77kermit Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 My 1977 710 wagon needs some help. I had a guy rebuild the stock l20b as it was losing compression and water. He managed to get it back in the car and running, however now it runs erratically, sometimes good most of the time bad, and my mileage has dropped below that of a freagin' hummer. I need to find someone in the Sacramento-ish area who either has a motor they could swap into my car, or has the ability to diagnose what's wrong with mine. Ideally since I don't have to deal with smog I would like a tuned motor with some pep for my little goon. But I'd gladly take my little l20b to the moon and back (or at least to Washington to visit friends and family) if it was running right. Payment isn't an issue, the issue is that I don't have a place to do this work at my house. Therefore I ask for the help of my fellow ratsuners. I prefer bartering and have solid construction skills as well as furniture-making skills, nun-chuck skills, and stereo installation skills. I can work with part cash, all cash, or all barter, whatever floats your boat. Thanks. Link to comment
NWOleman Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 well what did the guy do in the rebuild? new rings, bearings, and gasket's? did he just rebuild the head? if he rebuilt it right it's probably either a carb issue or electical issue? i'm sure some of the other guys will chime in with more help for ya tho. Link to comment
datzenmike Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 Loosing water and compression was likely a simle head gasket. I guess you don't work on your car yourself??? If you do, simple stuff like setting the valve lash, and timing can be done in the driveway. Adjustiing the carb also. There's no telling what this guy did to the motor so any number of things could be simply out of adjustment. The cam might have been timed wrong when the head was put back on. Link to comment
Dguy210 Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 ... I need to find someone in the Sacramento-ish area who either has a motor they could swap into my car, or has the ability to diagnose what's wrong with mine. Ideally since I don't have to deal with smog I would like a tuned motor with some pep for my little goon. ... Shouldn't a '77 need to be smogged? Link to comment
77kermit Posted February 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 NWOleman: The guy supposedly rebuilt the entire motor from top to bottom, new rings, gaskets, etc. When he installed it though he did not seal the intake or exhaust manifolds properly and it took me quite a while to get them fixed. Also I had the carb rebuilt by a shop before it was installed. Since he couldn't get these relatively simple things done right I question how well he rebuilt the motor. Datzenmike: The cam timing could be the issue, I haven't checked that yet. Thanks. Dguy210: My car is registered in Washington. I'm only in California temporarily and don't want to go through the headache that is California Smog. Thanks for the input guys. I'll check the cam this weekend and see if that's the trouble. Link to comment
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