I rebuilt my engine and installed several weeks ago but could never get it fire up. it would only turn over but wouldnt start, occasionally getting a backfire out the header.

I pulled the balancer and timing cover and noticed that my timing marks dont seem to be lining up with tdc for #1.

The pics show the timing marks at the 12 and 6 position and the 12 and 12 position. At both these points the #1 piston is at the bottom and not the top of the cylinder. That cannot be right as i believe #1 should be at the top for both of these points.

Did i put the crank gear in wrong or is my cam gear installed incorrectly?

Any help greatly appreciated, as this is my first build and im learning as i go.

thanks Guys!

 

Sounds like the timing mark is wrong.

Look at your crank damper. Observe the keyway for the crank key. Viewed from the front of the damper, with the keyway at exactly 1:30 (halfway between straight up and straight to the right), the timing mark should be near 12:00. If it's not, your damper is farkled.

 

the damper seems to be lining up right. I did as you suggested and its where it should be based on the leyway. here are a few pics of the timing gears.
thefirst pic is with the points at the 12 -6 marks
the second is the 12 - 12 marks
at both times the #1 piston is at the bottom of the cylinder.

shouldnt it be at TDC at these points?

thanks

 

The pics are too small to see what's going on.

Yes with the crank mark at 12, #1 & #6 pistons should be at TDC.

Post pics that are bigger than the thumbnails so we can see some detail.

 

heres a closer pic of the timing at 12 and 6
#1 is at the bottom of the cylinder

 

Should i pull the crank gear and align it properly with the cam gear with #1 at tdc?

when #1 is at tdc the crank gear has the square (its a CompCams kit that has the circle, square and triangle) at 12 and the mark on the cam gear is aroun 9.

 

Still only comes up about postage-stamp size when clicked. Can't see squat.

Post a pic with like 640x480, or more, pixels.

Can't "align" the crank gear except where it has a keyway. One way or another, you gotta get it to where the keyway is at exactly 1:30 (pointed right straight in line with the driver's side cyl bank), and the mark is at 12:00 (straight up). Which it kinda looks like it is, but it's impossible to tell if it's a 3-keyway gear, or what.

 

In that position, number 1 should be at tdc.
I don't see how it could not be.
You aren't confusing 1 and 2 are you?

 

Second your thought. Where is the cylinder located that you are calling # 1?

 

I looked REAL hard at those tiny pics (zoomed the browswer way in on them and everything). Sofa's right. You're lining up the wrong mark on the crank gear.

When you install the crank gear you need the crank keyway to be pointing in the 1:30 position (exactly 45* CW from straight up). The dot for that keyway will then be pointing straight up (12:00). That's the one you use to align the cam gear dot against.

You're using one keyway but lining it up against a different crank gear dot.

Perhaps this will help:

Dot shaped like an O (0* advance) uses the square-headed keyway in the crank gear.

Dot shaped like a triangle (4* advanced) uses the pyramid-shaped keyway in the crank gear.

Dot shaped like a rectangle (4* retarded) uses the dome-shaped keyway in the crank gear.

In other words, the shape of the different dots isn't exactly like the shape of the crank keyways they match up with. Lots of people confuse the o-shaped dot for using the dome-shaped keyway and the rectangular shaped dot for using the square shaped keyway. Not the case. It's a little counter-intuitive in that respect.

I bet you're doing the "I coulda had a V8!" head-smack about now, right?

 

You must eat a lot of carrots. I couldn't see anything in those pics. Lol

 

"Smack"! theres the ehad smack! Your right i lined it up to the square keyway to retard it; which is quite ironic. im gonna pull it now.

thanks guys!

 

hopefully you didn't bend any valves....

 

Well, i removed the crank gear and installed it in the right keyway, adjusted the rocker arms and restabbed the distributor and she fired up.

FINALLY!

Thanks guys for the help!