37 Pontiac Heat-Riser issue and Valve Job discussion

[Guest bofusmosby]

Thank you Don, I'll just kick back, fall a sleep, and have another one of those dreams!:eek:

[Dandy Dave]

Jim, no he doesn't but if I were doing the job I would. Changing the rope seal in the cap is one thing, but the other half in the block with the crank in there can be tricky because you can't see and properly clean the groove that the upper portion of the rope seal goes into. You also cannot set the rope seal in the groove either. The proper way to do that job is to have the crankshaft out of there so you can clean and use a special tool to push the seal down in place and cut it's exposed ends off. Now I do have a another special tool to do the job that pulls the rope around the crank so you can do it in the car, but it's really not the correct way to seat that seal properly.

My advise is to not worry and lay low about doing/thinking about anything until your new guy has a look and makes his recommendations. There is one thing that you should remind your new/old mechanic is that he should be grinding your intake valves at thirty degrees instead of the usual forty five on many cars---this is also true of almost all Real Pontiac V-8's for those people who want to know.

So, hang loose and relax.

Don

I totally agree. The tool is refered to as a, "Sneeky Pete." Dandy Dave!

[Guest bofusmosby]

OK guys (and gals), here is the update that has been long in the making.

I finally took my car to the "old school" mechanic, and the car just sat there for about 2 1/2 months. I was told by a friend of his (the mechanic) to NEVER tell him that you weren't in a hurry. Well, it was too late, I had told him that when I dropped the car off. He fianlly got into the car, and said that he fornd the problem. He said there was a burnt wire inside the distributor (I had already seen this before). I told him that if he looked real close, he would see that the insulation had come off, and someone put black silicone glue on the wire to insulate it. I swore that it would take care of the problem,, but I had my doubts. I went by there after work today, and found that he had been working on the car, but it still had the same problem. He was kind of scratching his head, when I told him again about my suspicions of the heat-riser assembly, and the pipe inside that has been known to get a hole in it. He then told me that what I was saying made sense. ( I had mentioned it several times before, but for some reason until now, he never really listened.) I waited there, and watched him pull the carb., and when we looked inside, you could see a number of holes in that pipe that I had suspected all along! There must have been 5-10 holes all around that pipe inside the intake manifold! The intake was sucking exhaust gasses, calling this problem I have been having for way too long.

The car is not fixed yet, but Monday he is going to try to locate a piece of exhaust pipe of the same size to replace the eat up one that in there right now. So, it looks like I might be getting my car repaired real soon! I can hardly wait!

To all of you that suggested that this was the problem, hit the nail on the head! Thank you very much! I'll be sure and make my final post after I get the car back, hopefully telling you how good the engine is running!

You guys are the best!

[Guest]

Congratulations on finding the problem Jim, I hope you charged the guy at least a couple of hundred for for the diagnostics!

[Smokeywolf]

Update please