Was driving my car down to my mechanic to get a my 3.73s and Posi put in when the exhaust made 3 popping noises in a row then the car died.

Came to a stop and it wouldn't restart, took the air cleaner off the carb and opened the throttle, some white smoke came out of the intake. Motor cranks fine but won't fire. Had been running fine till the other day when my mechanic had replaced a relay and switch for the head lights and brake lights. Electrical system surged a little later that day, lights would keep getting alot brighter every so often.

Its a new motor, with MSD Digital 6 and Pro Billet distributor, carbed with no computer control. It's at his shop now but it got there on the flatbed just as he closed so he didn't have time to look at it. I pulled off the valve covers while I was waiting for the tow, everything looked fine. Does this sound like an electrical problem or is it something bigger?

 

An engine needs 3 things in order to run: compression, reasonable amounts of fuel, and spark at the right time. Since the car ran fine and suddebly died, one can reasonably assume that only one of the 3 magic ingredients is missing. All you have to do is figure out which one.

White "smoke" out of the intake manifold is probably fuel vapor.

Put the valve cover back on and leave all that alone. Nothing under there will create a no-start condition.

Squirt some starting fluid or pour a little gasoline into the intake. If it starts, you have a fuel issue. If it doesn't start, proceed on.

Take off the distributor cap. Turn the engine with the starter until the timing mark is at 0 and verify that the dist rotor is pointing to either the #1 or the #6 plug wire. Then spin the motor for 10 or 15 seconds with the starter, and line the timing mark back up again; verify that the rotor is once again pointing at either the #1 or #6 plug wire. If it is, then the timing gears haven't failed. Put the cap back on.

If you got this far, then it has no spark. Try hooking up the distributor without the MSD box. If it still doesn't work, it probably needs the module in the distributor.

Don't twiddle the timing, adjust the carb, or otherwise mess with anything. Instead, concentrate your efforts on finding the missing one of the 3 ingredients: fuel, spark, and compression. Any fooling around of that sort that you do now will simply create extra work later since it will have to be un-done once you repair the actual problem.

If I was the betting kind, I'd bet the problem is the MSD box. In fact I'd give better than 90% odds on it.

 

:hail:

 

Brand new magnetic distributor pick up got cooked some how, thought MSD was more reliable than that.

 

A lot of the people I know running MSD have a spare available at the track.