I started my car for the rist time after my rebuild today. It was running great for a while, then out of nowhere it started backfireing out of the carb. At first I thought I was running out of gas because I was on Empty, so I filled up. Still backfiring. I'm wondering if this could be due to my timing being too advanced. We do not have a timing light and we timed it by ear. I want to reiterate that it was running beautifully for 20-40 minutes before the problem started. Also, the Camaro smells like it is running rich. Thanks in advance.

 

Check your cam lobes.

 

I never messed with my cam. I didn't even take my timing chain off. I don't really understand how my cam timing would have been affected. If you could explain more I would appreciate it.

 

You said you rebuilt it, so I thought you had put a new cam in. Suddenly popping thru the carb can be the result of a flat exhaust lobe. But, if you didn't touch the cam then it should be ok.

 

Could the distributor be loose,it may have moved while engine was running.

 

Maybe timing chain jumped a tooth.

 

My first thought was maybe the distrubutor was still a little loose. I can't check it till Saturday though. I also notice an increase in rpm's. That would also indicate my timing being advanced, right?

 

So now my Camaro has developed a new problem, it won't start. It cranks and cranks and cranks, but it never starts. I'm getting plenty of fuel, in fact when I try to start it, it will backfire and spit fuel out of the carb. I also checked for spark and I am getting spark. Any input would be appreciated.

 

Have you had the distributor out at all? I wonder if its a tooth off.

 

I have had the distributor out a few times. Every time I put it back in I made sure that #1 was at TDC. Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

 

I put #1 up again and my rotor was way off. So I took the distributor out and repositioned it so the rotor was pointing at #1. I then turned the key and it fired up, that was a great feeling. Now it is once again popping out of the carb. I have the car at my school now (community college auto. mech.) and all of my teachers and a few classmates seem to think that it is just off a tooth or two. Tomorrow I will try and get everything all lined up. Thank you everyone for all of your assistance.

 

Do you have the correct gasket/spacer under the dizzy? Too thin and dizzy will turn.

 

Well, today we got the timing all lined up and started it and it ran fan at idle, but when I would give it gas it would still pop out of the carb. We let it idle for a few minutes and while it was idle we noticed a slight knock coming from the driver side valve cover. So, I pulled the valve cover off and one of the push rods came out from under the rocker arm. I also had a 2 other rockers that were a little loose. I dropped the ball on that one, must not have adjusted them properly. Oh well I'll learn from this one. Anyway though, I don't have school tomorrow, so the next time I will be able to work on it is Monday. The push rod that came loose was not bent and when we pushed on it it would set into the lifter. So on Monday I'm going to check out the passenger side and re-adjust all of them. I will let you all know how it works out on Monday.

 

Well I'm gonna learn from your mistake too bro, thanks for posting this, I'm gonna pay a lot of attention when building my motor, there goes the 6 picks of bud around the garage idea lol.

 

I'm glad I can help others with my mistake. Take your time building don't rush through anything. Do it right the first time so you don't have to wait an extra month to drive your car.

 

Don't feel too bad. The first time I installed a cam I picked it out myself. I was doing allot of reading and learning as I went along. I installed a new cam and went so far as to getting the intake bake on when I came to the conclusion that I had picked the wrong cam. Ripped it all back apart and put in a different cam. Wife thought I was nuts, but I made the right decision even though it took more time. Just glad I didn't have to drain and pull the radiator again.

 

Good thing you didn't install that radiator. Good to hear you figured it out before you got to far into it. I'm not too upset about it, I am human after all and I will make mistakes. I'm still learning and at least I messed up on my car and not a customer vehicle.