Thread: need a mechanic in San Diego

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I need help with my nova. I can't afford to take it a shop but I need someone to check it out and tell me what I need to do. Also I need someone to adjust my carb. If anyone lives in the San Diego area and will help please post here. I will do all the work I'm just not sure whats wrong and I can't explain everything here. Please help.

what is the car doing that you think is wrong ( noises, squeaks, hard starting, soft brakes ). To tune the carb, you could try firing it up and turning the ajuster screws out ( 1 by 1 ) until the car stumbles, and then turn them back until the stumble stops.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by OBmisfit
[B]I need help with my nova. I can't afford to take it a shop but I need someone to check it out and tell me what I need to do. Also I need someone to adjust my carb. If anyone lives in the

Originally posted by OBmisfit
I need help with my nova. I can't afford to take it a shop but I need someone to check it out and tell me what I need to do. Also I need someone to adjust my carb. If anyone lives in the San Diego area and will help please post here. I will do all the work I'm just not sure whats wrong and I can't explain everything here. Please help.

If you can't find a mechanic to do a house call, you could try to explain best as you can and there are some pretty well seasoned hotrodders in here that could help you figure it out step by step (Pat Mc, DynoDon, Etc, Etc) Give em a shot, they're good

Ok I'll try to explain everything the best I can, keep in mind I know just enough to get me in trouble. I'll start with the facts as best as I know them. It's a '74 Nova with a 350. I have a HEI dist. off a '75, or the motor itself is a 75. It was missing under a load, going uphills mostly. I noticed the # 6 plug wire was touching the header pipe and burnt thru, changed wire and ran fine. Then miss came back, thats when I realized I had HEI Dist. so I changed all plugs and wires but still the miss. changed cap and rotor. At same time guy from parts store asked how hot it ran? 160-180 he said change termo to 192 so I did. Miss got worse. Took termo out completly, I live in San Diego avg. temp here is 75, now there is no miss. The car runs around 150 and runs great. Why would temp. effect missing. Also I pulled one of the value covors off and noticed a little water but It doesn't smoke at all. Did I just answer my own question? If water is getting in one of the cylinders it would miss but why only at higher temp? Sorry if this post is confusing to read I just got out of the hospital and I'm on good meds. haha If any of this makes sense to someone please let me know.

symtoms sound like it could be water seepage into the cylinder, but I think you should have notice the plug when you changed them out. It would look like it was steam cleaned. Water under the valve cover could indicate a cracked head. Is the oil milky or your dipstick have droplets of condensation? The reason it would do it worse hot is because of expansion from the heat.

When I check the dip stick there's no water in the oil. Only when I pulled the valve cover off was it a little milky. The wierd part was the oil looked good but inside the cover itself was milky oil stuck to the cover not around the valves themselves. And not one of the plugs looked clean they all look normal.

Also before I was adding around 1 gal of coolant every 3-4 days now I don't have to add any. I did change the ratiator cap also.

This thought might be totally off the wall, but I wonder if the head is cracked and the crack only opens up at high engine temps. That might explain why it runs ok at lower temps. I don't know, just a guess.