Hello Everyone,

Well myself and a friend are working on a 87 Trans-am 305 4bbl currently.

We recently replaced the water pump, thermostat, radiator, etc..
Well we ordered a set of Hooker Headers, installed them, as well as a new set of Accel Plug wires and AC Delco plugs gapped at .0035" (as repair manual said).

Before putting the t/a on ramps about 2wks ago now it ran fine, cranked, etc.. well after we removed the Emmissions SMOG stuff, installed the new headers, plugs, wires, it wont crank.. We have spark, it seems to not crank, we checked all the firing order was correct, corrospondent with the manual, odds/evens.. 1-3-5-7, 2-4-6-8.

Is the o2 senor required to crank the vehicle because it runs in open loop mode till normal operating temp, which shouldn't affect start-up, but then again I could be wrong.

Is there any of the emmisions control pieces that need to be retained to allow the car to operate? we removed a piece that had to plugins in the top, as well as a bracket that connected to the front of the block, I am thinking hopefully it isn't the Air Mangement Valve.

Any help would be greatly appriated, thanks in advance.

 

Welcome aboard.

Which Hooker headers?

Do you mean .035" spark plug gap? If you really did set them at .0035", that's a problem.

By "won't crank", I assume you mean it won't start. Typically, when we say "won't crank", we mean the starter won't turn the crankshaft around.

You'll have to be more specific about what exactly you mean by "removed the Emmissions SMOG stuff". A good bit of it is required for the engine to run properly, although a lot of it can be removed and the engine will at least start.

Viewed from the front, the cylinders are:

Rear

8 7
6 5
4 3
2 1

Front
(you standing here)

The firing order is 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2. The rotor goes clockwise.

 

Thanks for the reply.

The part number for the hooker headers is #2604 from summit racing.

The gap on the spark plugs (I had a typo) was .035" not .0035".

The term "won't crank" specifies it won't start (crank), the engine turns over, but won't acually start. We tried so long once the starter smoked once and we let off.

The emmissions parts im talking about are we removed the following:
Smog Pump
Manifolds w/Piping(little pipes running into the manifolds and back to the cat)
Some black piece that has 2 electrical plugins (it sits above the Alternator on the passenger side, thinking this was the Air MGNT Valve)
Cataylic Converter

that's all as much as I can remember.

The firing order was as you specified here is a illustration to what we see in the book:



not sure why it won't start, im trying to add more information but can't seem to think of any.

If you can tell me or someone can tell me of the parts that can/cannot be removed for emmissions that would be great.

Thanks again,
James

 

Turn the engine over by hand (or tap the starter) to bring the balancer timing mark up to the "Zero" on the timing tab. Remove the distributor cap. The rotor should be pointing at either the #1 or #6 terminal. If not, get the wires in their proper place. In the picture you posted, the front of the car would be to the left, typically. But, that isn't as important as where the rotor is pointing when the timing mark is in the TDC position as described above. Assuming you didn't disturb the position of the distributor itself in this process, it should start if the rotor points to the right spark plug wire as described above.

Since you've been cranking on it for a long time, you might want to remove the spark plugs and dry things out. Assuming you're getting fuel...

You've removed about all of the non-essential emissions equipment that you can. Non-essential as far as the engine running, that is.

Were the headers 2460's, by any chance? How did you hook them up to the rest of the exhaust?

(The reason we use "crank" and "start" the way we do - think about the old days, say a Model T - how did you "start" it? By "cranking" it by hand, and if lucky, it would then "start" and "run" on its own.)

 

Looking at the pic above 5-7s post... is that how you hooked up the wires? The order is right, but 1 and 8 should be pointing toward the front of the motor. But if the rotor is pointing to #1 when the balancer is in the right spot on the timing marker, then its ok I guess.

But if the distributor is facing forwards, and your 1 and 8 wires are on the side like that diagram, then thats a problem.

 

thanks, ill try what you stated.

If you are standing on the drivers side fender, and looking at the distributor 1-8 would be facing the front of the car, the coil is right infront of it.

The distributor was un-touched during the whole process, it acually hasn't been messed with at all, it seems to be in good working order it doesn't move around freely(wiggle).

To install the headers we done the following:

left side (passenger): nothing was removed, slide right into place, only that that was little frusterating was getting it over the dip stick. (Also, does anyone know of a dip-stick, or away to bolt it up to the header bolt so it don't move anymore?)

right side(drivers): we removed the middle steering rack piece, losend brake booster (brake lines were in the way), and that was it for this side, other wise slid right into place.

The headers at the time are just open, they have no other exhaust componets hooked to them, we are getting custom built exhaust to run out the side. (Yes we know we are capable of blistering the cylinders by running open headers, while pumping cold air). But the reason for us trying to start and run the car is too make sure everything is in proper running condition before we take it to the exhaust shop.

 

I'm guessing the new plug wires weren't put on the right terminals on the distributor cap. I'm assuming you put them on when you installed the headers.

Open headers aren't going to hurt anything as long as you don't get the engine hot.

Dipstick: Either use a spacer to simulate the original manifold thickness and original manifold bolt, or go with a Lokar unit.