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Air, fuel and spark...but it won't run?!

H

HellsK10

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Some of us have the unfortunate status of starting a membership to a new enthusiasts site with a "please help". Unfortunately I'm one of them. I've been a mechanic for the better side of 10 years and I'm absolutely stumped. Perhaps it's spending too much time focusing on one thing that I've overlooked another...who knows? At any rate, here's the story and the problem:
I bought this 73' Chevy K10 4x4 Pickup with the 350. It has an HEI distributor on it and from day one it was a wiring disaster! I'm fairly sure (the diagrams on this gen of Chevy sucks) that I got all the wiring correct. I have my constants constant and my "runs" only when the key is in "run". There's +12 to the BATT terminal of the HEI at all times. I just replaced the cap and rotor with MSD's set. I pulled the Carter off and threw my 1406 on it for the moment (cause I knew for sure there was absolutely nothing wrong with it). I pulled and double checked the firing order from the cap to the plugs and it's right. I haven't been able to put it at TDC and double check that the rotor points at #1 cause the crank bolt is the wrong one and spins once any torque is put on it (fix that tomorrow). This is the thing...it cranks for days, gets plenty of fuel and I have spark. From where it was I rotated the distributor 1/5 of a turn counterclockwise and it backfired REAL LOUD. I rotated it back about 1/6 of a turn past the original starting point and nothing. If I had a hand I would just throw the timing gun on the #1 to see if it fires near the timing mark, but again...gonna have to wait till tomorrow.
Any ideas? It doesn't matter how outrageous, it may end up coming to whatever that is. It certainly seems as though it's got plenty of compression but I can check the numbers for sure this weekend. In the meantime, I just need ideas.
Thanks. And I'm proud to be part of the lifted Chevy crowd now...or will be when this thing runs.:doah:
 
Well if it backfired then you know its got to be the plug wires/firing order/timing thats the problem. I'd bring #1 to TDC or close to tdc with the rotor on #1 or close and double check the position of the plug wires from there. Thats what i would do to start with.
 
It only backfired after I retarded the h*(( out of it. When I reset it back to the original position or further advanced it does nothing. Tomorrow I'm gonna be able to bring it to TDC and check it out. I know I got the plug wires right, I was just hoping that the last owner dropped the dist. in right and used the appropriate terminal to hook the #1 plug to. Given that I found that they hooked the plug wires up all wrong, I'm just not sure. Tomorrow will tell.
Thanks btw.
 
kinda sounds like the distributor is 180* out... i've done it in the first chevy's i put together... hey - i was in this boat last week, but i exploded a rotor... still had spark, though...
 
I second that the distributor is 180 out. Mine woud do the samt thing when I first put it back together after cam and manifold change.
Tarey
 
did it run before you bought it? could be a tooth or 2 off on the timing chain if he did a recent install.

made that mistake myself and i still had decent compression and it would never fire. pulled the cover and re set the gears and it fired right up

or like everyone said 180 out, the owner could have routed the wires opposite and when you replaced the cap and set them on correctly it screwed everything up
 
If it's a new distributor & the plug wires were all crossed up, then you can't really assume that it was installed correctly.

Doing the distributor is much harder than changing the plug wires. Especially if you don't really know what you're doing.

Just me .02,
Buddy
 
Do not assume anything.... Have a helper bump the starter while you have your finger in the #1 sparkplug hole. Small bumps until the compression pushes your finger out of the hole. Replace plug, pull cap and check to see if the rotor is pointing to #1 post of cap. 1,8,4,3,6,5,7,2 If all is well there then fire it up.
 
Removing the distributors a piece of cake. It just got too dark and cold too quick to do anything tonight. I'm certainly not gonna assume much at this point. Hopefully I will find it 180 out, chances are it'll fire right up afterwards. If not, I have bigger problems and that's no bueno. Tomorrow will tell. I appreciate having a few people to bounce ideas off and vice versa, thanks. I'll update tomorrow afternoon.
Rob
 
check the rotor on your distributor. I had this problem last week with a buddy. We set the #1 at tdc pulled the cap off and the rotor was 180* out. But our problem was not that the distributor was installed wrong, it was that the mechanical advance grenaded. It was so bad that if i grabbed the rotor and tried to turn it, it would spin freely as if it wasnt even in the engine. So we took it out and advance weights and springs just fell out. We replaced the distributor and everything is as good as new.
 
scooter122983 said:
check the rotor on your distributor. I had this problem last week with a buddy. We set the #1 at tdc pulled the cap off and the rotor was 180* out. But our problem was not that the distributor was installed wrong, it was that the mechanical advance grenaded. It was so bad that if i grabbed the rotor and tried to turn it, it would spin freely as if it wasnt even in the engine. So we took it out and advance weights and springs just fell out. We replaced the distributor and everything is as good as new.
Click to expand...
This has a Mallory HEI distributor on it and everything looks good. The cap and rotor looked a bit worn so I replaced them yesterday with the MSD red cap. I should be getting out to work on it here in about 2-3 hours. It's still 28 degrees and I'm sorry, I'm 27 and at that temp it feels like I have arthritis.

PRAY FOR 180 OUT!:bow:
 
180 out is my guess. Had that problem more than once. It seems to be a common problem when you dont have a helping hand to assist.
 
I was reading your post and you said it had the wrong crank bolt and the viabration dampner spins on the shaft? If so you have more problems than a no start. the vibration dapner is keyd to the crankshaft. If it is spinning on the crank. You will have to pull the crank and have the keyway redone.
 
Thunder said:
I was reading your post and you said it had the wrong crank bolt and the viabration dampner spins on the shaft? If so you have more problems than a no start. the vibration dapner is keyd to the crankshaft. If it is spinning on the crank. You will have to pull the crank and have the keyway redone.
Click to expand...

No no no, the bolts spins. It was the wrong bolt. 350 cranks use m16x2mm and this had something close but not close enough. I chased the threads and the tap felt great so the threads aren't messed up. It was a cheapy they used anyway. The forged crank just sheared the threads off the bolt. I'm leaving to pick a new bolt up right meow.
 
HellsK10 said:
No no no, the bolts spins. It was the wrong bolt. 350 cranks use m16x2mm and this had something close but not close enough. I chased the threads and the tap felt great so the threads aren't messed up. It was a cheapy they used anyway. The forged crank just sheared the threads off the bolt. I'm leaving to pick a new bolt up right meow.
Click to expand...

Wrong answer, EVERY GM SBC crank uses a 7/16-20 crank bolt. :deal:
 
4X4HIGH said:
Wrong answer, EVERY GM SBC crank uses a 7/16-20 crank bolt. :deal:
Click to expand...
Well than, that explains a lot. I didn't set up the tap, my Brother did. I guess now that I think about it, it did seem awfully small for what I remember an m16 bolt looking like. Anyhow, the bolts gonna be 3 hours (transferred from another store).
Thanks again!
 
Well, it was 180 out. I replaced the crank bolt, thanks 4x4High. However, still no start. Hmmmm.
Fuel:the spark plugs are soaked with it. And I regapped them to .045.
Air:Duh.
Spark:I checked, it's there. Timing is set at 15BTDC. Is 15 right?
 
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