Don't give up, you'll get it, it'll just take time, and probably more than you want to spend. If the ring around your balancer has slipped, the marks on it may be off, so don't trust it with your life or anything. If you get it running again try turning the dist. back and forth a little each way and see if you can get it to idle. Also, be sure to check all the simple stuff, like be sure you haven't ran out of gas by now or anything.

I used to have problems sometimes with getting the distributor out of alignment on a ford. I couldn't see any timing marks or anything on it so I always just winged it, pulled the dist. out and put it in a different place until it actually ran, and then turned it until it sounded pretty good, and the revs were in the same range they were when I pulled it, advancing or retarding will cause the engine to speed up or slow down a bit. Then I'd always test drive it and listen for detonation and such, it's worked so far.

It's best to be technically accurate on things like valve adjustments and such, but sometimes with hit or miss stuff that's giving you fits like having the distributor in the right place you just gotta wing it.

Keep in mind these are only my experiences, and they may not be completely safe or anything, but they've worked for me, and I thought they might help a little.

 

The timing marks being out of range tells the story. You will need to set the ignition timing from scratch. I think that has been covered previously. Bring the #1 cylinder up to about 6 or 8 degrees BTDC,(using marks on harmonic balancer) remove the cap and observe the location of the rotor. You will probably have to remove the dist and rotate but perhaps you are close enough to just rotate the housing. (Keep in mind that you have to engage the oil pump drive) With the timing marks set close, the timing light hooked up; Rotate the dist and when the light blinks, that is the starting point for timing. You should then be able to start the car and time it properly. Now; you at least know that you have compression and fuel delivery. The timing is easily accomplished! good luck

 

Check check and double check. I've started from scratch countless times now. Now, since I'm not sure about the cam I may need to look up some info on adjusting the valves on a solid lifter cam. The cam was in it when I bought it and I assumed it was hydrolic but I guess there's a chance that it's not. I'll look up that info and see if the adjustments are any different and that's the problem.

 

If it's a solid cam there has to be lash (clearance); there is no pre-load of the lifter. Any attempt to go beyond "0" lash would open the valve and not let it close.

Jody

 

Yeah that must've been the original problem where it would open the valve w/ only 1/4 turn after lash. I need to pick up a feeler guage tomorrow but does anyone know what clearance there should be between the rocker tip and the valve tip? Thanks.

 

Let me ask you guys this question. Instead of adjusting the valves be getting one valve almost closed or the other barely opend before adjusting the other, what would be wrong with doing both valves on the same cylinder at the same time when they're both closed? You could use a compression gauge to make sure it has compression in the cylinder so you'd know they were both closed. Would that work? Thanks.

 

Since the valve lash plays a big roll in compression timing the valves need to be set up as I mentioned earlier. I have done mechanical lifters that way for years. If you need a base setting for mechanical lifters, I would try Intake valves at .0016 in. and Exhaust valves at .0018 in. It may not be right but, it will get you started. I have to ask, Did you run the engine before you started this project? How could you not know what type of lifters are involved? Do you have access to any data on the cam? How many miles are on the engine? It is not always a good plan to put new high performance heads on an old engine.

 

How could I know what lifters were in it? I assumed they were hydrolic so I never pullled them out when I had the heads/intake off. I bought the car about 2 years ago and the guy had someone build the motor fairly recently but he couldn't find the cam card and didn't tell me anything about the cam. I know the guy that built the motor so I've been trying to track him down to try to get some info on it. I think that since the rockers have some lash in them right now it should fire up, so I still don't know if this is the complete problem or not.

 

If you know what mechanical lifters sound like there is no mistaking that sound. If the motor is running and you hear no mechanical sounds it is probably hydraulic lifters. If you hear a sound like (difficult to describe here) something rustling in leaves within the engine, you may well have mechanical lifters. Worst case scenerio, remove the intake and pull a lifter. If you want to know what the cam is you will have to remove the front cover. The grind should be stamped on the front journal facing the timing gear. When you removed the heads, were any of the rockers loose to the touch? That would also be an indication of mechanical lifters. best of luck, wish that I was there to help!

 

All of the rockers were very loose which expains a lot. I just figured someone didn't know how to adjust them when they were put on or they had worked their way loose.

 

Only half should have been loose. Did you have the motor running before?

 

Well theon ly ones that were loose were the ones that didn't have pressure on them from pushing the valves open of course. Yes, it was running before.

 

I bought a Summit Chevy 350 truck cam to put in an '76 Monte Carlo (needed to have more torque)

The stupid thing must be cut 180° out.

I tried firing it 3 times, nothing like 2 foot flames out Carb.

So I took water pump off to check timing chain, thinking the old chain slipped, and the gearswere still on marks...

So I use a top dead center whistle in the first spark plug. Disconnect gas and crank it over till whistles.

Usually fire out the carb either means your way out of time, or valves weren't tightened correctly

Another thing I've heard that people used to do to screw up a motor, is take a graphite pencil around inside of cap to make all the plugs fire at same time...

If this was a newwer I'd say bad cam sensor, or bad coil packs or flaw in computer timing.

Hope you find a fix, you might want to also try a timing light.

Just hope my 79 starts to run right, when I get the correct fuel pump Tuesday.

 

A mistake often made is thinking that when the timing marks are lined up that you are on TDC#1; you're really on TDC#6 which makes you 180 degrees out. Line up the marks to make sure the cam timing is correct and then rotate the engine 360 degrees; both marks will be straight up and you'll be on TDC#1

Jody

 

Woohoo!!! I finally got this thing fired up today!! And it's all thanks to you guys and your steady flow of help!! It's hard to find that kind of help and I want you guys to know I really appreciate it!! Now I can't wait to get my new exhaust in so I can see how it runs. The old stuff wouldn't fit up to my new headers. Thanks again!