Thanks all. I've already decided I'm certainly fixing it myself. It's just a matter of going thru probate unscathed. Shouldn't be an issue- everyone in the family is in agreement.

Not far either. I’m open to help also, maybe a Saturday engine pulling party!!

I’m also in Michigan and could help out if needed!

I’m sorry for your loss. Even if the engine lost a cam lobe, it will be a labor of love and you will make it right. Enjoy every minute of it.

Jason

Echoing the sentiment of sorrow for the loss of your Grandpa, for you and the entire family. 70 was way too young. :frown:
My dad passed 10 years ago, almost to this day, from lung cancer too.

My condolences on the loss of your grandfather.Good luck moving forward.

Sorry for your loss. We are here to help!

Sorry for your loss, hope you can get the car roadworthy for him.

Lost my dad in 2020 from COPD (smoking) and some other health stuff and Covid finished him off.

Alright fellas, I still haven't learned to leave well enough alone.

I monkey'd with the one noisy rocker today, and actually went in the right direction. Then it started doing this. The pushrod is straight, the lifter is working (put my finger on the pushrod and ran it) and whether the rocker is on, off, loose, properly tightened, doesn't matter, doesn't care where the distributor is, it does this. I leaned both carb screws half turn each, I don't think it's actually backfiring. It still makes 55psi cranking and all the other passenger rockers are fine (I didn't feel like fighting the driver's side around the booster to be honest)

Ideas?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J2wpu0QJLg

(This is where I really wish Pappaw was still here. He could probably listen to it for half of a second and tell me exactly what's wrong with it)

Sounds like a cam lobe going flat, usually the exhaust letting the burned fuel back fire thru the carb. Pull the left cover and instigate.

That's what I was afraid of.
The good news is that I'm living at Pappaw's house now, and there's an iron beam with a chain for engine pulling (since if I'm going this far into it, I may as well pull it and have everything inspected)

The bad news is that the car is at Mom and Dad's. I'll pull the over valve cover tomorrow and have a look I guess.

Not surprising, but still a bummer.

Don't be yanking it out until you know what the issue is. It's much easier to do running checks with it installed than on a stand.

^ that.

Also, sorry to learn of your loss too man.
Anthony

I meant if it does end up being a dead cam lobe, then it's getting pulled.

:biggthumpup:

Pulled the left valve cover. Everything over there looks fine.

OK, assuming it isn't a flat lobe, are the plug wires on correctly ? Many people get #5 and 7 crossed when all the wires are off at the same time. On that line of thought, are the plug wires all good ? Old, cracked wires can transfer to another and cause a misfire also.

Wires are new, the noise is from the passenger side. Plus, like I said, the last rocker on #8 (I'm not sure which side is intake or exhaust but I know it's the number 8 cylinder) doesn't move much while it's running, and when I checked the lifter with the rocker off, the pop was consistent with that lobe. I did check the firing order, it's correct. Unfortunately, that pretty well narrows it down. Good thing the garage at Pappaw's has a furnace because this sounds like a winter project!

Your intake rocker/valve will be by your intake port and your exhaust rocker/valve will be by your exhaust port. Hope this helps.:headbang:

Ah, right! It's the exhaust valve on #8 then!

And there you have it.
Winter projects are always fun, but expensive. Start putting away some funds now so you can just dig in and keep working on it.:headbang:

Sticking valve stem??? A friend recently bought a 396 car that had been sitting a long time. It would intermittently idle rough and pop thru the carb. He gave it a dose of Sea Foam or some similar product and drove it. It smoothed out and now runs fine. Just a thought....

I've had 2 cars with sticking exhaust valves in recent years. The clearance from guide to stem was just too tight especially when the motor got some solid heat in it. The first was the 427 in my Dad's car, the second was a customers 327. While wiping out a cam lobe is not rare, please don't short cut the process without making sure the rest of the valvetrain is up to snuff.

I know it's expensive and frustrating..........but so is doing it twice.

Tim

I ran Berryman B12 through it a couple months ago. Shouldn't be anything gummed up. It's definitely something I plan on really investigating.

The Chevelle has 255/70/15s on the rear compared to the Camaro's 255/60/15s. Just for giggles, I bolted the Chevelle's wheels on the Camaro to see the rake. Raised it about 1.5 inches, roughly.


The picture with all 4 wheels being Cragars was an edit, of course.

A couple of notes- one, the 'someday' goal is a little bit more rake than even this and either L60s or 275/60s (depending on whether or not I commit to bias plies) and to do that, it looks like I'll need new springs. Obviously, that can wait until after the engine is done.

Two, speaking of the engine, fret not- I didn't run it to get the car out. I just pushed it.

Lastly, you may notice Dad's new driveway.

No, he will not let me 'break it in' with a burnout. I already asked. Lame. :laugh:

Don't be the first guy to leak oil on Dad's new driveway. Trust me on that, experience talking.

