i just swapped heads, cam, and intake on my ta and now i cant get it to start. just keeps cranking. its gets fuel and everything. i lined up the dots on the crank and cam gears, so it should be at tdc on compression stroke on number 1 cylinder right? well thats where i sat my distributor at. i put a mark on it at where it sat before so its at 6 degrees advanced and if i go any farther it backfires. the plug wires are all right and i dont think i did anything wrong so what should i check? thanks alot!

 

Valves too tight or timing is wrong.

Loosen the rocker arms and then get someone to start it while you move the distributor back and forth.

If that don't work, pull out the #1 spark plug and slowly turn the motor over by hand until you feel/hear compression escaping from the plug hole. Then slowly spin it a little bit more until the mark on the balancer lines up with the 0 on the timing tab. Now where is your rotor pointing? Should be pointing at the #1 spark plug wire terminal.

 

when i tightned the rocker arms i waited till the lifter was all the way down, then i tightend it down and used a .003 feeler guage and then turned it another half turn. will that not work? thanks

 

Dot-to-dot is not TDC of cylinder #1

it is TDC of cylinder #6

But your problem sounds like timing, Distributor is probably 180* out. Do what 88IROC did to check

 

To set the lash with the motor off turn it over by hand (or carefully with the starter). Pick a cylinder and watch the rocker arm and spring as you turn the motor over. Watch as the exhaust valve just begins to open (exh valve is the one with the header tube right under it). Once you see it begin to open stop turning the motor over and loosen the intake valve for that particular cylinder.... To set the lash slowly re-tighten the intake valve while wiggling the pushrod up and down. Remember to NOT put any downward force or weight on the adjustment nut while you're tightening it! Tighten it like a 1/4 turn, take the wrench off, THEN wiggle the pushrod. The goal is to tighten the rocker until there is JUST no slack between the rocker, pushrod, and lifter. This is "zero lash".

Now to set the exhaust valve for that same cylinder turn the motor over some more until you see the intake valve (that you just adjusted) completely close. Set the exhaust valve the same way I just described - wiggle the pushrod up and down until there is no slack in it.

Do this for all 8 cylinders. It may take some time but its almost goofproof. Remember: exhaust valve starts to open, set intake. Intake valve just closes, set exhaust. After you do all of them go ahead and turn every one of them an additional 1/4 turn

Damn, I hope what I wrote just made sense, its kinda weird to explain but really easy.

 

when i set the lash the 1st time the intake was off. so i set it at 0 lash and then 1/2 a turn more and the pushrods are solid and everything but they move just a little bit. i think my distributor is off so im gunna set that in the morning. if that still wont work then ill try your method 88iroc. but im beat tonight. thanks for the help guys. ill let u know how it goes! thanks!

 

alright. i was sure that if i set the distributor it would fire. well i did and still nothing. i been crankin on it forever. and now it barely turns over and its sqeels when it turns????????????? so could it be possible the valves are too tight? the pushrods will still turn and everthing. im lost.

 

iv done some searching and thinking and i have some ideas. there is a big bundle of ground wires on the back of the passenger side head. well i painted the head so maybe somethign isnt grounding right? i have no idea about the squealing/wining noise when i crank it but im still thinking. i know im getting fuel and i know im getting compression so spark is the only thing left. possibly maybe higher compression with these heads, should i change the gap on the plugs? they are at .30 i think, or .35. maybe the cap or rotor arent working right now? im out of ideas and i really need to get this thing running again! thanks alot

 

This one is a toughy...My guess is distributer..something in it..maybe the coil...And if the coil was bad..or maybe its ignition mudule...maybe after trying too many times you fried the starter(whining noise) or just possibly the possitive batter caable..check those out..all I can think of.

Matt

 

now instead of whining it just clicks.

 

Your battery is just dead. You said you 'set the distributor' does that mean you did was I said? took out the plug and ensured the rotor was pointing at #1 when the motor was at TDC?

Another thing. Check your plug wires and triple check them to ensure they're all in the right order.

 

yep. i put a charge on the battery about 25 minutes ago and just let it charge and then went out, loosend up my rocker arms about 1/2 a turn, did what u said. made sure #1 was at tdc compression stroke and that the rotor pointed to it. well i got it to start for like 2 seconds and gas was just flyin up out of the carb. distributor popped up couple times cause i didnt have it bolted down so i think it jumped time. i put a trickle charge on it for about 25 more minutes and will try again in the morning. (i knew the battery was junk, cant belive i didnt think about that, i guess i need some sleep ) thanks alot for all your help guys. i appreciate it alot!

 

alright. i got the motor running after i loosend the rocker arms and fixed my timing. well it sounds great at idle but as soon as i give it gas the rocker arms start tapping again. sounds like every single one of them is tapping. thats all u hear goin down the road between 1000-1500 rpm. any suggestions? just tightend them another 1/4 turn maybe? thanks

 

What cam? Some cams are noisy!

 

You still have yet to lash the valves properly like I explained how. You can't just go around guessing which are right and wrong. Since the car now runs, let it warm up then turn it off. Now take off one of your valve covers and get out a peice of cardboard or something to put around the edges of your head (so oil dont splash all over your headers). Now start the car back up. Set the valve lash by loosing the rocker until it starts clacking (if its not already clacking). Then slowly tighten it until the noise goes away. Then go another 1/2 turn. Move onto the next one. Do them all while the car is running like this, may get messy but its the easiest way to set the lash.

Dont drive your car anywhere until you do that or else bad things will happen.

 

my cam is a comp cam xe268h, i did that to the rockers, but i only turned them 1/4 turn. hence why i asked maybe i should turn them another 1/4 turn

 

It's ALOT easier and quicker, and therefore less messy, to go all the way through the motor and set them all to zero lash WITHOUT ADDING THE EXTRA PRELOAD. Then after you've got them all to zero, shut the motor off, and add the half-turn or whatever of preload.

That way, you're not standing there waiting for the car to start to run near enough right again to do it to the next valve (intakes especially) without killing the motor.

 

How did you break in the cam? If you set the lash and stuff is still making noise maybe a cam lobe is failing?

 

i havent breakin in the cam yet. its only been runnign for about 10 minutes. just long enough for me to take it down teh road and back real easy and long enough to adjust the timing adn valve lash...

 

So when you first fired up the motor you didnt let it run at 2500-3000RPM for 15-20 minutes? If not theres a good chance your cam is going to fail.

 

started it up, ran it at about 1200-1500 rpm for a good 10 minutes then shut it off. started it up today turned up the idle to about 1000 just long enough to set valve lash cause they were makin lots and lots of noise. then took it down the road and didnt let it go under 1200 rpm and then just sat there and let it run for a good 10 minutes at 2k