Hoosier Bird
Well-Known Member
OK, here's the deal. I've had my road runner for a while and I'm just now starting to do some work on it. When I bought it they told me the engine had been gone through. I didn't really care if it had or not, I just wanted it and bought it. It barely had enough power to pull up on the trailer without killing it. Got it home, drove it around and just doesn't have any power. Changed the carb with the same results. Still has a points distributor and basically everything is just like it was from the factory, just from looking at it. So tell me what you think. I checked to make sure that the plug wires are in the right order and all of the little things, I think. The timing has to be set at about 38 degrees at an idle in order for it to even run. John pointed out that my balancer may be spun out that far because of the rubber being deteriorated. Tonight I came home and tinkered a little with it. Checked the wires again then pulled the driver side valve cover off just to see what I could see. To my surprise there was no oil buildup or gunk at all. The tips of the valves look brand new, I can see the grind marks still on the end. It has double valve springs that look brand new. I pulled a couple of the push rods out and I'm sure that the lifters are brand new. I was sure the valves were not closing but after finding this I've got to do some more research. I think I need to do a compression test to make sure the valves are closing and then degree the cam to make sure they have the timing chain installed correctly. This engine does not smoke at all. 
