I have recently replaced my head gaskets in my 91 camaro Z/28. The motor is a 305 with throttle body injection. I put everything back together double checked all the hose and vacuum lines but the issue is now my car wont start up its cranking over and trying however it just wont run. I was wondering if anyone else had this issue and what the issue was or how long it took to start up after putting the engine back together any answer would be greatly appreciated and thanks

 

When you removed the heads you had to disconnect some wiring and remove several ground connections from the rear of your cylinder heads.
Make sure everything is hooked back up correctly.
No grounding will prevent many things from working, including the fuel injectors.

 

Did you put the dist back exactly where it was?

Are you getting any spark?

How did you adjust the valves?

Is there fuel pressure?

Just a few ideas.

 

i do have fuel pressure, distributor is back in place i am getting spark the valves havent been messed with just the rocker arms and the push rods have been removed but i kind of eye putting the rocker arm bolts in i counted how many threats i could see before taking them out and put them back the same way if anything they would be very very slightly off every for the grounds checks out fine as well maybe ill recheck the timing just to be sure but i do not beleive its the timing but you can never be too sure but thanks for ideas ill be sure to check those again anyways

 

Try backing the rockers off so they barely wiggle. I had this issue when I tightened the rockers down too far and made the valves stay open. once they are loose fire it up and run the valves. It will be fine, they will clatter but once you get it fired you can get them adjusted correctly. I had this issue on my wifes '02 Impalla. I could not get it to start till I backed off the rockers. Then VAROOOOMMM!!!!

 

Eying it is far from the correct procedure, and guarantees that the adjustment will be wrong.

 

I'm sure there's lots of advice on how to adjust valves, but the easy way is to tighten them down just until the rockers arm stops wiggling, then give it another 3/4 turn.

Make sure the lifters are on the base of the cam, not on the lobe, when adjusting.

 

I totaly agree with eseibel. The only thing to worry about is that you may have collapsed the lifters and once you tighten them 3/4 turn they will then push the valves open when the lifters pump up causing it to not start. This is why I usually snug them, get it to fire up with the valve covers off and run the valves while it is running. Also everything I have seen is to run the valves when the engine is warm.... be sure you get deflectors or use some foil to deflect the hot oil....it really hurts when it gets all over your arms. (Yes I did this without...once. Lots of oil to clean off the hood and fenders and driveway, etc....)

 

check grounds on back of heads and make sure dist is not off a tooth or more. put your harmonic balancer to line up with 6 dergrees btdc on your timing mark and install dist. with rotor pointing toward number one spark plug location

 

Anytime you remove the rocker ,the valve has to be reset from scratch ; the correct way

http://www.classiccarauto.com/impala...t_valves.shtml

Do you know how to find TDC compression stroke on # 1 cylinder ?

 

why thank you guys for all this useful information ill be sure to check the rocker arms tmrw and re adjust them and hopefully i get somewhere ill defintley check the timing as well just to be sure but with the distributor it would only go fully in with the one tooth like every other way kept fighting but then i slowly turned the top and the one went in extremly easy hopfully thats a good thing but we shall she what happens tmrw

 

there's nothing wrong with adjusting your rockers but your issue is timing timing timing

find tdc on the compression stroke, make note of where the rotor is pointing and put #1 wire on that post and route your wires using that as the #1 cylinder,


start car, adjust timing, enjoy

 

lol i gotta get the car started first though thats the issue

 

and that is exactly what I provided instructions on how to accomplish that

find tdc on the compression stroke
look to where rotor is pointing
make that your #1 wire on the distributor cap post and then wire according to firing order using that as your #1
start engine
finish adjusting timing with gun

then adjust rockers using the engine running method


the distributor is probably anywhere from 90-180 degrees off, maybe more, who knows. You'll know when you find tdc on #1

purists will tell you to pull the distributor and re-install

me, I just mark my cap the location of #1 and go about my way

 

All very well but if his valves are far enough out it won't even fire up and run long enough for him to do it your way.

