Here goes. Car has set for 6 months because I was gone away. This is concerning my 70 firebird. Engine is a 350 pontiac with about 2k on it. I am getting this engine sputter when I give it gas. Let me say what I have checked. I checked the timing and I am at 12, factory is 9. I have checked the vacc at the carb and it is at 18. I have checked the dwell and set it to the factory setting of 30. Seems like the rpms will not go past 4 grand. I was thinking the sputter and shaking was maybe a stuck lifter because it sat for so long without being started. Took the valve covers off and everything looked fine except that not all the push rods were squirting oil, shouldn't they? Some were pretty dry. Could that be a stuck lifter. All opinions welcome. If I left out anything just ask.

 

not shooting a stream of oil on the inner fenders dosen't mean there is no oil, or even a problem. i'd suspect something like bad gas after not being started in so long or some build up from the fuel setting in the carb.

 

the oil was not even pumping up to the top of some of the lifters. i gave it plenty of time to pump up but got nothing out of some of the lifters. Some were dry on the rocker arm nut. Is there some kinda gas additive i can add to clear up the carb and tank. anything else

 

I am going to get some fuel treatment and see if that will fix it. I brought up the lifters because when i rebuilt the engine all the lifters were stuck. I did of course buy new ones. The thing just acts like the valves are two tight or a lifter is stuck. The rocker arms are self adjusting ( zero lash) so that is not it. I am gonna start the car and put my finger on the pushrod side of the rocker arm and see if I can feel any shock from the pushrod hitting a stuck lifter. I have herd that will let me know if one is stuck.

 

maybe you should rmove the rockers and pull the push rods out and see if the passage is clogged.

 

I am leaving work in about a hour and then I will pull them out and blow through each one to make sure they are not blocked. Any other ideals?