I'm trying to start my car after an engine swap.

When I crank it it starts to make a "poof" sound out the carb. I think I didn't set the timing right. What I did was rotate the engine to 0 degrees on tdc and then I just put the distributor in facing #1 cylinder. Did I mess up something there?

 

Did it slide right in facing #1 cylinder pretty easy? I just did an engine swap and I didn't have a marker to go by and I thought that it was on TDC but when I went to start it it sounded like whats happening to you and it was 180 degress off. The easiest way I think is if you can get somone to help you to take the #1 cylinder plug out and put your thump over it and have someone else crank the car over little by little until you feel compression on your thump and then you know that your not 180 off.

 

Prolly so...

The timing mark comes up to #1 TDC 2 times during a complete engine cycle. Only one of them is #1 firing. The other is the instance of #1 TDC where its exh valve is closing and the int valve is opening. That one also happens to be #6 firing. With the dist lined up there, it lights off the #1 plug just as the int valve opens.... guaranteed to shoot a big fireball up out of the carb and give you the famous "Holley haircut".

Disconnect the ignition wire (pink) from the dist. Lift the dist slowly and gently out of the motor just enough to get it to disengage from the cam gear teeth (about an inch or so). Turn the shaft EXACTLY 180° from wherever it happens to be. Drop it back in. If it doesn't go all the way back in, have your helper BUMP the starter GENTLY in small increments while you try to lower it. Tighten it back down and try again.

 

Will that mean that I'll feel compression out of the spark plug hole twice during one engine cycle? Because I had my hand over the spark plug hole and felt compression before I put the distributor in.

 

No, you'll only feel compression during the compression stroke. The next time the piston will be at TDC, you'll be on the exhaust stroke and the exhaust valve should be open.

 

Well then I don't understand why it's not working? I'll try the 180 degree twist that sofakingdom said but It seems like so far I did do it right...

 

How did you find TDC? If you went by the mark on the harmonic balancer, it's probably wrong.

If you can turn the motor by hand with the crank pulley, try this:

Take out #1 plug and put your finger over the hole. Turn the motor over clockwise by hand until you feel compression. Then turn it back some. Next get a 3/8" ratchet extension (at least 6" long) and put it in the #1 hole. Turn the motor clockwise BY HAND again until you feel the piston hit the extension. Mark the harmonic balancer and the timing chain cover. Then turn the motor counter-clockwise by hand until you hit feel the piston hit the extension again. Mark the harmonic balancer again. The middle of these 2 marks will be top dead center of the #1 piston.

Now take your distributor cap off and make sure the rotor is pointing towards the #1 wire on the cap. This should get you in good enough shape to try and adjust your timing by rotating the distributor a bit.

 

It will seem far but it will put you in time on the right stroke. But you have to be sure the rotor button is 180* opposite from where you pulled it out.

 

I did that already. I felt compression with my hand, stuck a zip tie in and saw it get raised to the top which was nearly where the mark is on my balancer, so I Just turned the engine just a little bit until the mark reached 0 degrees on the tab. How is that wrong?

 

Stock harmonic balancers usually slip over time, so you can't always go by the mark on there

 

ok wait. so once i get 2 marks on there then tdc is between them but which half of the marks do I go to? turn clockwise or counter after the marks?

 

You're "thinking" too much. Don't outsmart yourself.

Give what I told you a quick try. Put all that other stuff out of your mind, and just turn the dist shaft 180°.

Either it'll run, or it won't. Whaddya got to lose?

 

My mind. Wasn't much anyway so I'll try that first.

 

Well if your mind is anything like mine, you won't even miss it if it's gone.

 

First turn is clockwise til you hit the stop, then counter-clockwise til you hit the stop, then clockwise to the middle of the 2 marks. That make sense?

I think rotating the distributor 180 degrees is worth doing first though too, it's definitely easier to try.

 

ok...still not firing but I did notice that when I turned the key to "on" it showed just slightly less then 13 volts but then when I cranked it it jumps down to like 8 or 9 volts. I think It did that before I rotated the distributor 180 too.. what does that mean? I have been jump starting the car.

Also...I remember when turning the engine over and when I was feeling for air in the spark plug hole it felt really soft, like someone breathing on your neck... is that normal?

 

Did you line up the marks on the timing set? If you are off a couple teeth it will cause similar issues. If you lined up with the 0 above the crank key, and not the 0 just a couple teeth behind it.......Not that I would know from a very similar experience......

 

Turning the engine over manually will cause that "soft" feeling. Turning the engine manually is so slow it allows compression to escape. If you bump the engine using the starter will show a BIG difference.

I always use a hand held bump starter or have a helper bump the engine using the ignition key for just that reason.

Jake

 

Remember, our engines need a certain amount of base/initial timing advance in order to start and run.

Remember that.

If you have the mark on the damper aligned with the ZERO mark on the timing tab AND have the distributor rotor pointed at the #1 distributor cap terminal you EFFECTIVELY HAVE ZERO TIMING ADVANCE. ZERO, NONE, NO TIMING ADVANCE, NO BASE/INITIAL TIMING.

You want the spark plug to fire BEFORE the piston is at TDC, NOT AT TDC. BEFORE.

The damper mark should be pointed at between 4 and 10 degrees BTDC on the timing tab to give the engine the timing advance it needs in order to start and run.

Seems you're over-thinking this issue and are missing something VERY basic.

Jake

 

ok..what about the volts problem..is it just a bad battery?

 

maybe check firing order,