learned the hard way, that if you have a miss to first check and/or change your plugs before you spend money and time thinking it is the carb, dist., wires, etc.

I don't know much about the new crate motors, but is there a chance that the cam has been changed to one that has the 4 & 7 swap firing order ? Or do they come that way ?
No. I'm pretty sure there would be some warning or advertisment on that.