I just bought a '91 S10 with a 350 SBC/TH-350 swap for $1,400. The body is in absolutely amazing shape, rust free, and straight as can be aside from a minor tailgate ding. I'm very pleased to say the least. The "catch" is the motor is way WAAAY out of tune. The timing appears to be off quite a bit, it sounds like it's running on 7 cylinders, it's belching black smoke that absolutely REEKS of gasoline, it backfires and shoots fire through the carb (looks cool at night, eh?), stumbles, snaps and pops under throttle, stalls out when you come to a stop or push the gas to quickly, and just generally runs like a severely out of tune 350 runs.
I limped it 30 miles home. And by limped I mean I hit 45 MPH maybe twice, and I had to restart it at every stop sign it was stalling out so bad.
The GOOD news is I did a compression test and the results were great, there's no blue or white smoke, and I left it sitting for 2 days and there wasn't any oil drops on the ground. So basically I've got a great starting point for a really fun truck. The body is excellent and the motor is healthy, just out of tune as all get out.
The carb is a 600 CFM Holley 4160 so if it's operating as it should it shouldn't be too much for the engine, however it's clearly goobered up from my inspection of it so that may be part of the black smoke/strong gas smell.
So now I need to get the motor back to its happy place, I just wanted to compile a list of all the tools/parts I needed first so I have to make just one trip to the store, instead on 17 trips as I constantly run into needing something. Here's what I have so far, please post what I'm missing and advice:
Specialty Tools:
- Timing Light
- Spark Tester
- Vacuum Gauge (to set carb)
- Handheld/Underhood Tachometer (to set idle)
Parts:
- New Plugs/Wires/Distributor Cap
- Carburetor Rebuild Kit
- Valve Cover Gaskets
- Intake Manifold Gaskets
- Oil + Filter
- Tranny Fluid/Filter
- Rear Diff Fluid
Engine Specs:
- CNR casting mark, comes back as a 1970 300hp 4bbl motor from a Caprice.
- Holley 4160 600 CFM 4bbl
- Edelbrock intake manifold
- Internals assumed to be stock, the motor doesn't sound radical or lopey or anything to indicate it's "built"
Tranny:
- Stock TH-350 with a Pro-Matic 2 ratchet/slap shifter.
Thanks in advance for the help!
I limped it 30 miles home. And by limped I mean I hit 45 MPH maybe twice, and I had to restart it at every stop sign it was stalling out so bad.
The GOOD news is I did a compression test and the results were great, there's no blue or white smoke, and I left it sitting for 2 days and there wasn't any oil drops on the ground. So basically I've got a great starting point for a really fun truck. The body is excellent and the motor is healthy, just out of tune as all get out.
The carb is a 600 CFM Holley 4160 so if it's operating as it should it shouldn't be too much for the engine, however it's clearly goobered up from my inspection of it so that may be part of the black smoke/strong gas smell.
So now I need to get the motor back to its happy place, I just wanted to compile a list of all the tools/parts I needed first so I have to make just one trip to the store, instead on 17 trips as I constantly run into needing something. Here's what I have so far, please post what I'm missing and advice:
Specialty Tools:
- Timing Light
- Spark Tester
- Vacuum Gauge (to set carb)
- Handheld/Underhood Tachometer (to set idle)
Parts:
- New Plugs/Wires/Distributor Cap
- Carburetor Rebuild Kit
- Valve Cover Gaskets
- Intake Manifold Gaskets
- Oil + Filter
- Tranny Fluid/Filter
- Rear Diff Fluid
Engine Specs:
- CNR casting mark, comes back as a 1970 300hp 4bbl motor from a Caprice.
- Holley 4160 600 CFM 4bbl
- Edelbrock intake manifold
- Internals assumed to be stock, the motor doesn't sound radical or lopey or anything to indicate it's "built"
Tranny:
- Stock TH-350 with a Pro-Matic 2 ratchet/slap shifter.
Thanks in advance for the help!