[Gerry A.]

Thankyou for all your reply's I will look into each issue and I am in total agreeance with each of you as far as the valvetrain/cam being the ultimate cause of the problem. As for the timing I didn't check for true top dead center as the engine only has a couple of hundred miles on it and it was freshly built. I naturally assumed that it was initally set correctly but you are right it could very well have slipped and the damper is stock as far as I know for a 351W. It is true however what "they" say assume makes an ass out of you and me.. so I will look into it. We also thought of a "rich" condition in the fuel system and therefore checked and replaced the carburator twice. also set and reset the adjustments on both. One thing we didn't change however is the jets inside the carbs. It could be possible I suppose that they are simply to large to start with.. If memory serves me the jets are pri: 74 and sec: 78. At least that's really really close pri may be a bit smaller but I don't have the paperwork in front of me to verify it.. anyway that will be moot as Brian is going to replace the speed demon with a holley 750 dp when it is returned to him.

The cam is hyd and that is also a possibility that one or more of the lifters is sticking when pumped up fully but not showing at cranking speed. All of your suggestions could be right on the money and I'll pass along the info to the builder, now the problem is getting him to listen to me and actually check/replace defective parts. In his present attitude I fear that he'll just clean up the engine re-torque everything and send it back. I hope he doesn't but I really have no way of policing his work and that bothers me. In the end however it will not be I that suffers if that happens because I'm not going to accept it in the condition it was in that's for sure. Only problem is I hate thinking of the several months it will take to build a completely new car and engine from scratch if they can't or "won't" get this one right. In that respect I will suffer for it.
thanks again and keep the suggestions comming..