I got it running! but...

Hey guys n gals, it's me again. I got the old bucket put back together today after a top end rebuild, and it fired right up, second kick! But something's just not right... it sounds like it's knocking pretty good from somewhere. Or maybe it's more of a tapping. Anyway, I've been lead to believe it's going to smoke after such an overhaul, not too worried about that. It is, however getting very hot, very quickly. The right side in particular will start smoking from the case. I didn't remove the patina, and there's still some grease here n there as I really dont care about it being shiny or anything. Other than that, it goes well, no problem with compression or performance that I can see. Any thoughts?

Overheating would worry me, especially in conjunction with loud knocking. If it were mine, I'd start by checking ignition function with a strobe, looking for vacuum leaks, and pulling a valve cover on each cylinder to see if oil sprays out under pressure . Hope you find it's something minor!

Just a quick check; Remove the right side engine ignition cover and rotate the engine to top dead center. There is an alignment dot on the right side of the camshaft and at TDC it should either be either centered on the top or bottom depending on which cylinder is on its compression stroke.

Bushy, if the cam was off one link, one way or the other, there would be no way for him to get it to run? Or will it, one way or the other?

Right, thuban. One tooth on the camshaft sprocket=10* of camshaft rotation=20* of crankshaft rotation. With that much error the motor will usually fire intermittently while it's being cranked or stomped, but it won't start.

thuban said:

Bushy, if the cam was off one link, one way or the other, there would be no way for him to get it to run? Or will it, one way or the other?

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Personally I would check ignition timing too, but if I had my engine apart then not a bad idea to check the alignment of the camshaft. If it does start one tooth off especially advanced it is going to cause issues and over heating.