I have a 350 remanned engine (carb) in an 84 camaro and I drove it home one day and it had overheated badly, steam pouring out of the radiator for about 5 min. I replaced the fan and radiator water pump thermosat ect, but I went to go start it and it wont start. The engine turns over.

heres what I have done
-spark plugs
-wires
-distributor cap and rotor
-ignition coil
-new battery

Still wont start... please help I love my car and I cant figure this problem out, maybe when it overheated it caused a problem? Thanks for any help

 

are you sure that you set the time right after the distro swap? Did you check for spark when turning the engine over? Can you smell gas when giving the throttle?

 

yea I smell gas, and the timing is set right, the voltage when I'm turning it over drops really low also, the weird part is I never had this problem before it overheated. If I take pictures of my setup would that help?

 

When it cranks, does it seem to be spinning over faster than it used to? If so, compression check time. I've seen valve springs not survive an overheating. When they cooled, the ones that were compressed had new "install heights". Weak to no compression in some cylinders from the valves not closing. Did the engine get hot enough that it started knocking and/or bogging down?

 

I fixed all my ignition stuff and I'm getting a spark on every cylinder. It actually seems as if its cranking too slow... Also when I mess with the choke it seems like the cycliders start firing if I close it, the problem is when I close it and crank it a flame shoots up through my carb. I hope this helps diagnose the problem

 

Flame shooting through carb = timing not exactly right. Sounds like when it finally gets some gas forced in, it lights it up.

 

How would i set the timing if I cant start my car? secondly I got to looking at stuff around my dist. cap to see if possibly a oil pressure sensor got unplugged because I think that could be the cause of low compression let me know if I'm on the right track... this is starting to become a major headache

 

1. Get #1 in the TDC firing position.

2. Verify the rotor is pointing at the #1 cylinder distributor cap terminal.

If you're anywhere close, the engine will start well enough for you to set the timing with a timing light. However, sounds like you've got the distributor in 180 degrees off. Did you pull the distributor out during all this?

 

I didnt pull the distributor, just cap and rotor. my rotor was facing at about 3 o clock if you are looking from the front of the car but my firing order is set to a diagram that showed the #1 plug wire at 5 thirty. So my question is, should the #1 plug be set to the point before the rotor turns or after?