72 Looking for some round about advice here please.

[xfsketch]

Ok story goes. 72 chevy had 350 in iy points dist converted to hei. I heard some knocking in the 350 and decided instead of rebuilding it to set it aside and throw this 305 The guy who sold it to me was asking 250 for it and when I went to see him he had it laying on a rack on wheels in his garage without a manifold carb and extras. He had painted it he said. He claims the motor came out of a monte carlo 86-87 and that it was his friends motor that he had heard run before. he said it has a big cam in it but Im unsure if its mild or big. He said it sounded mean a few years ago. the reason it was out of the car he said his friend was rear ended and the motor was pulled because the back of the car caught on fire. I trusted his word. he was nice and I believed his explainations. He even asked if I might drive by and show him the motor running again when I put it in.
I pulled the 350 out and before I put the 305 back in I painted the engine bay and firewall, cleaned up the wiring and began installing new seal on the valve covers, intake and fuel pump. I used my intake, carb, manifolds, fuel pump, alternator etc from my 350. I pulled the oil pan off and loosened the bearing caps enough to replace the rear main seal and then re torqed them to 75ft pds. I then replaced the oil shaft and pump and installed a new oil pan seal. Everything seemed to turn ok It wasnt until later my friend and I realised it wasnt turning over all the way. My friend Jeremy fixed that by the next morning with some liquid wrench. I slapped some new motor mounts on the block then we lowered it in. Hooked everything up. Little confused on some of the wiring. Ive seen and have copies of the wire diagram on this site thats been photoshopped. very nice but I still cant get right lol. Im hoping if I type long enough here and send some pics tomorrow attached to this post some of you can help me figure out why my motor isnt starting and what wires are rigged returned to good. I have dropped the distributor numerous times can get it to fire but wont stay running. its getting spark and gas been squirtin either in once and again it fired that way too. even turned the oil pump shaft a couple times. To my understanding from what I recently read the firing order on sbc is 18436572 and on the distributor from the wiring harness in a clockwise direction the second peg is where you place number 1 spark plug then from there you continue on 843..6 etc. I dropped the distributor with the rotor button settling on where number one peg on the distributor was which looked facing straight forward to the carb. Its an edelbrock carb. everything I used on the 305 started the 350 to begin with. I installed a new voltage regulator and changed the fuel filters. This is the problem so far. I will try to send pics no promises lol.

[Andy4639]

This is a chevy v-8 firing order no matter what year.When you drop the dizzy in the #1 plug should be pointing toward #1 on the block.
I'm not sure but did you take the resistants wire out of the harness and replace with a regular wire. I had to change mine to get it to run but mine is 305 HO fuel injected motor.

[xfsketch]

Yes that diagram helps ty! I did replace the wire that was going to the dizzy positive to coil on top of the dist (when harness is facing you i hooked it to the right side terminal labeled batt). I opted for the red ignition wire for now going with the other two combined clip wires in the dizzy. because I wanted a 4 sure ignition wire on it. I might try a thinner wire? you see I have it wired like so from firewall out. I have the purple wire going to the starter. the red one going to the alternator then spliced it to go to the dizzy. I heard the dizzy wire is supposed to be a ign yellow/green one coming from the other little terminal on the starter. is this correct? I also have noticed there is a constant running from the junction box to the voltage regulator thats coupled with a dark blue/black wire with a fuse or somin on it. so there are 4 wires total coming from the alternator. combined blue and yellowish or grey, a ground running to the voltage regulator along the way its spliced for a ground on the headlights. then the red I have spliced going to altternator then coil on the dizzy (might be a double because it comes from small circle plug on firewall which is seperate from the red constant traveling to the voltage regulator then on to the battery.). I know how confusing this all can sound lol. especially when I dont know half of what i talk about is stuff i read and observed on the internet. right now the voltage regulator is grounded to the radiator support where I got my headlamps grounded to sheet metal. so i plan to get it all wired right. a basic diagram or explanation of what wires should be going where and why from the firewall out would be cool. the wires were rigged when i got the truck 7 yrs ago. would like to get em right thanx again

[xfsketch]

ok I will try what you said on the timing. be back soon...

[geezer#99]

Sounds like you timed it wrong. Pull #1 sparkplug, hold your finger over the hole, when the piston comes up on compression it will push your finger out. Look at the timing balancer and put the timing mark at about 10* mark on the tab.
Put the distributor in so the rotor is pointing at #1 on the cap.
Should fire up.
Reset the timing and you're good to go.

