If you have decent brakes dig into the engine. Lots of different reasons for a backfire, could have broken valve spring, bent valve, burned plug wire, fouled plug etc etc.

Front brakes don't need to be costly. So many of these cars are getting aftermarket discs, that there are sets of complete, original, '69 disc brakes for much less money on craigslist and at swap meets. You certainly don't need $1,500 Wilwoods or other such to get the car to stop better than the drums. I have '69 Camaro D50 disc brakes on the front of my '66 Chevelle that work just fine to haul a heavier car than a Camaro down from speed.

As for the engine, it doesn't cost anything to pull the valve covers and look for a loose rocker arm that would indicate a cam lobe failure. A close inspection of the plug wires to determine if one, or more, has become brittle and cracked from age/heat and could be allowing the spark to jump to ground or to another plug wire and fire a cylinder out of order. Just making certain the wires are in the correct order on the cap and to the related cylinder. A very common mistake is crossing #'s 5 and 7. People do that all the time.
If unsure on any of this, take the people offering help up on that and let them. As others have said, letting the car sit for a period of time, just makes it more difficult to find the time to work on it. This isn't just a fable people throw around, there are THOUSANDS of us who have made that mistake and before you know it, 20-30 years have flown by and it is still sitting with flat tires and surface rust all over it.
I am very familiar with not having the funds to do much at one time, but, for now, your time is cheap/free and doing anything on it will keep the interest and desire level high.

I will say this, I watched one rocker arm (exhaust on number 8) barely move last year. Didn't matter how it was adjusted. So there's something internal, I'm almost sure of it. While I can't speak for the valves and don't know how to identify a bad valve spring, the pushrods themselves look perfect. We must also remember it was, as I like to say, knocking like a Jehovah's witness before the backfires started. You can hear it very well in this old video (Before you knock my head for revving the piss out of it- Pappaw did that, not me. His philosophy was that there was nothing that couldn't be fixed so I imagine he figured if it blew right then and there, well, we could fix it.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOTsSMd4dhI

I've checked the plug wires they're new as are the plugs (though I probably should pull the plug and see how it looks- might do that in a minute here), firing order is definitely right.

As far as the brakes, it was the Right Stuff Detailing kit I was eyeing. Nothing super fancy for it, it doesn't need it.

Sounded okay to me, hard to tell. I'd have to listen again with earbuds, maybe it had a miss? I'd be more concerned about the blue smoke, that can be a few things.

You can really hear it right at the end with earbuds, it's *loud*

EDIT: Okay, what the heck? I swear you could hear it better than that in the video. Let me see if I have another

Here, when I go under the hood. It's only gotten louder since this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_LE24I8ceA&t=9s

Don't know if it tells anything, but here's both the #8 plug and #1

It's worth noting they have maybe an overall hour of runtime and 2 miles on them. They went in in 2020 but the car hasn't been started but a handful of times since.

I can't tell (lack of experience here) if they're oil fouled or just carbon fouled

https://youtu.be/6eXGUYQU5FA
Finally, this is the best video I have showing the problem.

You can hear the noise, and see how #8 doesn't travel as much as the others. And it wasn't any looser or tighter, either.

I can't get it to embed properly.

I'd change those plugs for sure. I personally hear a backfire though then you went to the front of the car I hear a tapping which could also be an exhaust leak from the headers.

There does not seem to be much oil at all on the top end (by what I can see)

And yes, #8 exhaust has minimal movement.

It had only been running for a few seconds in that video. It gets oil okay thankfully, and if the gauge is any good (and I probably should put another one on it to verify) it cranks at 60psi.

So there is absolutely an issue with the #8 cylinder, it's just a question of lifter, cam lobe, both, valve, valve spring.... etc.

If the exhaust valve is not working (for whatever reason) that would contribute to the carbon fouled plugs. It would be easy to back off the #8 rocker arm (when the intake valve is staring to close) in order to see if the push rod is straight.

If it's bent, well that would be an easy fix. But, usually there is an underlying reason the push rod is bent. In my case (early years) it was due to missing 3rd gear:3gears:

You could say I broke some parts while honing my craft:grin:

The exhaust valve not opening enough will cause a backfire thru the carb, as the cylinder IS getting gas and firing, but the burnt gas can't get out of the cylinder, so it will back up into the intake when that valve opens.

The pushrod is definitely straight- I pulled it and looked at it.

Well, I finally yanked the intake. The cam is trashed Cylinder number 8s exhaust lobe is definitely round and all the others have pitting on them. I think I caught it before sending trash too far through the engine, so I guess the plan is to pull the cam, confirm the grind, get a new one (If it's COMP I'm going to avoid that and have Crower or Isky grind an exact duplicate of whatever's in it. My friend highly recommends either and I've been hearing far too many horror stories about Comp lately), and keep a very close eye on the oil when I get it running and follow the break in to a T.

Engine Issues...
 

While you may get away with a cam/lifter swap...a prudent approach would be to check all the internals for any possible issues. Pulling an engine isn't fun, but it is cheap insurance in the long run.

