Places to Look for Issues, Pontiac-8

[MercMontMars]

Hi there, I'm posting to just get some miscellaneous information on my Pontiac Straight-8 such as things to look for and things I can do to make it run just a little bit better. I've heard about rusted coolant passages and distribution tubes. I just want to know where to look and what to look for before I go pulling anything apart. I've had the motor going a good few times now, recently got to drive it a little but on the last cruise I fully lost spark and had to get towed home. I noticed my carburetor was searing hot when I opened my hood. While I'm waiting on a distributor part courtesy of @The 55er (Thank you again!) I figured I'd start looking everything over for anything that I might've missed or needs attention. One thing I really want to do is tune this motor the best I can, does anyone have any good tune-up tips? It runs well, but I have to run it a little higher than it should be otherwise she'll die if I go into gear. Can tell it wants to run good, just needs a little help in the right direction. 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Merc

 

 

PS

Some fun pictures of my car getting towed. Towtruck driver had a blast, he said it was the oldest thing he's ever towed!

 

 

 

[Rusty_OToole]

One peculiarity of the Pontiac is a built in oil filter in the crankcase. Does not need attention, except to be cleaned out when you overhaul or rebuild the engine. It does help to change oil regularly.

Engines of that type need more frequent attention and tuneups than today's cars. Suggest that if you wish to do a thorough job, start with a compression test. If the compression is good and the oil pressure is good, you have a good engine that should respond to careful tuning. If not, you need to correct worn valves or whatever is the matter.

The usual rule of doing a tuneup is to adjust valves, then go over the ignition, cleaning or replacing spark plugs and points, adjusting dwell and timing, finally adjusting the carburetor. There are other details to it, such as inspecting and cleaning the air filter etc.

A factory repair manual is invaluable for this and all kinds of things.