dustimus

I Started my car for the first time since my rebuild tonight. It ran ppperrrrrrrrfect for about 20 minutes then the CEL came on. Car made some werid sounds. I can't really explain it, it wasn't knocking or anything bad, maybe a little valve clatter. I had just clearanced my valves right before this too. Anyway the CEL was 72,73,74. Misfire in 2,3,4.

I just changed the 2nd and 3rd rings, by myself, with just a HELMS and a torque wrench so I might have f#%@#% up. I went step by step with the HELMS, anytime I had a problem I went on here or searched around untill I found it. I was thinking of recording the sound that it's making,it seems like it does it only when it's warm.

pomansouth

did you hone before you put it back together, the sleeves have to be honed before new rings go in there so that the cylinderwalls and rings will come to a nice smooth perfect match

dustimus

No I didn't, the motor had 30k on it and didn't really need a new hone. Besides I didn't change the rings in cylinder 4 and it had perfect rings before the project.
Maybe I should go out and set my new rings with a couple 8k pulls.

Also my timing light has no clips to connect it to the plug wire, can I buy a alligator clip make my own connection???

dubcac

Get a normal timing light. They can be had for like $30 bucks at sears/autozone. Does the car idle rough or run rough at all?

dustimus

Ya it has a pretty rough idle, only when its warm.

dubcac

Check your cam timing, you're probably off a tooth.

dustimus

Would that cause the misfire??? How would I do that? I've checked to make sure the cams are at TDS when the crank is. Wouldn't that mean there timed right?


Also, I was halfway joking about setting the rings earlier but i've acutally read that you need to drive the new rings like a bat out of hell to help them seat.

dubcac

You should drive the car noramlly to seat the rings.

Bad cam timing could definitely cause misfire. Check and recheck and make sure that it's correct. Set the crank at TDC, the white mark with the line on the block. When the cam gears are at TDC there are very tiny arrows near the outer edge of the gear that should point together...there is also a mark on the timing cover for TDC that the small arrows will line up with.

dustimus

Heres the cam timing at TDC. Looks like its timed together but it may be a little off.

dubcac

That looks good. What about your ignition timing? Oh, and change your P/S belt!!!