[GMCJOE]

Wiring can be quite confusing. Not the best at it myself, even after several class they Army has given me. Though, I have gotten better by far. Those diagrams on here are great, and a person could pretty much build there own harness from it with the right wires and components. Good luck, you came to the right spot to figure it out.

[GMCJOE]

I seen this site posted on here before. It has a great explination for the install of a HEI distributor and a wiring diagram just for it. I have some rewiring to do myself because of the PO put the distributor wire on a toggle for some reason. Hope this gives you loads of help.

http://rmcavoy.freeshell.org/HEI.html

[xfsketch]

motor is close to being in time now it runs just starts up rough and needs carb adjusted. i will keep u all posted thank you so much!

[xfsketch]

OK just to get this post up to date. Since last post I borrowed a timing gun and a friend helped me put it dead nuts in time. I have an edelbrock 4 bbl carb and the same friend tried to get it to idle properly which he did but when we would hit fast throttle sweeps the engine would die down. I read online somewhere that the two front screws on the carb are just for idle adjustment and should be set the same at all times. I read to close them all the way in then out two full rotations and work my way a 1/4 at a time clockwise/courterclockwise as needed. My friend says the carb needs rebuilt. I read online it could justve been idling too high for the throttle response to register. My friend and I sprayed wd40 all over the outside of the carb looking for vacuum leaks and their were none! Aside from the engine not taking fast throttle spurts, other problems are still unsolved at this time. The clutch linkage may be too lose to allow full pedal and disengagement (3 speed converted to floor). The spline fit into the tranny fine. when I first tried the clutch after she was all bolted up, it worked and I out it in first. I then had to use a deadweight hammer to knock it into nuetral because it wasnt working from inside the truck. I am going to redo the linkage with some nice washers and see if that fixes the problem. If not Im going to unbolt the tranny and slide it back and see. from what my friend tells me the arm that pushes the throw out bearing may have been in the wrong position when we slid the motor into her. I am unsure at this point. I will no doubt figure it out soon enough. another problem Im having is my battery seems to be draining over night. There is absolutely no charge when I try after long periods. I think my alternator is still wired wrong. I ran an ignition (pink) to the single terminal (bigger wire) then the clip is still factory (blue tan somin like that). should I attach a ground wire to the bottom back of alternator? does the one wire from the clip get jumped to the constant bat? I have no dash lights except the turn signals. no hazard lights blink on dash either but they work on the outside of the truck! from the wiring diagram I found what I think the green wire for the temp unit is on the firewall. it holds a charge though when I tested it at ignition. is this right? I mean should the temp unit have power going to it or from it? I got some new from tires for it for winter is near. got a bed cover for 5 bux awesome deal toneau or however u spell it lol. things are looking good for the old chevy Its been my daily driver for 5 yrs now and owned it for 7! Thanx in advance for all advice you guys are great. Peace.

[geezer#99]

A tip for you on your shifter.
THere's usually a centre bolt that goes right thru the centre of the shifter and then thru the bracket on the tranny. Usually the instructions for shifter install say to use a lock washer to keep the whole assembly tight. Doesn't work well. THe nut on the bolt backs off, the shifter starts to pull apart and then you can't get it into gear from inside.
The cure! Tighten the bolt up until the shifter arms still move freely and then drill a 1/16 inch hole right thru the nut and the bolt and slide a cotter key in. Nut will never move again. Shifter will stay tight.
On your carb. Your mixture adjustment is correct. If your idle is too high then the screws won't react correctly. You need to get your idle down as low as possible.
You might need to set your initial timing higher (12*) and hook your vacuum advance to manifold vacuum to speed up your idle and then adjust the idle screw on the carb to slow it back down to get the mixture screws working.
Also when you got it running look inside the carb with a small flashlight to check for any excess fuel. Eddy carbs don't like more than 5.5 lbs fuel pressure or will flood a little.
On your clutch fork. Only goes in one way. Won't work if it's in wrong. To adjust your clutch loosen the lock nut on the threaded rod that attaches to your clutch fork. and adjust the fork so the throw bearing is about 1/4 inch away from the fingers.

[xfsketch]

thanx alot Geezer! This info helps a lot. I took the linkage apart earlier and noticed the one end of the pivoting arm is loose and needs to be replaced. I got my engine to idle slower and fuel response was better at fast throttle. I havent tried to advance the timing like you said but thats probably my next step. This is a great site thanx to all the knowlegeable kind folks! I will keep you updated.