Help! - 360 Chrysler marine ?

[reddog]

Sorry for the non FSJ question - but I need your expertise. I am trying to trouble shoot a 360 V-8 Chrysler marine engine. The aluminum timing cover corroded through and water was leaking into the oil. The timing cover, timing chain/gears were replaced and the heads were given a valve job. Of course the oil was flushed/changed.
When the engine was fired up after the work it ran rough and the vacuum gauge flucuated about 5-7 inches, meaning that the needle of the gauge was "shaky" or jumping at lower RPM. After about 2500 RPM the vacuum gauge smoothed out alot. At idle we pulled plug wires one by one and found that when four of the wires were pulled it made no difference in RPM or idle quality. The interesting part was of the four dead cylinders, two were on each side and that they were every other cylinder was "dead" if you followed the firing order around the distributor. Although pulling the wires made no difference in quality of RPM or idle that in the cylinders that were dead the plug was sparking.
Checking the timing showed that the timing was advanced about 7 degrees from where it had been before the work was done. I am unsure whether or not a new timing chain would shift the timing that much as the old chain was not in too bad of shape. The engine ran fine (other the the water leak) before the work was done.
Since it is a PITA to work on the thing due to tight spaces I am trying to get as much info as possible before I dig into the thing trying to solve this.
My first suspect with the symptoms we have is that the timing chain was installed one tooth off. We checked for vacuum leaks and found none (unlike my Waggy there is NO vacuum stuff other than a PCV and vacuum gauge).
Any ideas on this are much appreciated. Once again sorry for the off topic subject but I need your help!!

TIA

Kerry

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87 GW - Stock (but it looks like RiverBeast when I'm sleeping)
TFI upgrade
360,727,NP229

[jeepbob]

sounds like the chain was installed wrong(out of time).

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65 wag. 360/edelbrock rb4/t400/20 t-case/4:10 d27/d44 broken power lok/onboard air/onboard 110v power(no inverter)/1999 Lincoln t.c.leather buckets/Lincoln ctr console/winch/33x12.50/tunes/water proof door pads
soon to have new motor/d44frt/d60r(4:10)welded diff/custom bumpers
see ya in da mud

[Ralph]

A bit off the subject here, but Mercedes now makes their V12 with an ignition and valve system that enables shutting off one side of cylinders to improve highway fuel economy -- so it essentially runs like an I6.

[RudyC]

Is it a dual intake? Are then those dead cylinders all fed from the same half of the carb? Also the distributor would be suspect.
I,ve been working on Mopars a LONG time.
Call me (626) 965-4967 if you need any help. My conputer is kinda giving me problems.
Rudy.


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79 WAGONEER (SOLD IT, BUT WILL FIND A LESS RUSTY ONE LATER)
79 DODGE, MY LIL RED TRUCK. 318, 4BBL HOLLEY,TF727.
pictures at:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1500380&a=11321052

[Dean]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ralph:
A bit off the subject here, but Mercedes now makes their V12 with an ignition and valve system that enables shutting off one side of cylinders to improve highway fuel economy -- so it essentially runs like an I6.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Caddy tried that a few years back with thier V4,6,8. It was a 368ish V8 that had solenoids on the valve train that diconnected them from the rockers. Only lasted a couple of years.

[jeepbob]

The caddies did not work bad on the highway, but in the city, it was not the best setup as it would switch back and forth making the motor run rough. A lot of people put a switch in the system to shut it off in the city and just used it on the highway. GM gave up on it before electronic engine management came into its own. A computer would have made it almost invisable.

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65 wag. 360/edelbrock rb4/t400/20 t-case/4:10 d27/d44 broken power lok/onboard air/onboard 110v power(no inverter)/1999 Lincoln t.c.leather buckets/Lincoln ctr console/winch/33x12.50/tunes/water proof door pads
soon to have new motor/d44frt/d60r(4:10)welded diff/custom bumpers
see ya in da mud

[Tom 400 CFI]

What RudyC said. Sounds to me like one of the idle cicuits is dead, therefore all(4) of the cylinders fed by that side of the carb are not running. Figure out which cylinders are not firing, follow those runners back to the carb to identify which barrel it is, then start it and manually add fuel to that barrel and se if it doesn't take off for a moment. If it does, rebuild the carb.