Hi guys!
First post, still learning how to navigate the site.
1960 Chevy Apache10, I’ve had it just one month. It’s my first stove bolt. Im hoping to learn more about engine principles and this engine is just the ticket.
The truck has sat for the better part of 30 yrs. The “new “ keys have a tag with 2015 on it, and the fuel pump and distributor cap appear “new” also, so I’m guessing someone tried to get it going some years back. The engine is covered with oil and grime and the carb looked like a tar football until I cleaned it. The engine turned easily tho, so I poured marvel in the plug holes and rocked it around for a day, then poured gas down carb and I’ll be danged if she didn’t start up prettv easily. 30lbs oil pressure per aftermarket gauge. I’ve since dismantled carb (Rochester B manual choke) and thoroughly cleaned it and installed rebuild kit from Mike’s. It’s still not right tho so I’m doing some due diligence before I take the carb back off again again again.
First question: how much vacuum should I have? I pulled the vacuum advance line and pulled from there. It looks like it comes out above the throttle plate but the inner passageway in carb brings the vacuum from below the throttle plate, so i guess but should be manifold vacuum. But I only had 12 inches at idle ( no tach so rpm is unknown). It went into the low 20s with some throttle work. Then returns to 11-12. Adjusting the idle mixture screw had no noticeable effect. It’s currently ~1.5 turns out.
How do I remove the pipe plug in the intake manifold and install a vacuum port? Is this something I can find at my FLAPS?
Static compression test on semi-warm engine reads 115-130 so I’m happy about that. I adjusted valves and they were all pretty close to spec( .006” and .018” warm). I’m waiting on my timing light to arrive to check timing. What’s a good number of advance to start at?
Bonus question: my distributor sure does have a lot of up and down play. I was told it isn’t unusual but would that alter timing due to the helical cut of the gears?
Thanks for helping a new guy!
