1988 Formula. Original 305 TPI with manual tranny; swapped for 350, 24# injecotors, Heads with largest valves 2.02/1.60, and comp cam 12-256-04 flatt tappet.
Well let me start with saying that I got the car running after my new cam install..pain in the ***, but while it ran blew two plug wires on the exhaust header on #8 and #6 cyl. New msd set where you have to crimp the ends on and cap and it won't run. I verified spark but it was orange instead of a blue spark.Only checked on #1 and # 3 plug wires though. Also new plugs and still not running. I've gone through my firing order and timing mark over and over with #1 a tdc and can go over a large range of turning the dizzy into postion during cranking little by little in both directions with no luck. My ecm is for a 305 and I now have a 350 with all the required sensor swaps along with a new set of 24# injectors and a programmed prom.

I'm seriously about to take a bat to the car as it has soaked a lot of money and is dead in water. I know my pick up coil is rusty as heck but was working before the first cam went down. I had the car running until the old spark plug wires blew.

My knock sensor is not plugged in or rather the connector to the knock sensor is broken. Not sure if it was ever hooked up proper. Also have a small plug connector with two wires (tan/white and orange) not pluged into anything and is in drivers side run with O2 sensor/temp sensor harness branch. it comes up behind the engine between it and firewall. Manual suggest maybe a test connector for fuel puimp?

I got my electrical diagrahm and a haynes and chilton manual but can't tell from what wires are doing the voltage sending or recieving in the circuit with the ecm.

Please, please help figure out if the pick up coil is bad or not, if it can work but still be a problem. New ignition module on and tested. Could the spark plug wires blowing damaged somthing else that would keep it from at least cranking up for a few seconds. I'm going to varify proper intial TDC and cap position. Then I'm going to try a new coil and dizzy. After that I'm going to break out the multi meter and check as much stuff as I understand in the electrical diagrahms. If I have weak spark out of the wire how will it still try to crank up with starter fluid.

I say again... I really need help with this and I'm in a hard spot in life.

 

you should put up a pick of the plug you have in question. and is your car turning over at all now or even trying to fire? any popping or attempts to start when you turn the dizzy?

 

Yeah, very little poping through a wide range on the dizzy. What do you mean on the plugs? Pull one or so off at a time to see if it starts? I'm going to try and ohm them, 500-700 ohms per foot? When I first tried to run the mtr again after getting the new wires on there it almost started. Since then nothing.

 

OMG UPDATE*

Trying to verify TDC again and was hand cranking the crank pulley with a torque wrench and a compresson gauge to see if I had to crank over one more revolution. Went twice around and no compresson. Thought maybe I started just after compresson of #1 so decided to bump the starter back around hopeing that my dizzy wasn't indeed 180 out. Saw compresson after two quick bumps. Looked at rotor cap and it was pointing at firewall 180 from the #one cylinder direction..so I said f this and was pretty sure I wasn't 180 out because initally I ligned the mark on my crank to 0 degrees. Poped the driver side valve cover of and was just going to look for both lifters down on #1 to start my TDC test and lo and behold... lifters backed off completly. on #1 and #2 cylinders just siting on top the heads. The first lifter towards the front on driver side (exhaust lifter?) was all the way out of the lifter hole....just cradleing the lip. No rods bent on this side and I was so..so lucky to vex that lifter back in the lifter hole and seat against the cam by using a light and the rod as a probe. (LUCKY LUCKY).

Now to check the passenger side. I didn't tighten the locking nuts when setting the rockers and preload ect because I knew I would be resetting the liffters again once it was running and pumped up. NEVER AGAIN. I'll update with the passenger side soon as I get the vavle cover off. I just did not expect this! But this is good news so long as the passenger side didn't launch lifters all the way out or bent rods ect... be back to update.


UPDATE*
ok so removing passengers side had 5 rockers off and can only so far find three of the rocker nuts. Two lifters out in the same mannor as the driver side. One missing in action somewhere in the valley. Unless I can find the other two nutz they may have fell out on the ground....and able to fish the lifter back in veiw I'll be removing the top end again..and if I can't find everything I'm going to be really unlucky and have to pull the mtr since the oil pan won't come completley off on these cars even with the exhaust pipes removed from the headers that wrap under the pan. Whish me luck

 

nah i ment the connector that your not using in question, but im crossing my fingers for ya on the MIA lifter, but i think anyone who has set the valves themselves for the first time has done something not in there favor. GOOD LUCK let us know

 

Thanks for the replie. Got top end apart and reinstalled. Car running now no problem. Having to rerun the lifters while the engine runs, on the passenger side. Just some slight lifter tap from there. I don't understand how when you bring the #1 cylinder to tdc and watch the intake drop and match the exhaust lifter..set preload after zero lash, and then turn the crank and watch #8 cyl lifter drop and set those so forth and so on how I'm having to rerun these hydraulic lifters even after they have seemed to pump up. While doing these in sets instead of such and such intake and then such and such exhaust in a specific order, I noticed half way through that when setting #1 previously, both lifters, the intake and exhaust were 3/16" above the valley(lifter hole) when I started on #1 intially... but at that point in time that they were now both close with only 1/8" showing. Nocitced others dropping this low after completing the whole process and figured it was ok. I'm already figuring on having to rerun the lifters while the engine is running to get them perfect.

For future cam break-ins I would like to know what I was seeing exactly so I understand if I was setting my lifters properly initatly. I just don't understand how they could "drop more"

Hmm... by not doing them in specific orders is the same problem you run into by not following a bolt pattern torque procedure? I'm afraind my cam break in was not sterling. I ran 7 mins with it knocking in the 20 min process the first time..until not being able to run after a hour of two of trying and checking. After new wires and the top end work I had to complete to get my lifters back in and the rockers reinstalled, since then I have ran about 20 mins almost straight. So I'm afraid to set the lifters while it runs for an other 5 mins since 20 mins is an industry standard. But feel I need break in further for to with proper set lifters.