OK, so what have I done now? (forehead slap)... I may have to explain my carb rebuild, but this post is going to be way too long anyway. Sorry.
Background: Bought my 51 Chevy 3100 w/ 216 that was supposedly rebuilt years ago by the PO with newly poured babbit bearings and hadn't been driven much (less than 1K miles, I think he said). Between my dad and I, it's probably been driven about 600 miles over the last 8 years.
So, here's the story. The 216 has run fine, but due to various issues I thought it was time to rebuild the carb. I did so and reinstalled it. It didn't start right away so I hit it with some starting fluid. It knocked a bit on startup but the knock went away with oil pressure build up. It warmed up and I adjusted the carb and I thought all was well.
It sat for about a week and I went to start it again. I cranked it and messed with the choke and flooded it. Hit it with starting fluid again to clear things out. It started, but with the same knock...only a bit longer... that went away after oil pressure build up.
Another week and went to start it again, but checked and saw gas squirt down the venturi. But, yup, you guessed it. Had to use the fluid. It started, but the knock stayed! Oil pressure was fine (per the gauge). I turned it off after about 20-30 seconds.
At first, I second guessed myself and thought that maybe I had left my shop rag in the manifold or something, and, well, you know... I took the carb off and noted there seemed to be extra fuel in the manifold just below the carb. Hmmm...
I removed the manifolds and didn't see any sign that I had indeed left a shop rag in there. I removed the valve cover and didn't see anything I would say was out of the ordinary.
The knock sounds almost like it's dieseling...except I'm trying to keep it running, not turning it off. Maybe a rod knocking? It seems to be coming from cylinder 1 or 2 maybe. Did my using starter fluid do something horrible to the engine? I doubt if my carb rebuild was so bad that I poured enough gas down a cylinder as to hydraulic and bend a rod (or did I?).
What have I done now? All I wanna do is drive my truck before winter (sniff, sniff, snivel...).
