On Aug 30, 9:25*pm, "Phil Kangas" wrote:
"oldjag" wrote in message Some metal content,

(barely)...
* *This started last spring actually when

I helped a driver in an '69 olds 442 convertable that died
on the
roadside. *Towed the car to my home garage a block away.

Hey thereoldjag, there's a lot of guys waiting to hear what
you came up
with to fix this idle problem! Let us know, eih?
please........phil

I should have more of an update soon. The owner brought it over
yesterday and I took it for a drive. First impression when I first
heard it is that it has a lot more cam duration in it than what was
thought. It idles fairly lumpy at what sounds like about 850 RPM in
neutral and gets worse in gear, but does not sound like a miss. It's
not loading up, and it pulls strongly from a stop. Feels quite a bit
stronger than a stock '69 442 Auto should. Also knocks a fair amount
on premium at high RPM, probably because they dialed in so much
initial advance to make it idle smoother. When I get some time, this
weekend maybe, I hope to see if we can tweak the Qjet for a little
better idle by changing the power valve spring.

Another question is that Old's used a 45 degree valve lifter angle
on some early 400's and a 39 degree bank angle on later engines. It's
possible there was a mixup and it has the wrong cam for the specific
block. To my knowledge it's the original engine in the car so it
should be a 39 degree block with the correct cam for a 39 degree
block. This can cause a hell of an idle problem as one bank is
advanced and the other retarded but the engine will still run okay at
higher speed.