I tell ya, getting ready for this trip is a pain in the ass.  I had to use the car I am taking for work this year, so a few of the little bugs in it had to go unchecked until I was laid off and finally had the time to deal with them.

Over the past week or so I’ve been banging my head against a noise I originally thought was a lifter ticking.  This wasn’t a happy sound, as I had rebuilt the engine myself and thought I had done a good job of it.  Pull the valve cover, check, tighten, clean, clean, clean… reseal.  In the morning the sound was still there.  Little gremlin loose and having a ball.

Out of the blue I disconnected the vacuum advance hose and hose was the noise.  WTF?  All along it was a timing issue.

To the net, read read read…

If you ever do a mod to a small-block, toss out the stock vacuum canister as it is designed to accompany a system with and EGR valve in place.

12 deg. initial, 24 deg @ 2500 RPM (max) mechanical, and an adjustable vacuum port with a steep curve.  Pinging gone.

Ever notice how you have to walk a mile through shit just to learn the simplest things?  At least this was the LAST of the bugs.  For now.