Anyone know anything about chevy engines?

take a video of it and the smoke its making and post it.... would be easier to make a better diagnosis of the problem....

A picture would even be great to show some of the setup,hoses etc routing . I will post in a little bit a reply with multiple things each problem can be caused by .

As for if the distributor is advancing the distributor is fine , is not correct .


When that 400 block was made it had a points distributor .Now it is a HEI with coil built inside .

On an Old 400 SBC these things you may already be doing , but if your not this is your problem . You have to run Premium gas on that motor , which will cause the pinging (NOT THE REASON YOUR ENGINE IS PINGING NOW THOUGH) if your going to run Regular you will have to sacrifice power and retard the timing even more .

Now on a 400 SBC or any SBC in general the pinging and Black/blue smoke will happen with timing problems . Basically what happens is the Rings will not seal , as the pistons are shaking back and forth causing oil to pass (Which is why the Plugs are covered in it ) and causing the engine/pistons to ping . Depending on how long you have done this for will determine the damage you already caused . I have seen people drive on so bad of timing that within a day they have shattered the pistons just from the rattle .


Since your engine is rattling disconnect the vacumn advance and retard the timing even more until the smoke,rattles stop . Now if this does not fix it your timing gear/shaft may be sticking off and on . You will then need to remove the Distributor , remove the shaft from it re-oil it so it spin freely again and that should solve it .

Now another problem could be if you changed any of the springs/weights in the distributor itself . To soft will cause timing issues .

Now these are not sure fire fixes , but they are options . Your engine is not damaged from the sounds of it so Compression is not really needed . A picture would help greatly figure out if any other changes caused this

When the motor was built, did they use timing gears or a chain? sounds to me like you may have a stretched timing chain or a skipped tooth. If your sister-in law is that hard on vehicles I'm wondering if she over revved it or made the old "shifted into first instead of third" mistake. hope you get it figured out.

sounds like the timing to advanced to me ........ keep backing it off one degree at a time till it starts to get better or until the prob stops .......this should fix your problem

Thanks for the input guys! I'll have to give these things a try! Its at his house right now, so I'd have to go up there to get pics and a video, and work on it...

My question is, why does it only ping when its not in PARK?

Because the engine is not under load . Basically under load with that bad of timing your rings are loose and the Pistons are slapping side to side like a bobble head . You will basically break the under guard first , then the top ring edge . I actually know people who have driven with them so bust up that the oil pan was filled with the rings,piston parts . Chevys are built tough

Do you even know what the compression ratio is in that motor . I mean if it is 10/1 or higher and your running anything lower then Premium you will be able to retard the timing enough to quite it down , but your sure going to shorten the life of the engine .