V6Discussion and questions about the base carbureted or MPFI V6's and the rare SFI Turbo V6.
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ok car won't start and all i get is backfires out of the carb.
Is set the timing to TDC - Stuck a screwdriver in the #1 cylinder and when i felt that it was all the way at the top i lined it up on the crank pulley. It is correct because it lines up with the engraved marking
I know the firing order is
Back
5 6
3 4
1 2
Front
What i need to know is the order on the distributer cap. I know that it is 1 2 3 4 5 6 on the fuel injected models but what about the carbbed. Are they the same. ?
So you brought #1 up to TDC, of the compression stroke, and verified that it was the compression stroke because the balancer mark lined up with 0 on the balancer scale, right?
Did you do anything with the rotor? At this point, your distributor's rotor will be pointing somewhere. Loosen the distributor hold-down bolt, and, with the distributor cap off, spin the distributor so the rotor lines up with a terminal of the distributor cap. (Gotta eye-ball this one; take cap off, turn distributor body (not the rotor), place cap back on, see if the rotor comes near a terminal on the distributor cap.)
Now that terminal that lines up with the rotor is your brand new #1 terminal!! Mark the terminal with white out, then bolt the cap back onto the distributor. Put the #1 plug wire on the cap. Then, clockwise, put #2, #3, etc, #6 on the cap.
What's the timing spec for your car? 6 degrees BTC? Or is it 10 like the 85-92 v6's? Problem with the rotor pointing at the #1 terminal is that you've got 0 degrees advance, and chances are good the car won't start like this, with 0 degrees advance.
So with the car off (AND NOBODY CRANKING IT!!!), loosen the distributor hold down bolt, and turn the distributor cap COUNTERCLOCKWISE a little bit. This will position the rotor between the #1 terminal and the #2 terminal. Sounds backwards, for spark "advance", but here's what happens.
Lets imagine your engine's running. We've got the #1 piston at TDC. The rotor is pointing between #1 and #2 cap terminals, meaning, there's no spark right now. What's happening is that the spark just fired for #1, and it's heading for #2. #2's not at TDC right now, #1 is. So that's how we get timing advance- "before top dead center". By putting the cap so the rotor's between #1 and #2, this means that when the engine does one complete revolution, #1 plug will fire BEFORE #1 reaches TDC. Hope that all made sense.
And for kicks, if you don't want to re-do everything, try spinning the distributor cap a bit counter clockwise, and then try starting the engine again. Don't have someone crank the motor while you spin the distributor cap!! (High voltage kills, etc, etc...)
__________________ -Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)
ok lets see if i got this straight. Put the distributer in and then put the engine on tdc. You can have the rotor in any direction as long as the 1-6 sparkplug sequence start where the rotor is
Yep! You got it! And remember to do like you did before, get the #1 cylinder up so the balancer mark lines up with 0 on the tab. Does your balancer have just one mark on it, or does it have 3? If it has 3 (i think it might), if one is wider, that's the mark you want. If they're all the same size, hopefully, only one of the marks comes up for TDC #1/compression.
And remember to twist the cap counterclockwise a bit before cranking it... when it starts running, then check the timing. Do you have to unhook any vacuum lines or unplug any connectors to set the timing on the carb'd car? (For our injected motors, we've gotta disconnect the electric spark timing bypass connector.)
How'd that fuel filter work out for ya??
__________________ -Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)
well i went a hooked up the cap and while i was trying to crank here the battery just ran out of juice before she started.
I havn't got the car to start yet so i don't know how the filter is going to work yet
The intake was removed so i guess its just taking a while to start because gas needs to get pumped down there. Im charging the battery tonight and see what happens tomorrow.