What carburetor and distributor combination are you running?  And have you rechecked the valve lash and especially on the #2 cylinder.  An intake valve that is marginally on the tight side will give the ‘popping’ symptoms you mention but so will a flat exhaust lobe on the camshaft.  Another compression test will rule out a lot of possibilities.  But be sure to take note of all the other recommendations being mentioned as they are all pertinent.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

i did all 8. i figured i was there might as well do them all so i'm not back there next year with another dead cylinder.



i didn't look at the cam. how can i check it now that its back together?



i guess it is possible the damper slipped, it always seemed to like to run at 15 degrees of advance, it runs ok at 10 but too much less and its not so happy. I've also heard that in high altitude older engines like more advance (I'm in Denver 5280 feet above sea level). my running thought before i found the dead cylinder is that the vacuum advance on the dizzy is bad, and not giving it advance under load like its supposed to. but once i found the dead cylinder that was my priority.



i guess i have to do another compression test see of that checks out. if it does go back to looking at the dizzy.



i should try adjusting the valves, they didn't seem too bad when i started this project so i left them alone.



any thoughts on the blue smoke on decel?

[quote]XNoctemNacimur (3/24/2009)

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i didn't look at the cam. how can i check it now that its back together?

quote]

A simple way to do this is put a ruler next to each valve spring and "bump" the engine over with a remote starter switch and watch each spring for travel, they should be about the same. If one lobe is flat you will see it.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

oh and the carb is a new holley 350 cfm 2 barrel. the distributor is the stock 59. not the load-o

You can't check the bearing clearance of the cam with it together. Checking for a flat or worn lobe is pretty easy. Pull the valve covers, turn the motor over while watching the valves. If you see one opening less than the other, then it may be the problem. An adjusting screw turned in a significant amount farther than the rest can also be a sign.


Lawrenceville, GA

Lol. I got that. I just don't want to drop the oil pan again. The valve covers are no big deal

alright so after letting the frustration subside and the following snow i got a nice day sunday to mess with the car a bit more.



my acceleration problem was a rookie mistake, when setting the timing is pinched off the vac advance hose, and set it at 10* it ran OK but not as good as it did at 15+ but every one told me 10 degrees was max... so i went against my gut and set it there.



Sunday i went to pump some vac into advance pot with the intention of testing to see if it did in fact adjust the timing with vac applied. i fired it up hooked up my light and went to hook up the vacuum pump when i disconnected the line from the carb the motor fell on its face, i started it back up looked at my light and found i had the timing set at 5 degrees RETARD. oops, i guess i didn't think about the residual vacuum after i pinched off the hose. i bumped up my timing and now the car runs like a champ.



the compression test showed that that dead hole, came up and now all cylinders are between 70 and 85 psi. the numbers are a little low but i expect they will continue to come up. as the rings seat.



It is still smoking pretty good, however it seems to be getting better as i drive it, I've put less than 100 miles on it since I've done the ring job with normal driving conditions some highway some stop and go. so i guess its just a matter of breaking them in further. hopefully it will continue to clear up.





after reading some of the threads on oil viscosity on this forum i decided to dump the 10w-40 i put in there and try some of the shell rimula 15w-40 we use at the shop. I'm even toying with the idea of putting in 20w-50 when I'm ready to change the filter in a couple hundred more miles. (i put on a new one with the ring job.) my hope is that the thicker oil will not only save some wear on the motor but clear up the smoke further.



thanks for the help guys, I was more than a bit frustrated with the thing a couple weeks ago.

Let me reiterate something Ted mentioned.
Breaking-in your piston rings is done by LOADING them.  Find an open road.  Starting from ~40mph, nail it all the way to ~70mph.  Ten of these cycles should do it for standard cast iron rings, in a properly prepared bore.  By the way, your piston rings turn in their grooves (by design).

If you brought the engine all the way down to rings, I should think you replaced your timing set, rod and main bearings, etc.  You didn't mention any head work.  Oil may be sucking down the valve guides due to old-hard umbrella seals.  Since heads are such a majorly important part of your engine, you should at least grind the seats and replace your seals.  Cleaning the rocker assemblies costs nothing.

Royal Oak, Michigan (Four miles north of Detroit, and 12 miles NORTH of Windsor, Canada).  That's right, we're north of Canada.

Ford 292 Y-Block major overhaul by simplyconnected

               a little trick that we do for seating rings is have the car sit at idle put a rug or cardboard in front of the radiator then put on high idle watching the temp gauge let it warm up to 220-230 degrees and then pull rug or cardboard away, then put a box fan in front of the radiator to help cool off faster you might want to do a couple of cycles like this.

Todd Watertown S.D.

Just to reiterate what others have said about the cam.  While setting my rockers, we noticed that #4 exhaust was not opening up all the way.  We figured my cam lobe on #4 exhaust was pooched. I am still driving it but boy do I get smoke from my oil tube and road draft pipes, just like you said.  I am going to wait till next winter to fix it and hope my piston doesn't get too hot.  Sometimes also, I've heard that raw oil will be blown out of your road draft if your rings are not set, mostly when the engine is cold and the rings have not expanded.

Gordie T           Long Point, Ontario