i looked at a car with a 1971 327 in it. When the guy cranked it, as it went to start, it kinda backfired through the carb, and caught fire for a few seconds. He said bad timing was to blame. Should i belive him? what other problems could it be? i'm worried i don't want to be stuck with a POS sitting in my driveway more than it's on the road driving! (been there too many times). please any help would be great i really like the car so i want to make a decision fairly quick. Thanks again

 

bad timing or running lean. sounds like he is telling the truth... well at least he thinks he is

 

it might be timeing, might be some other intake valve leaking fire back into the carn issue too. there were no 327s made in 71, 68 was the last year for them.

 

not to be an *** but i thought they went to a large journal 327 in 69, then replaced it with the 307 as the standard SBC

 

LJ cranks were used in 68 on all SBC, also the last year of the 327 and i believe first year of the 350. the 307 was never the "standard" sbc, maybe the base v8 starting in 69, but in the f bodys at least the 250 straight 6 was the base engine.

 

the 350 was exclusive to the 67 SS camaro.......
i meant standard as in the base SBC, i knew that the camaros came with slant 6's

 

Fires in the carb could mean a new carb will be needed due to coke build up. Also it is a major fire hazard for whole car, because unburnt gas will be ejected on a back fire, before the flames come through, so it could take the whole car out in a flash - literally.

If the timing is that bad, he should have fixed it. Also could be a cracked inlet valve.

 

327's were still made in 69, just not a high proformace engine anymore, 68 was the last year of the high proformance 327's.. 327's could still be found in other non highproformance applications made in 69..

 

slant 6 was/is a chrysler engine. gm and ford used a straight 6.

 

yeah this guy doesn't seem too knowledgable about what he has. i think i'll pass. thanks for the help guys!