I have a 79 cutlass i put a 69 goldsmobile 350 rocket in... it was a pretty fresh rebuild, but anyways i drove it about 10 miles, and sheared the dowel pin on the cam because the bolt that holds down the cam timing gear wasn't torqued down tight enough and they didn't use lock tight... the bolt backing out destroyed the fuel pump actuater,and the timing cover, which was shoved into the water pump fans, destroying it as well. i can't find a fuel pump actuater... can i usethe one out of the 260 i took out of the cutlass? because i know it's the same timing cover... and just making sure i time it right... do i point the timing marks on the gears at eachother, then once the chain is on get them both pointing tdc, which puts the motor on the compression stroke, and put the distributer back in pointing at #1? please help... thanks

 

The 260 eccentric will work just fine as will the timing cover. Install the gears dot to dot on compression stroke. Then drop the distributor in pointing with the rotor at #1. Install wires counter clockwise 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2.
You will want to change the oil immediately due to the metal in the oil.

If using an HEI set the base timing to 20° BTDC with the vacuum advance disconnected at 1100 RPM. If points or an aftermarket distributor like MSD or Mallory start at 10° BTDC.

 

wow that was about the most awesome reply i could ask for... thank you!! yeah i'm prettysure there's alot of metal in it from the chunks of the old eccentric and all of the metal flakes from me drilling it out... i planned on taking the whole oil pan off and completely cleaning it out and replacing the gasket... once again thank you very much!!

 

here's a picture or two if interested

 

i have another question... i drilled out the old dowl pin that snapped and put in a new one i got out of the bolt area at work... bit it's maybe a half a cenimeter longer than the origional one... is that gonna matter? balance wise or for any other reason you may have in mind? also i'm looking at fuel pumps and wondering if this one looks good...http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Oldsm...d2d626e34looks
they make it sound good... with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator thank youfor your help

 

Are you talking about the bolt that hold the cam gear on or the pin that hold the gear onto the distributor shaft? I wouldn't mess with the length of either. The front bolt is designed as having a built in cam button. Although Olds engines "shouldn't" need one due to the reverse rotation of the distributor. As far as the cam gear goes you don't want to have a clearance issue back there.

As far as the fuel pump goes if it were me I'd just go to the parts stare and get a replacement. From what I gather you're not running anything all that radical and back in the day they were running stock pumps on 350's right out of the showroom deep into the 13's and some even the 12's. On 455's they were getting some crazy power on stock pumps. There is just no need for it at this time. If you feel that you will be doing more to the engine at a later date then just upgrade to a GOOD electric pump and be done with it.

 

thanks... i was talking about the dowl pin on the front of the cam that holds the timing gear on in place... it sheared and i drilled it out but i couldn't tell how long the old one was.

 

OOhhh...I getcha. I think you should be Ok if it doesn't stick out too far. Where it is in the cam shouldn't cause any balancing issues. They don't balance camshafts anyway.

 

Hi everybody ...
New to the forum , so if I f@#k this up some how let me know..
Recently bought a project car for 700 $ its a 84 cutlass with a gold v8 block number 395558 2 no A/c ..number 6 heads, 4 barrel edelbrook 1406.. I could only read 35m below the #1 spark plug ..

Ok so I want to do a couple gasket , intake manifold , valve covers, timing gears and chain (theres slack) and other related gaskets.. what are some trouble spots I need to worry about, my biggest concern is when I remove the distributor and re installing distributor and lining up everything right .. Getting the right firing order and what not ..
Any help will most def be greatly appreciated...B