old-tank

Oh goody...Now we get to watch you spend money.😁

Follow the draft tube down and find where it attaches to the back of the engine. Original pushrods will have a dimple on the ends, not a tit and scored. This also indicates wear in the socket of the rocker in addition to the pounding damage on the tips. If no issues with the cylinder heads leave them alone!

Sound easy if you say it real fast/ The actual piston change is easy, but to get to it on a WCFB, 18 screws to remove the air-horn (x2 if you did not notice that the power piston fell off the hanger) then rods to orient into the jets...

The ONLY thing other than new core that will be effective! Anything else is just "pissing in the wind"!

I cannot imagine plastic or rubber being any better than leather since leather lasted 38 years. Rubber or plastic was all that I had available on my 51 F-1 truck with the original engine and those lasted 6 months at the most even before E-10...they looked good, but were non functional.

If you start it ,it should show probably full charge needle to the right. But at this point it seems that the generator or voltage regulator is defective/

Not on early 55's maybe a plate on late 55 and 56.

Disconnect and tape the wire from the battery terminal on the voltage regulator. If not shorting then the problem's in the charging system either the generator or voltage regulator. If it is still shorting out then you got your work looking all over the car.

Maybe THIS is the way to go. Check the pushrods for wear also. Worn rockers are sometimes caused by defective lifters.

Get some new shafts if yours have significant wear.

Or the shaft was bent on the last rebuild. I have had some returned from rebuild that had the shaft bend at the front or back or both.

No adjustable available other than changing springs and no adjustment on amount of advance if the unit is wrong.

I took have been doing it wrong all these years and I'll probably just keep on doing it wrong.

Part throttle detonation is aggravated by a weak spring in the vacuum advance allowing too much advance at lower vacuum. There are lots of vacuum advance units that will "fit" your distributor but they all have different springs and advance. Check if it has been changed.

Don't flip it. The teeth on the backside are squared and will not mesh properly with the starter vs the front teeth that are beveled. If you cannot find a new one, move the ring 15 degrees on the flywheel. When shutdown engines will stop 1-4 locations and those areas get the most wear from the starter. If you get it to mesh in the new locations it will stay meshed.

Okay another question when is it pinging going up that hill part throttle or wide open throttle?

Visit the distributor again and be sure that the breaker plate is moving while vacuum is applied and disconnected. How good is that ethanol free 91 octane fuel? My cars all ran well on mid-grade fuel before ethanol showed up. And until recently there was no ethanol free available. Now they run well on 87 octane e10... Maybe better. I tried a few tanks of ethanol-free and there was some pinging and the vapor lock and percolation was no better. Ethanol in gas is an octane booster and that's all you're going to find while you're traveling.

What grade? Check the compression and report back. AC44 is the specified plug for the 322, but the heat range may be too hot for the modern volatile ethanol laced fuel we have.

I pulled the carburetor apart today and the piston had a small tear in it making it less efficient. However when I removed the piston the leather disintegrated. No telling what caused that; maybe it was the 38 years that it was in use since installation.

Verified! Thanks Jon.

Group 31P will fit the tray and the hold down...just a little taller. Very heavy but lots of power and usually last about 7 years in my 55.

Thanks for your response Jon but there are no numbers. These are what I found in a mixed bag of stuff I got from another guy. Both are the same, one is extended one is collapsed

Be sure no bare wires are shortling inside the distributor as the breaker plate moves.

This is in a 55 Buick...56 is probably the same.

I want to have one on hand before I tear the carburetor apart I have some but I don't know if they are the right ones. I don't want yours but if you have a picture and measurements so maybe you could post that. Thanks in advance.