Added a few new videos to the youtube link above, still trying to find what I believe to be a vacuum link. 2 of the videos are of the vacuum, oil pressure and RPM. Best I could adjust the carb is to get ~17" at 450rpm. Timing checked at 6 deg BTDC, Dwell is 30deg

The 3rd is showing the air coming out of the tappet cover breather tube. It is very humid here in Houston, so maybe this is normal but seems like a lot more condensation than I would expect. Just documenting these things here for future reference.

Got the parking brake much closer to useable now. Followed Ross's and the manuals advice and it will hold the car just before the parking brake handle comes to a stop.

The Vacuum videos are with the carb vac check valve (in the rear) removed and vac gauge hooked up to that port via hose barb connection.

Howard, thanks so much. With your description and the picture, I understood the internal geometry better so I was able to twist and wiggle the shaft back in a bit and it seems like it reseated in the groove. I played with the lever and made sure it was close to what was described in the manual (cold engine/trans). I think it was good before I started..

With the bottom adjusted, I warmed up the engine and at 450 idle adjusted the top linkage as per the manual. the throttle linkage adjustment is far forward, almost touching the turnbuckle. Seems too far forward. I measured from the firewall to the back end of this linkage as per the SC and it was 3-3/8".

Do I need to measure the lower trans throttle shaft when the engine is warm?

Other than that, not sure what else to do. Maybe this is okay for my car. The shaft has a noticeable bend in it, that could cause the position to be further forward than typical.

thanks again for your assistance.
-Bob

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Sorry to hijack this thread. I will start a new one if necessary but there was a lot of great HH56 info on this one that is relevant. After reading this thread, I remembered that when I switched from a Carter WCFB to the 4GC on my 55 Patrician I just did a quick linkage adjustment to ensure the linkage wasnt hitting the firewall. So I went back last night to be a little more careful with the adjustment. Following the top end procedure on page 52 of the SM, the throttle linkage adjustment piece ended up very far forward, close to the turnbuckle. This didnt seem right so I then went to do the lower end procedure on the kick-down lever on the passenger side of the tranny. When I first started playing with it, the lever would very easily move forward and back, even with the long connecting rod attached. It moved so easily that I thought it wasnt connected to anything inside the tranny. Plus, it did look like the lever was mounted a bit to far aft as per the SM procedure of using a straight edge etc. All I did was to use a socket wrench and box end wrench to loosen (didnt take too much force) the bolt that holds the lever to the shaft and the damn trans shaft will no longer rotate. It went from feeling disconnected to locked up. Not sure what I may have hit or done to it. I started the car and ran the tranny through the gears (brake on) so see if pressure on the system would put things back to normal. But no joy. I must have done something inadvertently to have the shaft no longer move. Any suggestions? Thanks

FYI. There is still a miss/shudder at idle that is also perceptible at higher rpms. There is also a little rpm surge at idle so I am working on the assumption there is a vacuum leak somewhere. But no luck in plugging carb fittings, spraying starter fluid all over manifold, carb, etc.
I was curious about oiling. The oil pressure at cold, high idle of 1100rpm is ~45-50 psi with Rotella T4 15W-40. The link below has some video of the engine at cold and warm idle as well as a few with the rocker covers removed. There are no gushers of oil, but you can see the drips off the rocker arm at each rocker location. You can see the shudder in most of the videos, and maybe hear it but the audio isnt great.

Just thought seeing the rockers moving was cool so wanted to share and also solicit any ideas as to find the source of the shudder.

thx

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXxvWDoVWUSusn7JVgi1Fkw

For documentation sake, I wanted to record the latest.
I have been driving it around the block lately. It starts right up and idles well. There is a random shudder or miss at idle as well as higher RPMs. Can't figure out if it is carb or distributor but I know it can be smoother.

Decided to do a compression check.

Attached photo shows the plugs and the peak cylinder pressure. Test was done with a cold engine, all plugs out, and throttle block wide open.

Pressure ranged from 130psi- 150psi, the plugs look good to me.

Not many miles since re-rebuild, maybe 5-10 of actual driving, but a fair amount of time of running in the garage at 1000-2000 rpm.

I think I am still in the breakin period but just wanted to record this point in time.


I'd say the acceleration is sluggish. I expected more after the rebuild so still tweaking carb mixture settings to get good vacuum. It is around 16 right now and I think I may have a vac leak that is preventing me from getting closer to 18 or so. Still looking....