Std new start procedure is to set the valves cold; then fine tune hot

 

ok so now the the rocker arms are properly adjusted and now its spitting the fuel back out the throttle body and on rare occasions ill get a little boom im thinking its defintly timing at this point its cranking over alot better for some reason but still nothing

 

im sure its the timing same thing happen once to me

 

just turn your engine by hand and line up the dampner mark with 0 degrees on the timing pointer and see if your at TDC. Your rotor should also be pointing at number 1.

 

you can use a piston stop or a piece of wire.

 

Since you said your distributor slid down in I am assuming you have the rotor 180 degrees out. The oil pump shaft would be in the same orientation as it was when you yanked the dist., only you may have ended up with it backwards which would cause the weird belching you describe. I put mine in like that and it drove me crazy too for a few hours till I lifted it, and turned the rotor 180. That was all I needed. Hope you get it going soon.

 

Now sounds like the distributor is out of phase with the cam, - distributor installed on wrong tooth.

So far you goofed the distributor install and the valve adjustment, so it might be wise to double check everything else that was done, or better yet have another experienced person there to help check.

This can be a great learning experience, but you still probably don't want to risk any major damage.

 

you know i dont know why i never decided to look at the distibutor at top dead center to make sure it was on the #1 spark plug i quess i was getting way ahead of my self but this will be figured out in the morning and now i am determined to have this car back on the road again soon

 

i lined it up to top dead center and pulled off the cap and it was on plug 2 i guess that could mean one of two things i labeled the cap wrong but still had the actual plugs in the right spot or something messed up on me should i try to move each plug one spot over so that it is lined up with one or what would be the best advice from this point

 

honestly, if you don't care, just wire #1 to the post where the rotor is pointing on tdc

the big thing is to be sure to mark the #1 position on the cap so anyone in the future won't get tripped up by it. Your firing order is still the same so it's no biggie

 

i have adjusted everything and put in new spark plug wires made sure the distributor rotor lined up with plug 1 and its really trying now its sputtering which is a massive improvment from the booms but it still not starting

 

did u check to make sure u hooked up the dist with the right firing order? thats a big deal if you want it to work right. also as mentioned by several others...make sure your dist was put back in, in the exact same position as it came out.

 

Doesn't have to be

If engine was turned while dist was out ( like to set valves ) then all bets are off

All it needs is for the rotor to be is pointing at #1 plug wire when #1 cyl is TDC on the compression stroke
and plug wires in correct order

 

some people arent that skilled to know that. most people dont know TDC means Top Dead Center, most people are beginners. i was just saying to start there and try that

 

I'd like to highlight an oft missed but important point

 

Exactly

If engine was turned over with no dist in ,the original position as you mention means ZILCH
There is only one way and that is ;you find TDC compression on #1 and go from there.
There is NO OTHER WAY of doing it
( unless you are feeling lucky about randomly putting dist in and out until it hits the right spot )

 

UPDATE: I am smelling raw fuel out the exhausts and with the butterfly flaps open full in the tbi it idles really low and rough and spits out of it would that mean it is sparking too late or too early and if so which way should i be turning the distibutor clockwise or counter clock wise or if you beleive it is a different issue please inform me as i am really close. thank you

 

When you lined up the rotor with #1 plug terminal, did you also have the damper's 0* mark lined up with your timing tab on a compression stroke ?

Get this right before going further.
From your posts I could not tell if you have pulled the distributor back out of the block and reinstalled it in the correct position.

 

i have pulled it out and it is lined up with the plug 1 on the 0 mark its trying it just wont run it idles extremly choppy and thats if im holding the gas halfway down or more i think im going to recheck the torque of everything but i did double check the head bolts before i put everything else back on so i should check the intake manifold bolts again

 

UPDATE: Car started up pretty ok with carb cleaner it was just an expirement to see and it ran (ok) but until the carb cleaner was gone i would say it is getting too much air and not enough fuel or too much fuel and not enough air but it doesnt run with out the carb cleaner

 

The verdict is great for all who is wondering the issue turned out to be a simple over tightening of the rocker arms hold the valves open car runs strong and that vibration i have been experiencing for over a year is gone but thanks everyone for the advice and helpful leads this would have not been easy without guidance so again THANKS...

 

I knew it!!! The way you described it initially was exactly how I explained it when I over tightened the rockers on my car. It is amazing how easy it is to do this. Now get out there and enjoy it.