ive got an 89 350 tpi. i just rebuilt the motor and now i cant get the damn thing to kick over.

i know that the spark it has spark becasue it will fire on starter fluid... even though thats bad for the motor i had to test it once.

it has an aftermarket coil and a new distributor.

the problem is im not getting any signal from then coil pick-up and its brand new...

the wierd part is that when i move the distributor by hand i can get my test light to pick up the pick-ups signal but when it cranks i cant get squat!

all my grounds seem legit on the back of the heads and the ones for the computer are also good. there are no blown fuses. its soo close to running but im going crazy trying to get it going and have noo more ideas!

ive had the car for a year and its run for olny month of that... my faith in chevy is fading really fast and any solutions would make my year so any thoughts are welcome... thanks in advance.

 

Are you getting adequate fuel pressure?
Did you rebuild the motor yourself, or did you have a shop do it?
If you did it yourself, it might be good to check the compression in each cylinder to make sure you don't have a huge compression leak somewhere.

 

will it stay running on the starter fluid?

 

i did the rebuild myself... and i should have said that its was olny the top end and the oil pan seals. the heads are after market... trick flow i believe, but the car hadnt been driven in over 7 years when i got to it and i got it running the rebuilt it with new seals and gaskets. it was doing a similar thing before i got it running but it was a bad ground then...

its got a new high pressure in-tank pump and filter so i would assume that the fuel pressure is good to go and ive got pressure at the schrader valve.

i have doubles of all the ignition items, like icm, esc, coil pick-up, ecm. but like i said the distributor is brand new as well as the coil...

i didnt want to put very much fluid in, just enough to get a light rummble but ill shoot a little more in there and see what happens.

 

Engine only needs three things to run compression,spark, and fuel.

If it will fire at all on starter fluid, then comp and spark are likely ok.
Starter fluid will wash down cylinder walls, but takes 1/2 a can or so.
Worse if it doesn't fire at all.

comp any over about 90 psi. Not likely a problem, if it ran before, for month.

Spark has to be there, and at the right time. 0-10 btdc or so.

Fuel for tpi something over 20-30 psi depends on injectors. Batch fire sprays all the time so no timing issue.

HTH