383 Fun...

Hi Everyone,

even since I bought my 64 Windsor Convertible I've alway though there was something that wasn't quite right with the 383. It seemed to bog off the line, idle rough, and generally just didn't have the power I would think a, Wieand Intaked, Holley 750'd, cam'd, headered 383 should have.

Yesterday I decided to start at the beginning, with a compress test. All cylinders were between 130 and 140, except #7 which showed 0!!

So I do a leakdown test and hear air through both the carb and tailpipe, loud and clear, none throught the valve cover. I pull the rocker cover and inspect, all looks ok, but I can't spin the pushrods by hand with #7 at TDC, all the others I could as expected. Hmmm.

So I leave the air line on and proceed to loose the rocker shaft, as I am doing this the valves on #7 close all the way. Hmm. Loosen the shaft so no load on the valves, do a compression test and #7 pops up to 135.

I don't have a good gauge to measure the valve tip height, but using a straightedge the intake valve tip is considerably higher than the others, almost the thickness of the retainer (which really should be compensated for by the hydraulic lift I would think).

Since I have full compression when the valves are closed, and don't want to get into tearing off the head (the car only goes out once in a while on the weekends), would a quick fix be to simply install rocker shaft shims (which will reduce the preload across the board, but may at least get these valves to close) , or can I just grind down the pushrod to reduce it's length to allow the valve to close all the way?

Do lifters every get stuck "pumped up"? I've heard of lifters collapsing but not being stuck up...

Any insight would be appreciated!

Jay