Okay, on my 83 305 TA I just did heads, a cam, and intake. My car sat for 7 months before I could complete the project because I had to go back to school. Now it won't start. I have spark and I'm getting fuel. The timing mark on the balancer is coming to TDC at the same time as the #1 piston, and the ignition rotor is pointing to #1 at the same time. So from this I gather that the cam and distributor, intake, and carb were all installed correctly. But, the car will not start. It also makes the strange long whurring sound as the engine cranks. I cannot figure it out. When I hit the gas while turning the key sometimes it tries to fire but not always. Can anyone help me out? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Adam

 

Did you lift a valve cover to ensure the valves were at the right TDC?

 

yes, I did that last night

 

if it tries to turn over sort of when you try to start it, but doesnt that is a good sign in my book. My car does this alot in the morning. How long did you do this for? It normally takes me about a minute of pumping gas and turning ignition before I get that heavenly 8 cylinder roar

 

7 months. Did you use fuel stabilizer at all?

 

i tried for about 30 minutes to get it to start. No, I did not use fuel stabilizer, it was suggested to me to put in some fresh gas, do you think this would help? The story is that my brother in law was supposed to finish the car for me in January but never got the time so when I got back from school I finished putting the car together and now refuses to start. I guess I'll get some gas tomorrow and try that.

 

yeah get some gasoline and flush the tank and fuel system replace the fuel filter then prime the carb well even pour a little gas in the carb before you try to start the engine then pump it and try to start it see if any of that works

 

My car sat for a month without fuel; when I finished working on it, it wouldn't start. I thought I put the engine harness back in wrong. My dad suggested I get a few gallons of new gas- the motor started right up! (It covered my street with a ton of smoke, too, haha) Definately try to siphon that old gas out, and put new gas back in.

Keep us posted!

 

Disconnect the power to the dist, and remove the #1 spark plug; put your finger over the plug hole and have somebody bump the motor over in the smallest possible bumps; when you feel compression, have them bump it very slowly just a couple of times, until the next instance (should be close) when the timing mark on the balancer is about 20° before reaching the one on the timing cover (an inch or so); look at the rotor; I'll bet it'll be pointing at the #6 plug terminal. If it goes past the marks lining up, bump it around (2 full crank revolutions) until you get to compression again, and catch the very next instance of the marks almost lining up.

Pop the dist out and turn it 180° if it's like that. Then pour an ounce or so of gas into the carb. It'll probably start right up.

 

So, I got it to start yesterday, I had to turn the distributor cap pretty far counter clockwise though. My question now is, is it true that you have to change your timing chain and gears when you go to an aftermarket cam. I read in the instructions for my cam that the stock crank and cam gear are set to retard timing a little. I put in a edelbrock cam by the way. I think this may be true because when I finally did get the car to start it ran like crap, seems like the cam timing is off to me.

Thanks for the suggestion on the new gas, I put some in and it seemed to help the process along.

 

you dont have to change them but most people do like to degree the cam

 

ok well, I wanted to upgrade to a double roller anyway so I'm ordering the new timing set. Also, I'm getting a new carb since my Q-jet doesn't seem to be working correctly and now I'll have a carb that fits my manifold. Thanks for all the help, I'll continue to update as I go.