I need some input guys. Two weeks ago I put a new Edelbrock 1406 on my Non cc 305 HO. It ran great, no problems for a week. Last week, I noticed that the car was starting hard, both cold and warm, unless the car was on within 5 minutes of re starting (roughly). Then, after stalling on a main road, with no spark, I realized that the pick up in the distributor that connects to the cap of my HEI was loose at the connection. The car would stall when I would wiggle the wires and it was making an intermittent connection with the cap. I then replaced it with one that I had lying around from A CC distributor, it was the same exact pickup (or condensor) and the motor would slowly turn and then appear to bind, and turn a bit in the reverse direction. I put the old pick up back in, tested to see if this would happen again, and it happened, but only sometimes. I then tested for spark, and there was no spark whatsoever. Today, I swapped in a new Accel distributor, everything brand new including the pickup, and the same thing happened, the motor appeared to turn slowly, and then bind and rotate a bit in reverse order. It also is spitting gas out of the carb. I then re timed the motor, just to rule it out, and it was still doing all of those things. In current state, the motor stopped cranking 100 percent, and when the key is turned to the "start" position, the battery dies and nothing happens but as soon as the key is turned back, power comes right back to all accessories. What do you guys think would cause this?

New parts include: Entire ignition including distributor, cap, rotor, coil, ICM, pickup, Rapid Fire plugs, Accel 8mm wires, and an ignition switch that was done last year. I was thinking that the ignition switch could be the reason of the current turn key, powers dead based on the symptoms from the last time I had to replace it, but it doesn't explain the no spark or binding of the motor. It's also a new starter as of last year as well. Sorry for the length, I just didn't want to leave anything out. Any ideas would be awesome, seeing as I need the car Monday morning. Thanks guys.

 

Recharge the battery and then get the car started. Once it's running, check the timing with a timing light to see if the mark moves around. Then, pull your number 1 spark plug and have a friend turn the motor over by hand until you start to feel air pushing out the spark plug hole. Pop the cap off and see if the rotor is pointing at number 1 terminal. If not, adjust accordingly. Drive it for a bit and see if the car does it again. If it should fail like that again. Re-run the above test and see if the rotor is pointing at number 1 terminal. If not, then you're timing chain is gonna need to be replaced.

 

Okay, I just re-read your original post and I totally missed that you replaced the dizzy Have you double checked your grounds and electrical connections to the distributor? You should still perform the test to verify you're on #1 cylinder though. The no spark condition makes me think you might have a wiring issue, like the wires going into the dizzy frayed and grounding out on the intake.

 

Late response but yes, the plug for the pickup was making an intermittant connection with the cap...Everytime I post a problem on here, it's something stupid and I figure it out within the hour