What did I do wrong?

[idaho66stepside]

Well did the engine swap last weekend and got the 350 bolted in. The HEI dist. is hooked up to a hot wire and the I think the mechanic that put the engine together installed the hei at TDC, the engine fires but doesn't idle. It cranks up then backfires or shoots a geyser of gas out the carb (edelbrock 600cfm). I'm thinking it's timing but that is like japanese to me. any suggestions that someone with limited engine knowledge could handle

[onequickchevy]

Sounds like 1980 degrees out on timing. Pull the distributor and reset the rotor to point the exact opposite of where it is now. Easy to do, just loosen the clamp, slide it back out of the way, pull up the dist (just far enough so it clears the gear on the cam) rotate the rotor and drop it back in. Might take a few tries. While you are there, make sure there is a gasket in place to avoid tracking down a leak that you will swear is a rear main.

[Frizzle Fry]

Originally Posted by onequickchevy

Sounds like 1980 degrees out on timing.

1980 degrees out! How do you manage that? It could be 180 out, but since it's the first fire up it could also be off by any number of cylinders. If it's off by something other than 180 you will have to rotate the oil pump with a big flathead screwdriver to get the dizzy to drop back in fully.

The rotor should be pointing near the cyl #1 wire when your at TDC. As onequickchevy mentioned, that does not garuntee you are not 180 out. What I like to do is pull the coil wire (or 12v power wire on HEI) and the cyl#1 spark plug. Hold your finger over the plug hole and have someone blip the starter a little bit at a time until you feel compression against your finger. That's where you set the rotor pointing at cyl#1.

From there you should be able to get it started and idling by playing with the idle timing. Then break out your timing lght.

[low79fx]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

1980 degrees out! How do you manage that?

You know how thats done you let the distributor turn 11 times,then try to land on #1 cyl.

Just kidding,yeah just like frizzle fry says ,finger or wad of paper towel jammed into #1 cyl.spark plug port if no one around to crank for you.When upward cycle shoots wad out your at #1 cylinder TDC.Then just drop distributor in so rotor points toward #1 cylinder spark plug wire.You can also attempt this before pulling distributor to varify if you are out of phase on your firing order.To do this just pull distributor cap then pull #1 spark plug ,put wad into #1 port, click engine until wad shoots out,check rotor position against cap to see if it lines up with #1 spark plug wire or if its close.May only be a tooth off.In this event then you can do what the other guys have suggested,loosen distributor clamp,raise distributor just enough to rotate rotor into position drop dist. into place, retighten hold down clamp,install the cap,plug and wire and you should be able to start and idle.Now don't make wad to small or the downward piston cycle will pull it into cyl. Like I've never done that before.Good luck!!

[Togart]

Be sure the plug wires are on the cap the right way too...they should go clockwise 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2. We had this problem last month...kept trying to re-set the distributor till we realized we had put the wires on backwards

[burbguy]

As everybody has said previously is right... I also like to look at the timing mark on my balancer once I've done the blow your finger out trick... and by looking at the balancer look to see if the timing mark is up around TDC..thats my way of checking to see that i didn't go to far while cranking the motor over....

GOOD LUCK
Shawn

[TheDark1]

If you want to be really lazy about it, like me, you don't have to pull the distributor. You can just re-run the firing order on the plug wires at the cap 180 degrees out. In other words, if #1 is in the front, move it to the back and start from there with the wires. It's like rotating the cap 180 degrees. Really useful when you don't have room to pull a distributor in a tight place. It works for any position actually. Hope this helps.

[markeb01]

Here’s a tip on installing a Chevy distributor I’ve never seen written anywhere, which may or may not apply to the specific problem at hand.

If you marked the location of the rotor before you pulled the distributor, and when reinstalled it is now one tooth off, it generally won’t go back in the correct position without reorienting the oil pump tang. A long screwdriver can be used, but it’s a paint to try and get right. To line it up without tools, simply lift the distributor high enough to clear the gears (a couple of inches or so) and drop it back in place until it completely seats. This moves the oil pump tang in relation to the distributor and the rotor will have moved one position. Repeat this process counterclockwise all around the clock until the rotor is pointing exactly where you want it.

[pctahlequah]

Seating the oil pump rod isn't hard. Once the distributor is in and resting on the rod out your clamp on and snug it up. Then bump the starter and the dist will turn and drop in. Works for me every time

[idaho66stepside]

IT RUNS! I had the wires all wrong. Newbie mistakes right, but it needs a good bit of throttle or it dies. I don't have an exhaust hooked up other than the headers could that be the problem? Thanks for the help gang!!!

[Captainfab]

Sounds like carb and timing adjustment. Over in the 'Engine and Drivetrain' section at the top of the page there is a sticky on how to properly set your timing. I'm not that familar with Edelbrock carbs, so you might try a search over there for 'Edelbrock' or post a thread over there about it.

Originally Posted by idaho66stepside

IT RUNS! I had the wires all wrong. Newbie mistakes right, but it needs a good bit of throttle or it dies. I don't have an exhaust hooked up other than the headers could that be the problem? Thanks for the help gang!!!

[pctahlequah]

I agree sounds like the timing is still off. I've heard its best to wait until you have your final exhaust in place before fine tuning every thing.
I'm open headers right now, too, and have a bad hesitation when I dump the throttle

[idaho66stepside]

I don't have the throttle linkage built yet I'll get that done today and I haven't adjusted the idle screw yet. The dvd that came with the carb didn't offer much in the way of trouble-shooting. I'll search the other threads. Thanks for the advice.