10secondhopeful

Swapped a 79 4 bolt 350 in after blowing the old one. After everything was said and done, she won't start. Won't even attempt to. Here's how things went so everyone gets an idea of what is going on.

Got her put back together, first crank, nothing. Messed with a few basic things. Nothing. Thought maybe it was timing, reset the timing, nothing. Wasn't too much cranking, but somehow flooded the engine. Was pouring fuel out of plugs 6,7, and 8. So I aired her out over night using a huge fan (pulled all the other plugs)

Next day, started over. Cranked, didn't start. No more than 4 attempts to crank, like 5 seconds a pull or so, no more than 30 seconds total. Nothing, like a pop or too like a back fire. Pulled plug 7, flooded again, pouring fuel out, same with 6 and 8. So I dried her out over night again.

Next Next day, I decided I wasn't messing with the flooding crap any more. I just wanted to hear her sputter and cough and at least try to start. So I pulled the fuel line and stuck it in a fuel can. Put everything back to together, sprayed some starter fluid in the carb, and tried that. Still nothing. Not even a pop.

I plugged one of those inline spark plug test deals in, the one with the light and it was getting power. It was REALLY dull though, didn't actually light up, i could just see like a small orange light. I figured it was a ignition problem, getting fuel, getting air, timing was good, wasn't even trying to start. So I replaced the distributor, coil, cap, all of it. Even the power connector. Plug wires are new, same with the plugs. Went to start, nothing.

So I got a multimeter, when the key is on RUN I get like 11.9 volts to the distributor. But while I am cranking the engine I get like 8 volts.. is this normal?

Need some serious help guys, or I'm going to have to take it to an actual mechanic.. .. which would suck. Idea? Thoughts?

Thanks in advance

C.

fireburdluvr85

Is the cam timing right? I mean did you hear it run before hand? Also if your flooding the engine out to that point I would think something was wrong. I had a friend years ago forget to turn off his holley blue. Luckily our boss saw liquid dripping from his exhaust and told him.

redneckjoe

hows the compression?

10secondhopeful

I purchased the motor from a private seller that rebuilds on the side, so I didn't hear it run. He's an experienced mechanic, but I suppose he might have installed the cam wrong.

Haven't checked it, don't have the proper equipment. Pistons were all newly ringed, but again, not quite sure.

Still looking for someone who knows what the voltage should be at during crank

Thanks guys,

C.

fireburdluvr85

I believe more then 9. Did you try lining the dizzy 180*? I had that for awhile once and it drove me nuts.

Night rider327

iTrader: (13)

Weak coil or module, or bad connection to coil.

Try testing spark the old fashion way, sometimes those inline testers don't work so well.

Pull #1 plug out, put wire back on plug, hold plug/wire by the boot, so the tip of plug (ground strap) is about 1/8" from header/exhaust manifold and have a helper turn the key..

You should have a bright blue spark jumping from plug to header/manifold.. Anything other than blue = weak ign parts like coil, or module.

If no spark at all, then dead coil, module or no power going to coil/dist.

Also, if you are using a large cap, HEI dist. and have a tach plugged into the tach term on cap, try it w/o the tach wire hooked up.

If your tach/wire shorts to ground and its plugged in, it won't let the coil spark.

Using starting fluid really narrows this down to ign. related. That stuff will hit/fire like crazy.

As a quick test wire for power to dist. I make up a 12 or 14 ga wire with female spade term crimped on and a gator clip on other end. Plug that into the dist., and clamp other end to battery + to just test and see if it fires up.

Night rider327

iTrader: (13)

Oh.. The starter pulls alot when trying to crank. It's best if voltage don't drop much at all, but not unheard of for voltage to drop to 9/10 volts while cranking.

8 is alittle on the low side, but if it's not a high compression engine it still should be spinning fast enough to fire up and run.

Also your 11.9 volt is low too.. Fully charged battery should be 12.6 volts

10secondhopeful

No tach on the car and it has a brand new distributor, cap, coil, rotor, all of it. I meant to ask if I could just run a straight wire, bypass the starter completely. That'll be the next thing I do, I won't be able to get it in to the mechanic till next week at the earliest. So I'll keep messing with it till then. Also a compression test if I can. But shouldnt it still like sputter and pop even if the compression is a bit off? No way all the cylinders aren't getting compression.

Anything else you guys can think of let me know, I'm at work now but I'll try them them I get home.

Thanks,

C.

redneckjoe

i'd pull a plug and do the old school spark test as mentioned above.

if the builder over-lashed the rockers,...you could have no compression. stick your finger in the spark plug hole and have somebody crank it over.

if all checks out, do you have another carb to try or borrow?

Night rider327

iTrader: (13)

New don't mean much.. It should, but we all have got bad new parts in the past.

bigal55

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like an ignition problem but first question is, where is all the gas coming from? With that much gas you will never get the engine to run before you ruin it. 30 seconds of cranking and you are pouring fuel out 3 spark plugs? You already washed the cylinders down and probably have gas in the oil pan. Before you do any more tests, you should check your oil and fix the problem with the fuel system. How did you blow up the original engine? Was it fuel system related?

As for the ignition problem, could be a grounding problem. This seems to pop up in many engine swap/rebuild projects or anytime the engine is pulled. Need good ground from battery to engine, engine to frame and engine to body. In other words, you need to tie the engine, frame and body together and have a good ground cable from your battery to the engine or frame if your battery is trunk mounted. HTH