Well, was tinkering today.. got the 327 running. Has open pipes.. it's pretty loud. Some dumbass put the wires on the cap in the wrong position (each one was shifted one place clockwise) and that's why it wouldn't run. Also, there was a big vacuum port unplugged at the back of the manifold under the distributor which also contributed to the non-running. When I was setting the points, I noticed that when you turn the rotor backward, the shaft backs out a little... i'm assuming that's a function of wear?
Bad news though... running it for a minute or so, the upper-end started making bad noise... Something that's strange is that there's absolutely
*ZERO* trash inside the valve covers and on the valves..it does not look at all like a 39-year-old engine that has not been apart.. I would think the thing would have good oil pressure like that.. it seriously looks like a fresh motor inside there.. and cranks smoothly and has good compression (or so it seems). Is it possible for the dist to turn but the oil pump not? I know you are thinking "why didn't you look at the oil pressure gage?"... well i don't have the key to the car. The prev. owner doesn't know where they are at the moment.. i just ran a lead to the coil and hooked a starter button on the starter... so i don't think the gages would register anyway.also ... the cooling system became very very pressurized both times i got the car running for any amount of time.. lifted the lever on the rad cap and blasted the master cylinder with water (overflow pipe was missing on the first shot).. In my opinion, much too quick to have that much pressure build in the cooling system.. I am guessing either bad head gasket or cracked head.
Was rather disappointed when i found out the engine ran .. so i didn't bother to do a compression test or pull the plugs this afternoon. I found out that the motor is an "HC" code motor.. In my 1968 Motor repair manual, it just says "327 w/ PG" (powerglide)... but gives no other method to determine which horsepower motor is in the car. There are four 327s listed for 1965 Chevrolet.... 250hp, 300hp, 350hp, and
375hp (fuel injected).as for the rear springs... I jacked the rear of the car up and the springs are not collapsed, but they have come off the spring seat at the top... i believe on both sides.. is there supposed to be a spring bushing on the top? Is there an easy way to get the spring back into the spot it's supposed to be? I tried putting some coil compressors on there, but i couldn't get it compressed enough to take the tension off the mamma jamma to bop it back into place.
thanks for reading... jeff