Double roller steel chain and gears are a must...you might also want to check valve train items [springs, keepers, retainers, seals].

Given the legacy of the car...not a good time for shortcuts.

-wilma

There has been plenty of metal shavings in the oil from all that damage. I'm on the "pull the engine" wagon and remove the pan and inspect all the bearings. If the crank isn't scored but there is shavings in the bearings, you can get away with just replacing them.
If the cam is an old school, long duration build, there are better grinds available now that will help the engine have more vacuum and the same or better power range than what is in there.

Sorry you have to deal with this. This problem has become all to common in the past several years and especially recently.
I have a 20 year old Comp 280H in my 496 that sounds cool but is a pain in the butt to drive on the street. I'm going to be looking at a hydraulic roller conversion for next year.

Agree with the others, for a permanent fix, you're talking about pulling the engine, disassembly, inspection, and likely a rebuild. The missing metal had to go somewhere and that means the oil, into the bearings, etc. No quick fix here unless you want something short term, but think you're in for a rebuild, or pull the engine, set it aside and drop in a running unit until time / funds allow a proper rebuild if that engine is something worth saving.

Also, probably smart to disconnect the battery before proceeding further.

bingo!!

Glad you found the problem.

Yeah I think if you plan to drive this car a bunch I'd lean towards pulling the engine and checking the bears since some metal has run through it.

(I'm probably gonna rant a bit so this might sound harsh- please understand I'm simply venting)

If that's the case, this pile is just going to sit for ten more years. I'm tired of cars at this point. I can't afford a rebuild. I can't *really* afford a cam and lifters but it sounds a lot less (immediately) expensive than a full rebuild.

I don't have the knowledge, the money, or the energy and patience to tear it apart further. I'm sick of every car I'm working on turning into a million more projects. I know they're old. I know it's never easy, I know that's just how it goes, but it wears me down. I also am coming to realize I'm not my grandfather and I (at least feel like I) have no business messing with this crap.

(I'm also in a crappy mood because I just found out the tailgate I bought for my Ram was only rust free because it's already been filled with bondo. So between that and just an overall crappy day, I'm over it all)

Again, I don't want to seem like I'm lashing out- y'all are right, it does probably need to come out and be fully redone- but I'm exhausted. And then I look back and realize how downright simple most of the issues it's had are to people with knowledge and experience, and I feel like a dweeb making mountains out of molehills. Feels like almost anyone else would have had this car running like a swiss watch 10 years ago

I don't know, I'm rambling and I'm tired. I guess frustrated is the best word.

The amusing part? This rant means nothing- in two days I'll be optimistic again.

You have every right to be frustrated and angry over this. You were looking for a car you could drive and remember your Grandfather in. Instead you got an all too common issue with a bad cam.

What part of Michigan are you in ?? If on the mainland, there are MANY people who would probably be willing to come help you remove the engine, pull the pan and bearing caps to see what it really needs. If you can get by with just replacing the bearings/oil pump and the cam and lifters, it would be a lower cost to do than plan a full rebuild. If I recall, wasn't this a fresh build ?

You don't have to do this alone. Having experienced help will take a big load off your chest and they can help you make informed decisions as to a new cam whatever parts it needs. Then you can take the time you need to pull them all together and have them help reassemble and break it in. I don't mean to be rude to Rally, but I would never take his advise on how to go about that. I'm happy for him that it works, but it doesn't seem to be the normal for the rest of us.

I appreciate that.

A couple things I want to make clear- this cam has been bad for a while, long before Pap passed away. I knew it most likely ate at least one lobe. I just wanted to fool myself into thinking I could 'send it' and unfortunately, those who do know better must break the bad news to me, admittedly to try to save me heart-ache in the long run (hence why I took a LONG time to type that rant, because I did not want to seem like I was bitter towards anyone simply offering good advice). The engine in it was actually built in the 80s, which is precisely why I personally take the blame for it eating the cam- it from what I remember was fine until we did an oil change a few years back and didn't know anything about flat tappets or zinc.
Actually, now that I think about it, the car's most used seasons were 2011 and 2014. I vaguely remember just the slightest, most vague lifter tick starting around 2014, (unless I'm thinking of the first couple weeks after the oil change going by a video I put on Youtube). Then the oil change in 2015. I know you're not supposed to go ages between oil changes so that didn't help but the car never had more than 100-200 miles put on it a year in the 19 years Pappaw had it (and most years it had exactly 0 put on). If I had to guess, the last change before 2015 was probably 2011. When did they scale down the zinc in the oils?

All the issues before that were timing and carb related- stuff dad and I don't really understand, and things Pappaw's body wouldn't let him spend hours on the car fixing anymore. But between I'd say 1987 and 2014 or 2015, the cam never made an odd sound. Until we did that oil change.

