I got screwed - need advice - UPDATE

[2badrotties]

People do some strange stuff . You never know with something used. Maybe he had a cam too big and advanced the shi# out of it to get the power band down. Like I said, maybe the valves are just way to tight. Keep your head up

 

[ManTruck]

I think the best suggestion I have seen for a real quick and dirty is the carb and manifold install to see if it will fire up with that set up. If that doesn't work well, then I would pull the heads and take a look. You can get one head off pretty easily and look the valves over and mic the cylinder walls. Look for signs of broken rings etc. I would then pull the front timing cover.

I bet you make your mind up when you go old school with the carb.

 

[Socal Tom]

Was the battery fully charged and the throttle open when you tested it? It should still run with that compression. If it's got as few miles as he said, I would think a set of rings would fix it. Hell, if it sat a year, they just might be stuck, and compression could go up after you run it a little bit. It should still run with that compression.
Tom

 

[Mr Joe]

I wouldn't give up on the engine yet. You said it had been sitting a while?? Stuck valves, collapsed lifters, stuck rings could be bringing you down. I'd stick a carb on it and at least let it run to loosen everything up before checking the compression.

 

[md_lucky_13]

There are a few things that no one has mentioned that you can consider..

If you find out that the motor is basically scrap, you still have a ton of good parts for not much money.

The Howell system should be very easy to put on a 351w if you decide to go that route. I looked into both the Howell system and the Holley Projection system, chosing Holley in the end for price. But, I was extremely impressed with the Howell system, and I would run it on my rig any day of the week.

You shouldn't have any problem getting the 351w to bolt up to your transmission if you get an earlier model, as mentioned. You might have to get a few brackets to make everything work, but it should all bolt up in the end. If you don't have a body lift, a hood scoop is a good idea, so you can run a taller air filter.


I would be pissed about the whole deal. I know this isn't something you want to hear or think about, but what condition are the bands and clutches in the auto-tranny? Have you looked into that also? I hate to say it, but if he screwed you on saying the motor was rebuilt, he may have also got you on the transmission...

The parts alone are worth what you paid, but it is still B.S. that he would do something like that. If he doesn't return your calls, leave another message letting him know you have plans to take legal action. If you do go to court, you will most likely have to have evidence of the compression tests, and it probably wouldn't hurt to have an ASE certified mechanic there on your behave that had also done a compression test to testify that the motor was not "recently rebuilt."

 

[4x4xTOR]

I am no motor expert, but, I had the valve stem seals replaced on my 289 by the local ford dealer. It ran worse after I got it back .I compared the compression readings from before the service to after, and the readings were lower after the service. On three of the cylinders I had zero compression! So, I adjusted the the valve springs adjusting nut and I was able to get 115 Lbs. compression out of the three dead cylinders. I have been running about 100-115 Lbs. compresion on my rig and it has all the power to turn 36.5 buckshot mudders. I guess I am saying, before you throw up your hands and do a motor swap, do some simple things and save your cash. You may be surprised what a compression guage can do in your trouble shooting.

 

[720Racer]

For what ever it's worth, I just got done putting a Howell on my GF's yj, along with a Davis Unified Ignition, and I'll tell you it hardly ran at first. The fuel system developed too much pressure (there was restriction in the return line, at the tank), and some how I'd popped a fuse on the Link-Arc welder, so the alternator wasn't charging. Between the high fuel pressure, and the lack of power, it barely ran.

Once I settled down, I started looking at the logical steps to making this engine run right (it ran decent before I started this project). As I was able to check each questionable system, and correct the offending condition, I regained my motivation, and confidence.

The best advice I could give is to keep your cool, and try to make a science of it. Just eleminate each system as you go, and you'll figure out if it's that worn out, or what the problem actually is.

As an aside, the Howell system, with the Davis ingition (as recommended by Howell) has that 4.2 amc running like a top, I'd guess 20% more power than the Electromotive system I took off.

Good luck, let us know what you find,

Galen

 

[Steve]

UPDATE

Using lots of the advice from the replies in this post and help from a few friends, and after going home, having a beer and approaching it like I just started (thanks 2bad) I finally got it running. I double checked the compression readings, and they are that low, so it was not recently rebuilt, but at least it's running. I took all the connectors under the hood apart and cleaned them, rewired almost everything under the hood, installed another new voltage regulator and coil, checked the fuel pressure and the return line and checked all of the voltages everywhere I could. I was already pretty sure the Howell system was working right, and it was.

It seems to run okay, although it has open headers right now, so I can't run it too much. It will go to the muffler shop tomorrow to get the headers connected to the existing exhaust system, and then I can drive it and really see how it does.

I have doubts now about the C4, but I'm just going to run it for now and see what happens.

This is the first trouble I've really had with it, and I got so frustrated I was ready to give up, but the help and advice I got from this board was awesome. I even got a PM from a member here in CO offering me a running 302 for FREE! Yes, you read that right, we've never even met, but he offered it to me for nothing.

My plan for now is to wheel it and see what happens, and then probably buy the 351W that a friend has offered me for a great price and swap that in. Even though I didn't get what I was told I was buying, I'm not going to pursue any legal action or anything against the guy who sold it to me, that's just not in my nature, and as md_lucky_13 noted, I still got a lot for what I paid.

THANKS ALL!!!

 

[bsaunder]

Very good news! glad to hear you got it running