My 454 Rebuild

[BeXtreme]

I'm guessing you don't have a leak down tester? That would be my next step to see if I have any compression losses from valves or rings.

 

[Spareparts]

I don't believe leak down is the problem.
I thought of that and looked for blow by with the crank case breather off and pvc hose plugged. Was very little.
I really believe the cam or bad compression tester is the problem.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

I don't believe leak down is the problem.
I thought of that and looked for blow by with the crank case breather off and pvc hose plugged. Was very little.
I really believe the cam or bad compression tester is the problem.

I really think it is a bad compression tester. You would be way down on power especially torque; if the cam timing was that far off to drop 60 psi of compression.

 

[Spareparts]

Yeah i would think so also. It does have way more seat of the pants power for sure.

 

[BeXtreme]

I don't believe leak down is the problem.
I thought of that and looked for blow by with the crank case breather off and pvc hose plugged. Was very little.
I really believe the cam or bad compression tester is the problem.

A leak down tester would verify that you are fully closing valves and that you aren't bleeding off your compression with either a bad valve job, bad rings, or poorly adjusted valvetrain. Its just another diagnostic tool to use in combination with your compression test. If you hook it up and have a ~50% leak down and can hear air in the intake and exhaust while #1 is on TDC compression... you then have some direction to go in.

 

[Spareparts]

Maybe but first i will try a different compression gauge If it then checks good im done and all's good.
If not then more diagnostics are in order. A leak down test would certainly narrow down the problem if there is in fact one.
I would not have even checked the compression if it did not have that slight miss at idle and i wanted to make sure 1 cylinder was not acting weird.

 

[Spareparts]

Fuel mileage report.
Just got done driving 103.4 miles. About 1/2 was at 65mph and the rest was 70mph pulling a 1K trailer. Fueled at the same station before and after about 1 mile from the highway.
Took 8.3 gallons so mileage was 12.5 mpg.

 

[Spareparts]

Got a new Carlyle compression gauge from Napa.
Still not great news but a little better. With all plugs out and engine slightly warm, throttle held open compression is between 135 and 132-ish.
I don't have a leak down tester so probably not going to be able to do that.
I believe the cam is not right in some way. I'm sure i had it dot to dot and a checked it about 30 times to make sure i had it right so i did not have to worry about it.
The cam and gears were supplied by the machine shop and were Engine Tech brand. Probably the cheaper end of the parts supply available so maybe the problem in with them. I don't know.
I so want to change the cam and gears out but man that's a lot of work and expense if it changes nothing.

 

[Supercharged111]

It has more power than before, right? And no blowby?

 

[Spareparts]

Ohya definitely more power than before with the old engine and no blow by. It idles slightly rough and almost feels like a weak cylinder driving but compression is the same on all holes and all plugs look good.