Haha, no mechanical work will be done on it there. Sometime this year we're going to drag it to my place so I can pull the engine.

Lookie what showed up today!

Kinda pointless since the car doesn't run but I wasn't missing out on them. Only bummer is I would have preferred the shorter ones, and they didn't come with the decals- dangit!


I also never posted about the distributor I picked up for it. An Accel electronic Breakerless. So it'll still be electronic ignition but have the small cap. Plan is (if I ever actually work on this car- long story) use that dizzy with a Mallory Voltmaster Pappaw had left over from another car if that's still any good (or just get another) with a vintage MSD box. The current thought process is still to pull the engine once I get it to my house but I don't have any room for it over here right now

Also, a picture of the man himself fiddling with something under the hood. Took it in 2017 and would love to see it one more time.

Cool items that will look at home on the car once added.

Cool photo of him working on that nice car!

Nice car

We pushed it home last week, since we'd had a break in the weather and a rainstorm to wash the salt off the roads. Of course that lasted 2 days and we got a boatload of snow over the weekend, but that's melting. Still salty though.

At least it's easier to drool on it here. Also threw some more vintage stickers in the windows. I can't afford to do the big stuff right now so I like doing small things that make me feel like I'm getting something accomplished.

Also, a very nerdy piece of trivia. The door lock knobs. I was looking through old HRM issues (They've got em all online now if you have MotorTrend+) and I noticed an ad for them at a place called Midwest Auto Specialties. MAS had a Lakewood Ohio location less than a mile from what was Fairchild Chevrolet (where this car was sold new) in 1968. So these knobs have probably been on the car for its' whole life, and I wouldn't be surprised if the tach went on at the same ish time. Hell, maybe the C427X came from there too- I know the 454 in it is engine number 5 according to the fellow who owned the car in the mid 80s, but whose to say when the intake went on or if it bounced between every motor the car has ever had.

'68 Camaro has always been my fav first gen Camaro.For some reason it never gets the love that the '67 and '69 get.Yours is real nice and has great stance JRC99!

I have enjoyed reading this post and I really love the car. I would like to offer some well meaning advice. I have been in your situation and I hate to see you make some of the poor decisions I have made.

1. You need to make a punch list of mechanical items to fix and knock them off one by one in order. Jumping around from issue to issue without completely fixing the anything will only frustrate you as items pile up.

2. Do not make the mistake of pulling the engine for something that can be fixed with the engine in the car. Life and money will get in the way and you will never get it back together again.

I pulled a running and driving 1969 Camaro apart in high school to run thru it and build a show car. On a small budget and just beginning adult hood the car never got put back together. Life got in the way. Again, please do not make my mistake and be in a rush to pull the engine.
Plan your repairs one at a time a stick with it in order. Other members local to you have offered labor and guidance, take them up on their knowledge. Good luck on getting this lined out. You are far ahead of the game compared to some projects.

Appreciate the advice. At this moment I'm not doing any major work on it. It needs quite a bit more so it'll sit in the heated garage and stay safe while I iron out a couple other things (The Mustang needs some minor repairs that are a lot cheaper than this car) so I can start saving up for the surgery. I do plan on actually diagnosing it further at some point as well. I want to make damn sure it actually needs to come apart before I screw with it.

What all does the car need?

Is it possible the lifters are bleeding down from the car sitting long periods of time?

Haven't quite figured that out yet. I need to figure out the source of the knock and backfire and it also really needs front brakes. Those are the main two, everything else is "when I can get to it provided nothing else goes wrong"

Seems like new brake pads and new brake fluid / bleeding lines would be a quick and easy project that would take less than a day to tackle and would be pretty inexpensive. Getting the safety items rectified first makes a lot of sense.

You can then tackle a tune-up and address engine mechanical items as a next step and perhaps have someone experienced lend a hand to diagnosing the problem. Nothing like a knowledgeable old timer to save you hours of work and $'s with a quick diagnosis.

Really agree with the previous poster to break things down into smaller tasks and tackle one at a time to keep expenses down and make progress and achieve some satisfaction you're moving forward.

Solid advice

For the brakes, it's got 4 wheel drums. I'm dead set on swapping to discs on the front, so that's costly. I don't want to put money into the drums at this point, I understand that if I went through them properly they'd work fine on a cruiser, but I'd just feel better with discs on it. Dad and I came to that conclusion about 10 years ago, and Pappaw did agree, it just never materialized.

My buddy's dad is a mechanical wizard so I might have him come take a look at it. I miss my knowledgeable old timer. (We're coming up on a year, as well.)

It seems like I jump around on this car a lot because I do. I have pretty bad OCD so whatever thought pops in that I want to do, I get excited, run with it, blab about it, and then the reality sets in and it rarely happens lol.

So for right now, it'll sit in the garage, I'll work on a couple smaller projects on other vehicles to get them where they need to be, and come back to it knowing it's safe in the garage.