ok here's what i did. I bought a new cam for my motor and decided to just get a whole gasket set and pushrods for it to. Ok so i tore the whole thing down to the block, put in the cam, aligned it with the crank and reassembled the motor....making sure i put the distributer back in the same place....oh yeah it is a 3.1L v6 (i know, should have bought a 350) i just got it back together today and it won't start, sometimes the intake makes a loud pop, others it just turns over and over and over, theres a strong smell of gas so i know that that is getting to the motor but other than that i am clueless. My dad thinks it's the timing. does anyone have any info that can help me. Anything would be appreciated.

 

Sounds like timing, probably 180 out. Put the engine at #1 TDC and make sure the rotor is pointing to the #1 plug wire.

 

Note: make sure the #1 piston is coming up on the compression stroke when you get to TDC, and since it's a new rebuild it wouldn't hurt to stick a little straight piece of aluminum or copper wire in the spark plug hole, then turn the engine over slowly by hand untill the wire looks like it stops getting pushed out of the spark plug hole by the piston, the timing marks should be lined up then @ 0 degrees TDC, if they are lined up then your timing marks are in the right place so just point the rotor at #1 spark plug tower on the cap.

 

Your distributor is in wrong, probably 180° off.

You need to find #1 firing, which is one of the 2 instances of #1 TDC per complete engine cycle (the other being the point where the piston reaches TDC as the exhaust valve closes and the intake valve opens). Most likely your engine is firing at the "other" TDC instance.

Stick a piece of tubing in the #1 spark plug hole, and bump the engine with the starter until you hear compression escaping; carefully turn the motor until the timing mark shows approximately the point at which you want the engine to fire; install the dist so that the rotor points to the #1 plug wire terminal; lift up on the dist shaft, and adjust the dist to where the pole pieces of the pickup coil exactly line up. This should get you close enough to where the engine will start easily.

 

Remembering how the distributor goes in only applies if the engine isn't turned over at all, once it is removed. And with a cam swap, more than likely, you turned the engine over to set the valve lash, and lost your spot. If that isn't the case, your valves may also be adjusted incorrectly, but I think the distributor is out of whack. Follow the instructions above.

Good Luck
Jeremy

 

thanks for the help, but i went this morning and realized that i lost all my compression....i was able to turn the crank with my hand with little resistance. I don't know what happened. And now i don't even have any spark. I think i might go have a complete diagnostic done to see exactly what is wrong. It will only cost me $50 so i figured that is my best bet, seeing as how i have spent close to $350 in parts rebuilding this stupid motor...maybe this is my cars way of saying it wants a 350 in it instead of a little v6. hehehe

 

ah, just kill yourself

 

Hey Zippy, NOT FUNNY!!!

 

what makes you think i was being funny. i don't find the title of his post amusing either.