I'm taking out the computer and harness and put on a new qjet and a used mechanical advance distributor that came out of a running car that I got for free. Its on TDC on the compression stroke. After trying to start it and rotating the distributor back and forth we still had no start. Pulled a plug to check for spark and it has fuel on it, you can see the fuel in the carb, and it has spark. I know for a fact because the plug zapped me haha. Now my dad says the distributor is 180 out so i turned it around and pointed the rotor at cylinder one but it doesn't look right to me. The wires are supposed to be facing the front of the car right? Reversing it 180 would have the wires facing the fire wall like this.

 

The inner shaft of the dist that has the rotor attached to it and the outside that has the cap bolted to it can move 360 degrees independently.

The part that has the rotor, MUST be clocked with the motor,

The part that has the CAP, must face foward... then adjusted back and forth for IGNITION timing.

Being 180 out means the part with the rotor was facing the wrong way. So you would pull the dizzy out, hold the base/outside portion, then turn the rotor 180, and drop it back in.

BTW roughly averaging a rotor should point towards cyl numbers 5 and 3. you should always reference the dizzy cap, find out where spark plug wire number one is, and point the rotor in that direction to ROUGHLY get you in the ballpark.

IF Not, you will have to bring the motor to TDC on number 1 compression stroke, put the dizzy in (pointed to number on plug wire on the cap) and reinstall it.

 

I've been trying to get it going all night and still no luck. I'm positive when I put the dizzy back in #1 was at TDC compression. I even took off the valve cover and watched the rocker arms. Mark on the balancer was set right at 0 and the rotor was facing the #1 wire terminal. Turning the dizzy counter clockwise caused it to almost start but not quite, turning it clockwise did nothing but make gas sputter up from the carb.

 

I have a HEI in my camaro and yours looks to be backward to mine. On mine the plug-in for the coil is on the drivers side. Never seen one installed like that... maybe that`s your problem....

 

Here is what I mean....see how the HEI is installed facing the other way.

 

sorry forgot to mention that that is how its installed. All the plugs on the drivers side

 

Thats what I was saying with the 180 turn. Ok so that settled, have you pulled a plug or 2 to check if there soaked in fuel, because they will not fire 50% of the time if there soaked. Keep trying to start it while turning the dizzy in a direction before. You could be off a tooth. stay clear of the car while doing that, and keep a fire extinguisher handy. Carbs can backfire really bad if there loaded up like what u may have.

 

She's alive boys. I made sure it was on compression while I had someone tap the key. Set it to 8* before TDC on the tab and got the rotor and everything lined up like normal. Took a little advancing the dizzy to get it to run and idle properly. I will check the timing with a light tomorrow. I need some plug wire sleeves because my wires are pretty close to the exhaust.

Thanks everyone

 

Good to hear. Enjoy.