3.8 na has awfull tick to it and very poor pickup...

[Regal on Icel]

my 3.8 has a terrible tick to it. I suppose its somthing to do with the lifters, but i just had my oil changed 3 days ago and it's still just as bad as before, if not worse. The engine has 86k miles on it, but supposidly was a jasper rebuild at 75k. The carb is a non computer controlled carb because the old one was spilling gas everywhere, but even after it's warmed up the car still takes forever to get moving, and often I can push the pedal most of the way down without seeing much if any change in speed. I know its an old engine, but i've heard much more positive thigns from other people with 3.8 na's and I feel like this engine is about to bite it. Is my engine bunk or is this just normal for what it is?

 

[Ttype83]

Your cat or muffler could be clogged causeing this problem or timing could be retared to muck hurting performance.
Have you bulled any plugs to see how they look?

 

[Regal on Icel]

muffler and cat are both less then 2 months old, so i hope that wouldn't be the problem, though my timing hasn't been checked yet, i'll look into it, thanks

 

[1badTTA]

Just set the timing on the wife's starfire, made a world of difference. One note, you may need to remove the distributor to be able to advance it enough if yours has an HEI setup as mine hit the intake manifold and would not turn far enough. I set it by ear (highest idle with good throttle response) and it is like night and day. I actually like driving the car now.