Also, the car will roll in the driveway when in Park. Not sure how to address in the transmission to address this. Parking/e-brake isn't very effective either as it bottoms out when I pull the brake handle all the way out. Not wanting to be a troglodyte (a la Ross), I am working on using the rear star wheels to get adjusted as per Ross's procedure in the main forums.... :)

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Progress!
Got my 4GC back from Daytona. Hard to believe it is the same one that I sent them, it looks awesome. (see post #43 on page 5 for a before photo).

Installed it and they had a note in the box saying that the right fuel pressure was 4.5 - 5.5 psi. So after installing it, I plumbed in my gauge to measure. It was about 8psi using the mechanical fuel pump. Seems to run decently with that higher pressure. The fuel pump I have is what I got from Advance auto parts with cross reference in the Parts X-Ref section.
Not sure if I need to find a way to reduce the pressure or just accept what it is for now.

Once I started it up, the car did not exhibit the pronounced, yet random miss that I saw before. I don't know if was the new Carb, the fact I re-rebuilt the distributor, or that I greatly separated spark plug wires 5 & 7 from each other. Can't complain, as it is running much more smoothly at ~450rpm.

Was able to take the car for a spin today. Here is a pic of my 18yr old son giving her a spin around the block. I still feel like it should have more acceleration than it does, it is fairly 'clacky' in noise, but maybe that is because there is no hood or front clip.

Assuming I don't have to worry about the fuel pressure, I am going to spend my time tweaking carb mixture and timing to maximize vacuum.

Good day overall.

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Thank you Ross.
I have removed the shim and back to where I started. There is a risk to using Google to address concerns for these cars (like what seemed to be excessive dist end play) as the generic answers out there may not apply. I didn't think the end of the gear was supposed to touch the block. With your description, "large" end play wouldn't matter with the downforce from the cam gear forcing block contact. Does the gear wear enough in that regard that it has to be replaced? The wear marks on the dist gear teeth seem properly centered so I'm guessing if wear can be an issue, I haven't got to that point yet.

thanks again. Back to sleuthing to see why I am having this intermittent miss on random cylinders at idle.

I got the Moroso shims and measured them to be sure. Got 2, 0.010"; 2, 0.020"; 1, 0.50". Before disassembly, the end play was measured at 0.062". I used the 50 and remeasured and now have 0.012". From what I have been able to read online, that seems okay. I cut down a roll pin to match the width of the gear shaft and after freezing it for a bit, it went in fairly easily

However, the end of the gear is shiny indicating wear. Looking inside the engine, there is a corresponding shiny wear spot. I wouldn't think that was the plan. Neither the block nor the heads have ever been decked AFAIK. When I re-installed the dist, the new shim pushes the dist gear down further and has caused the end of the gear to bottom out. I removed the oil pump shaft so I am sure it is the gear that is interfering with the engine. There is now ~0.015" gap between the dist mounting base and the block. So I either need to:
- get a shim/washer where the dist base touches the block. OR
-remove the 0.050" shim I just added and get back to where I started. Maybe use the 0.020 shim or a 20+10 to balance endplay with the gear bottom out.

The fact that there is previous wear between the end of the dist gear and inside the engine makes me think I need this dist base shim regardless. I guess I could use multiple gaskets but seems like they would compress over time. Might work in a pinch for now until I find the right size shims for this (1.75" ID, 2" OD)

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I filed the ends of the pin off, then used a center punch to knock it through the other side. Since I didnt want to bend the shaft, I was careful to support the shaft all around where I was hammering.

Have some Moroso 26140 distributor shims on order that are for the 0.5" shaft. Looking at replacing the pin. It is 3/16" and a 1" will work if I flatten the edges to make it stay. Also thinking about using a 1" roll pin from the local ACE hardware store. Seems like that may give enough pressure to stay in.

Saw a replacement NOS dist gear on ebay for $35, but i think the one I have is in decent shape? I don't see much wear on the gear itself, but not easy to tell without a side by side comparison with a new one. Maybe it is the slot for the oil pump shaft that wears, Not sure.

Hope to get this back together next weekend.

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OK, I'll add math to the weekend chores. If the up/down movement is out of spec, what wears that allows this to happen? There is no perceptible side to side or wobble movement. Is this a normal wear condition? Is the solution to remove the helical gear, remove the shaft and add a washer or similar to take out the play? Or is this a result of the top bearing wearing down and needs to be replaced?
Removing the pin that holds the helical gear seems to be undoing factory installs, so I'm not super confident this is the right approach for a garage mechanic to unswage then reswage the gear. Not sure how much to dig into this or if this calls for professional help (whomever that is.....)..

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