Pushrods Wrong Length? 350 SBC Issue

[Sean James]

Whoa! slow down. Adjust the rocker arms, before you do anything. Aluminum heads? Different pushrods? Who knows? I had the same exact issue with just a cam change, and it turned out to be the rocker adjustment. Unless you have tried that already, sorry for the post. I rebuilt my second small-block back in the 90's, Edlebrock internals, Holley externals, all the good stuff back then. After around 800 or so miles everything went to shit. It was the damn rockers backed off. I thought it was the studs pulling off the new aluminum heads. Nope, it was the rocker arm nuts backing out. A Vacuum gauge will tell, but even then if you have a big cam, it can lie to you. Had to get locking rocker nuts. Just a thought, it does happen. YouTube is your friend on how to adjust SBC rocker arms.

 

[Sean James]

It also sounds like he put a lot of money into this motor, don't just give up. Did he "break in the cam". You need to know this as well, he could have worn the lobes down by not "breaking in the cam". Did he use break in oil, and then change it after? You can replace the cam in a weekend, or install locking rockers in an afternoon. With an Electronic Ignition your probably good, but that does not mean that the distributer is one tooth off or 180 degrees out, or the cam chain one tooth off either. Even the Carb adjustment, the plug wires, crappy grounds, etc. can give you these symptoms. Take your time, don't give up, and for the love of Pete, don't just go get a junkyard small-block. Someone put a lot of money into this motor. You can make it right, YouTube is your friend when it comes to old school small-blocks. Good luck!

 

[CJ Rodarme]

It also sounds like he put a lot of money into this motor, don't just give up. Did he "break in the cam". You need to know this as well, he could have worn the lobes down by not "breaking in the cam". Did he use break in oil, and then change it after? You can replace the cam in a weekend, or install locking rockers in an afternoon. With an Electronic Ignition your probably good, but that does not mean that the distributer is one tooth off or 180 degrees out, or the cam chain one tooth off either. Even the Carb adjustment, the plug wires, crappy grounds, etc. can give you these symptoms. Take your time, don't give up, and for the love of Pete, don't just go get a junkyard small-block. Someone put a lot of money into this motor. You can make it right, YouTube is your friend when it comes to old school small-blocks. Good luck!

Here’s the thing. Everything was done sloppy/incorrectly. I’d bet the cam is real messed up because it was not broken in correctly at all. It’s pissing coolant. Not all the pistons are firing. So I figure it’s going to be best to just do a short term motor for now and tear down the motor in it and see what’s wrong. That way I can at least see what I can salvage, and I think I’ll be able to salvage quite a bit from it, and the cam will be relatively cheap to replace. And all those symptoms you mentioned? It has literally all of them lmao. So I’m not going to junk this motor, but I want to have this truck drivable by the end of June. Thanks for the info, gives me a good place to start. And btw I worked at the junkyard that I’m going to get the motor from so I have enough confidence in it that it won’t be a waste of money.

 

[drakon543]

if you were near me i could hook you up with a carbed 305 that would run it well enough for a while. has some toys on it but its a 305 so your probably looking at a 305 with the output of a stock 350

 

[CJ Rodarme]

if you were near me i could hook you up with a carbed 305 that would run it well enough for a while. has some toys on it but its a 305 so your probably looking at a 305 with the output of a stock 350

I’m in WA so I’m probably really far. But for reference I got (bald ass) 37s going on and it has 4.10s so could I get away with a 305 for a temp setup or no

 

[drakon543]

it would run it but dont expect to be accelerating very fast with a bone stock 305. the one ive got has enough stuff on it that you could probably drive it normally. im also in pa so ya bit of a drive. you really need a decent 350 with some toys to get 37s rolling comfortably. but like i said have an actual engine shop take a look. like sean said it really could be something stupid and your done and your up money instead of going straight after a whole engine.

 

[CJ Rodarme]

it would run it but dont expect to be accelerating very fast with a bone stock 305. the one ive got has enough stuff on it that you could probably drive it normally. im also in pa so ya bit of a drive. you really need a decent 350 with some toys to get 37s rolling comfortably. but like i said have an actual engine shop take a look. like sean said it really could be something stupid and your done and your up money instead of going straight after a whole engine.

305 definitely isn’t ideal but if it’s all I got I’ll take it bc I want to be driving this truck ASAP.

 

[drakon543]

ya a 305 will run the truck its gonna be a dog tho. you might be able to swap some of the stuff from that 350 onto a 305 to help it a little in the meantime. definitely find a 305 out of a truck tho your going to want a truck cammed 305 to get that 305 to move from a stop.