AMC 401 engine problem

Okay - i'll need to check the lift on my cam lobes. I dont own a dial indicator so i quess that on my shopping list tomorrow. Can i get a precise meassurement on the rocker arm or do i need to pull of my intake manifold to do this ?

If it is as bad as your compression test indicates it should be pretty obvious. I would unload the lifters and measure pushrod movement from high to low. Without load the lifters should be fully extended and give you a pretty accurate read on the lobe condition. If they were solid lifters you could check from the rocker with a dial gauge but since they are hydraulic lifters they will compress a good bit under load without the motor running and skew your readings too much to be effective.

Well, the fact that your exhaust is louder leads me to believe you have the timing way retarded. Are you SURE the engine was on TDC on the compression stroke when you installed the distributer?(both valves are closed at this point)
Just start eliminating potential issues.
Pull your distributer out-
pull out number one plug-
seal your finger over the spark plug hole-
crank over engine with starter-
when air blows past your finger you are on the compression stroke.
line up timing mark to 0 to find TDC.
install the distributer with the rotor pointed to what ever plug wire goes to the number one cylinder.
start the car.
set timing with timing light.
I'm sorry to say, if that does not fix your problem, you should remove the timing cover and check the timing marks-was the engine on the compression stroke when the timing chain was installed?
Since you will have to remove the harmonic balancer to get at the timing cover, you can check to make sure the Woodriff key is there to index the timing marks with the crankshaft. cant imagine that was left out, but who knows? Check your oil carefully- if you see metal particles in it, your new cam may have failed during break-in.

This issue reminds me of the time I did the same sort of thing 35 years ago- new valve job, etc.-the heads would never torque down evenly on that engine after that-the sides along the exhaust manifolds would NOT crush-it was as if there was a prob with the dowel pins, but there wasn't...I was having a hard time sealing the manifold, the heads were so...angled. I never found out why, but fixed it by torqueing the BOTTOM row of head bolts FIRST-from middle to outer-to 30 lbs. or so. then do the regular torque pattern after that. My point is-if you end up removing the heads, check the head gaskets for proper "crush".



Edited by rondo - Apr/25/2017 at 9:40pm

Checked my push rods - no wobble. Seems straight. Also Took the timinggear houseing of today. Pulled the harmonic balancer off at TDC position i combustion stroke. Took a picture of my timing gear Mount, but dont know how to upload them here, but the 0 dots on both sprokets were totally aligned. Took off my intake manifold - Both hyd lifters and cam looks fine. Still need to measure lobe lift.
Very confused at this moment...

Edited by Vweberdk - Apr/26/2017 at 11:07am