I just read shoebox's guide and I guess you don't have to. I read it a long time ago and I was thinking of this part: "If you want to recheck zero lash, you must loosen the rocker arm nut and tighten it down again while spinning the pushrod as before. At that point you want to set the preload and LEAVE IT ALONE."

But, I guess you're not re-checking zero lash, unless you sure you adjusted them right. So just try backing them off a 1/4 turn.

 

you should be fine backing them ea. off 1/4 turn. wont hurt anything, just might not give you the EXACT right preload. but if thats your problem, it should start at that point. then you can adj. them while its running which is even better. however, I cant see how that can make that much of a diff. and make the car not run at all. give it a shot and let us know how it went. for sure it wont hurt anything.
chris

 

Would it surprise you that I am running ½ turn of preload on my Comp R's?

I checked every lifter for amount of full travel when I installed them. They averaged 1¼ turns. So ½ turn puts them a little shy of half centered. That should not be too much. ¼ is fine, also.

 

alright, I'm racking my brain here. I'm getting worried I'm damaging my new internal parts by trying to continually start my motor. I MAY have found the problem. My ignition coil is MSD part # 8231. Is this the correct coil I should be using for a 97 with OBD I conversion? I have the MSD 6A unit with harness, but on the MSD website it says the coil is only good for a 96-97 car. Yeah, I have a 97, but with a 95 ECU in it. Anybody chime in...

 

have you checked for spark yet?

 

Ok, I isolated the problem. I am getting fuel and air, just no spark. I installed a brand spankin new opti from Dal, and yes it is flush against the block, but I did the poor man's spark test by putting a screwdriver in the plug boot and trying to arc the spark and nothing. I also installed new wires and NGK TR55 plugs. The coil is MSD part # 8231 and I have the MSD 6A unit which were both hooked up before and worked fine. Where should I start looking???

shoebox, where should I start hooking a digital multimeter to??

 

Well if you know for sure the problem is ignition related, I'd try to eliminate as many possibilities as possible. You could start by not using the MSD ignition controller. I'd personally get a known good spark plugs, put it in the boot obviously, ground the plug and see if u can get a spark out of it. Other than that, start replacing stuff

Carson

 

Hate to break it to you, but my new opti from Dal was crap. Had to overnight another one. Hopefully, you have some different issues.

 

I had a friend that swore up and down his opti was installed correctly and it wasnt. id definitely rip out the MSD stuff and as far as diagnosis... check spark at the plugs and then check going to the coil. if you get spark going to the coil but none at the plug wires then its your coil and not the opti. of course if you get no spark anywhere then get some tools out b/c the opti has to come off.

 

well that last post isnt true (Im pretty positive anyways). if you have no spark at the coil, then the coil is bad, or the ign. cont. module is bad, ign. cont. mod. not grounded, no power/ground to the ign. cont. mod.. if you have spark at coil, but no spark at plug, then the opti is bad. remember the opti is just a distributer/cap. the spark comes from the coil (trigered by the ign. module just like old cars) and into the opti, then its "distributed" to the correct wire through the cap on the opti. pull the coil wire off the opti, and check to see if you have spark there. same was as mentioned above. insert a sp. plug, and touch the elect. to eng. ground while someone else is cranking. where some thick *** leather or rubber gloves though. if no spark there then first thing I would do is bypass the MSD stuff and try again.
good luck

 

not quite my friend, there's the whole optical side of things as well, without it you'll never get any spark anywhere...

 

Yeah you are right.. i meant to say opti instead of coil.

 

well, I can't try to start the car now cause it's 1 AM and it WOULD be loud as hell with open y pipe IF it started but I think I for sure figured out the problem. I had my MSD 6A unit connected to my alternator instead of the live 12 volt connectors under the + red plastic fusable links area on the passenger side fender wall. I think that may have been it. I just saw on MSD's web site that you are NEVER supposed to hook the unit to your alternator. Oh well, we'll find out tomorrow morning. I did run the spark test and no spark before I found out this electric problem. I hope this solves it...until tomorrow...

 

NOPE! That won't solve it. Connecting it there is as good as the battery. Try removing the MSD and run the ignition stock. Another idea and a good place to start is check the optical pick up in the Opti spark. This will require a tester that you might not have, but you need to indepedently test each part in the ignition system until you find something amiss.

Good luck

 

Yea I doubt hooking the MSD unit up somewhere else will make any difference. As I said before, you're better off without it while trouble shooting, its only a few wires to switch over. After that its a matter of checking everything one component at a time until you find the problem, have fun!