[Bob Carriere]

Hi Phil

My assumption is that the balance test pairs off two cylinders that are firing about 180 degrees apart.... if they are of equal strenght/power they can keep the engine turning...... if they do not support the engine on two cylinders one of the two is not powerful enough.... as in a faulty plug..... but which one..... we obviously need to do it again....

With the good compression readings it may have been just a bad plug or two bad ones.....

Now when we do it again..... following your advice and the instructions in the GM manual.... we will insert a insulated copper into the plug connection of four plugs centrally connected to a switch that is gorunde.... so when we swithc to ground only two will run and NO sparks will be flashing around.

I remember ready about sparking leaving a carbon trail and one done the parts are usually no good anymore. I may have to use an old spark plug wire set to devise a four lead grounding system that will not spark in our hands...particularly if working on mine at 40K volts.

I plan on modifying an old 235 valve cover by removing the top one inch.... keeping the sides to minimize hot oil splashing when adjusting the valve train so we can watch the action while the engine is running.

So the pairing is 1/6 and 5/2 and 4/3 ...... the first one went fine and the second one 5/2 caused the engine to die out.... engine ran on the 4/3.

Will need to pay more attention to vacuum fluctuation while redoing the balance test.

Maybe some old mechanic or old Chilton manual can answer the 64K ????

Stay tuned

Don't know about you neck of the woods but things are melting nicely here....muddy yes.... but melting.....

Bob