Thread: Compression is too high on my '71 460 Lincoln...

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Heck, run some 118 through it and see if it pings.

yeah that'll tell you and it wont hurt anything really

Couldn't you just pop on a degree wheel, and put a magnetic base dial indicator on a rocker arm and determine the cam specs ?

The double stack head gasket fix sounds cheap and simple.

I had to pay to get my car back into my possession, and besides I didn't want him to get vindictive while he still had it in his shop, and do something like drop a bolt into the valve cover, or a handful of abrasive in the gas tank. I swallowed my anger paid to get my car back to someplace safe.

Since I was stupid enough not to get anything in writing, I knew that I had no leg to stand on if I ever took this guy to small claims court. A judge would say 'did you receive the car back after paying the bill?' - Well yes Sir, I did... 'does the car run?' - well sort of, but not correctly... 'can you prove he stole anything from you' - No Sir, I guess I cannot.

It would be either case dismissed for lack of evidence, or judgment for the defendant, and then I would have been out the costs of bringing the suit in the first place.

I did learn my lesson during this whole thing, and now everything labor-wise over a hundred bucks is done with a written estimate, or it doesn't get done.

Paul, I am running premium gas only, and he said the compression on the cylinders was right around 200 psi. I would like to stay away from changing carbs again because this one is brand new.

My other carb was an older 800cfm, and it always felt like it was too much. Everyone who drove the car said that it felt like it was bogging down really bad.

I apologize for not having harder data for you to look at, I have had some health downturns since originally asking about my 460 high compression issues back in the day, and so I am now trying to get this thing work well on a reduced budget.

I will try to set up a time with the car guy so he can go over everything one more time.

When you say the carb is "new", I have to ask how it was tuned? The problems Paul was refferring to regarding the carb settings possibly causing this, are spot on, and may very well be the culprit.

could get some .080 or .100 thousandths thick copper headgaskets

Originally Posted by gassersrule_196

could get some .080 or .100 thousandths thick copper headgaskets

That would lower the static compression ratio, but it would also increase the piston to head clearance (squish) and make the motor more prone to detonation than it was before the gasket change in my opinion. At 200 psi, this motor is a candidate for race fuel.

You may also Need Longer push rods ?

or he could go racing

Hell Gasser, at this stage in my life the only racing I'm doing anymore is trying to do is get to the john in time !

BTW, when the shmo/thief was putting my engine together he had the hardest time getting the pushrods to fit correctly. Some would seat like they should, but others were loose as a goose.

After advising me that the only thing to do was use adjustable aluminum roller rockers, which didn't solve the problem at all, he had to use an adjustable pushrod tool to find the right size for each cylinder.

Then he went thru the three previous sets of different sized pushrods we had already bought, and made up one complete set that fit.

Everyone I tell this too so far scratches their head in puzzlement when they hear about this, but the car has been driven quite a bit without eating itself yet.

Posted by Lincoln:
"BTW, when the shmo/thief was putting my engine together he had the hardest time getting the pushrods to fit correctly. Some would seat like they should, but others were loose as a goose."

If the situation was progressively worse from one end of the head to the other, it's an indication that either the block deck was not parallel to the cam bore or the cylinder head was cut at an angle to the deck. If it was loose and tight with no particular order to it, then either the valves or pushrods were not the same lengths or the valves were not installed in the head at the same height (bad valve job).

How about that can of stuff they sell at wally world..........what is it in that little ole can? "112+ Octane Boost" LOL.......................

Originally Posted by chevydrivin

How about that can of stuff they sell at wally world..........what is it in that little ole can? "112+ Octane Boost" LOL.......................

I'm not sure about that stuff, never having used it. But I'm told that the manufacturers figure one point as actually 1/10th of a point, so if it says it raises the octane 5 points for instance, it will actually raise the octane from 93 to 93.5

Originally Posted by techinspector1

I'm not sure about that stuff, never having used it. But I'm told that the manufacturers figure one point as actually 1/10th of a point, so if it says it raises the octane 5 points for instance, it will actually raise the octane from 93 to 93.5

I've heard that as well. I also have read of some tests that were conducted (I don't remember where now though...) that in some cases there were no noticeable differences after andding it, and in some cases adding the octane boost actually lowered the octane rating.

Originally Posted by 71LincolnCoupe

Paul, I am running premium gas only, and he said the compression on the cylinders was right around 200 psi. I would like to stay away from changing carbs again because this one is brand new.

I know you don't like this idea, but I would probably start with the carburetor. Although this may or may not necessarily have anything to do with your ping situation, I really think your engine should have a Holley 850 double pumper, List # 4781. It is a progressive secondary carb, so you can cruise around on the primary throttle and opoen up the secondaries whenever needed. Further, it can very well address (to one extent or another) your ping situation. See if you can borrow one from somebody and play with all the adjustable parameters. Properly adjusted, it is not too big for your engine.

Is your distributor the OEM unit or is it aftermarkent? Where is your timing set? This is also important, as are the advance cure details.

I suppose if I were in this situation, I might pull the front timing cover and evaluate cam timing. There are a lot of budget chains whose keyways are way off. I've even seen it on a CompCams 3122 double roller (as have others). If you cam timing is farther advanced that it is supposed to be, you will be shutting the intake valve too early and thereby have a greater amount of cylinder pressure. Bringing camshaft timing back to spec can very well help your situation because cylinder pressure will be reduced. Even if cam timing is spot-on, you can select the retarded position (the timing chain's crank gear likely has three keyways to choose from: -4*, 0*, & +4*) and lower cylinder pressure that way.

Between cam timing, ignition timing and carb, I'll bet your pinging could be all but alleviated.

Paul