As far as help, that's another problem. Not to get too deep into the psychology of me (lol) but whenever someone helps me, the 'help' turns to me standing around watching while they do everything. I do not think that's fair to anyone and I need to learn how to jump in. I did not pull the intake- my good friend from South Carolina was up and he 'helped' do it. I'm currently talking to him, he's doing a rather good job of calming me down lol

Sure, I'll probably get to it eventually, I did always want to freshen up the block visually, it just sucks that it's more work than I fooled myself into thinking it was the other night.

You mentioned some '66 Chevelle seats you were going to repurpose for video game seats. Maybe look around and see what parts you have that you will never use and put them for sale on here and on FB.

I still have those. They're actually '64 Impala seats and I stuck em in the rafters of the garage.

Selling parts is a smart idea I won't lie but I don't have a whole bunch and also every time I've tried to sell something it's been such a pain I won't bother lol

We'll see how my tax return looks next spring lol

JRC99,
I am not too far away from you, if you are motivated I am willing to teach you what you need to do and I have a bunch of BBC parts to donate to the project. Send me a PM.

68 Camaro...
 

----Lee and I are good friends and I can say that he can more than do what he offered. Lee knows his stuff!!!.....Bill S

Words can't say how much that means to me. We'll see here- I know exactly what I want to do with it, I just need to save up first. I want to keep the combo exactly as it is- I want it to be the car I grew up with, just fixed and dialed in right. Maybe come tax season we'll see where I'm at lol

Very gracious and generous offer Lee!

I am going to go out on a limb in this post. The OP is young and has inherited a car(s) from his Grandfather. He obviously is struggling to get his head wrapped around the mechanical aspects of an older car, to say nothing for a young man's budget, and the loss of a loved one.

The forum community has taken an interest in his questions and hurdles. That is what this, and other forums are all about. I take my hat off to L E E to reach out in the capacity that he has. Others have offered solid advice, along with sympathy to the OP's circumstance.

Then, the thread gets hijacked. As a result, we get posts like this. IMHO, start another thread RALLY. If you want to profess your knowledge to the forum (perhaps without the condescending tone)........have at it.

It is my opinion the OP and the members who have spent the time to help, deserve better than your post would suggest.

Today would have been Pappaw's 72nd birthday. I'm not sure how much I saw him wear them, but the two Dorman hats he had were always part of my mental image of him. So one sits in the Camaro and one sits in the Mustang at all times.

The old intake bolts were so cruddy they're never going back on the car. I will probably order a set soon so I can pull the engine via carb lift plate. One of his genius decisions when building the garage was an iron beam across the ceiling with a chain setup specifically for pulling engines so I already have a cherry picker set up.

Iron beams been popular for years. Have one myself.

Doesn't surprise me. But dad's garage doesn't have one so to me it was still a neat idea I'd not seen, y'know?

Wish him a happy birthday from us too. Sorry he is gone from your life. Only 72, dang, he went way too early. He is only 7 months older than me...:shocked:

Merry Christmas y'all!

Didn't get any Camaro parts this year (did get a buffer I can use on it though) but I've been slowly prepping to pull the engine. First time I've ever seen it without a hood.

A(nother) good friend of mine is coming up next week and offered to help pull it. If memory serves (and I'll obviously double check before yanking on it with the chain), I have to unbolt it from the torque converter and bellhousing, remove the starter and battery cables, remove the oil PSI sender, remove the fuel line from the pump to the tank, unbolt the headers (I may pull them out entirely and paint em white- I would coat them but you're not supposed to break in an engine with them freshly coated from what I remember. That'll be a project for another winter), motor mounts, out. Rad hoses are off, alternator wiring is off, heater hoses unhooked, and distributor and wiring for it unhooked and pulled already. I'm sure there's more but like I said I'll go over everything before pulling it.

Oh, I still have to bolt the intake back on first too lol. It's just resting on it.

I'm still holding foolish hope that I can do this *relatively* inexpensive in terms of maybe just rings and bearings and then put the real money in the cam and valve train.

Merry Christmas.
You have a good start, but remove the radiator next and the long valve cover bolts near the brake booster for tipping/lifting the engine over the front crossmember. When leaving the trans in, I use a floor jack with a large piece of 2x6 under the pan and lift with the engine until it is almost touching the firewall. That gives you a little more wiggle room to separate the engine and trans. There are 2 alignment pins between them, so they need to separate about 1/2-3/4 inch to get the engine free from the bellhousing.
You may want to use baling wire to hold the headers away from the heads while lifting. Removing them with the engine in requires the car to be about 18" off the floor. Leave the collectors on, but the 3 bolts loose so the header can move over, but not fall on the floor.
Once the engine is out, have/find a piece of rebar/pipe/broom handle and cut it to span the frame rails right in front of the trans. Have 2 long bolts, 3-4" and insert them in the bellhousing holes just above the rod to set the trans down on. You can then remove the jack and push the car back out of the way to work.

Good advice, thank you! If I do pull the headers it's definitely after the engine is fully out. For now I'll just find a way to hold them away from the heads as you suggest

Good luck,hope things go smoothly for you.Keep us posted!

Good update, you'll get it!