Suggestions please

[Clatterville trolley]

I have a 1969 C10 long bed with a 307 v-8, 2 barrel Rochester carb. and three-on-the-tree.
I overhauled the carb.; replaced coil, ignition wires, dist. cap, rotor, plugs, points and condenser. For a while I didn't have fire to the spark plugs, but finally pulled the distributor and got a good look at the point set. 99% of the time new points are at least set so that it will start when installed then need adjustment, but these were set so wide that they never touched even when off the cam lobes. After setting points much closer to correct (by eye and feeler gauge) I got the engine to fire at plugs and start briefly on starting fluid - just a sniff.
Once I got the best of that I worked over the fuel system - cleaned all lines, new sending unit, new fuel pump, new rubber hoses, cleaned / sealed fuel tank, new stone filter in carb.
Then stupidity took over! I didn't like all the grease and gunk on the engine and in engine compartment, so I used my small power washer and degreaser to clean it as much as I could. I didn't point the wand directly at the dist. or carb. but of course they got plenty of 'splash' from the flying water.
I let it set for about a week afterwards while I worked on re-upholstering the seat and some other tasks thinking that it would dry out during that time.
Now when I put fresh gasoline in the tank and tried to start it I don't have any fire at the spark plugs again.
I know about the WD40 trick of spraying it inside the dist. cap etc. which I did, but didn't help - still no fire to plugs. Got any suggestion other than sticking my head in the door and slamming it?? Thanks, Jay

PS - I did a forum search and didn't see anything different than what I have tried already.

[Already Gone]

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[cool68]

so, did you start the engine before power washing and after cleaning fuel system? if moisture is trapped in distributor, etc just sitting may not allow it to dry out. do you have an air compressor to use to? are you sure that the distributor is working properly, even when not wet? carb, coil, etc could have water/moisture in them too.

[lha1992]

Did the starter turn the engine over? Check your connections on the dizzy an coil an make sure they are tight. I had a problem similar to this on my 72 an got it running again just by tightening my connections. Then I just got rid of points an went to HEI an I STRONGLY recommend doing that.

[724x4LB]

my 67 camaro had points and i never had a problem with them. I wouold think that the points are bad or not set correctly. also the condenser could be wet inside or just bad....cheap and easy fixes thou...you'll get it. just spend 20.00 bucks on the points and condenser and it'll fire i bet

[Clatterville trolley]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone here are answers to your questions below. Also, I will update after tomorrow's work session what I have discovered / accomplished. Jay

"so, did you start the engine before power washing and after cleaning fuel system? if moisture is trapped in distributor, etc just sitting may not allow it to dry out. do you have an air compressor to use to? are you sure that the distributor is working properly, even when not wet? carb, coil, etc could have water/moisture in them too."

Cool68 - Yes, I did start the engine before washing, but just momentarily with starting fluid because the fuel system wasn't cleaned out yet. I do have an air compressor and thanks I hadn't thought about blowing everything out / off with it. I also have been wondering if using a heat gun to dry the inside of the dist., etc. being very careful not to burn anything up would be a good idea too?

"Did the starter turn the engine over? Check your connections on the dizzy an coil an make sure they are tight. I had a problem similar to this on my 72 an got it running again just by tightening my connections. Then I just got rid of points an went to HEI an I STRONGLY recommend doing that."

Iha1992 - Yes, the starter turned the engine over fine. I will give the wires on the coil a tug tomorrow morning to see that they are still tight. I'll keep the suggestion about the HEI in mind if I can't get this to fire tomorrow.

"my 67 camaro had points and i never had a problem with them. I wouold think that the points are bad or not set correctly. also the condenser could be wet inside or just bad....cheap and easy fixes thou...you'll get it. just spend 20.00 bucks on the points and condenser and it'll fire i bet."

724X4LB - I will check the point setting again tomorrow. As for the points and condenser, I suppose they could be bad, but were new right out of the box when I installed them right before trying to start the engine the first time less than a couple of weeks ago. I will replace them if these suggestions don't work.

[elf w/capital T]

http://www.jegs.com/i/Accel/110/140003/10002/-1


Maybe switch over to hei....

[PanelDeland]

What brand of Points/condenser did you buy?I don't trust anything but Delco after my buddy and I pulled the engine apart 3 times after a timing chain replacement.He used a cheap points set and they were bad out of the box.I would pull distributor cap and dry it with a towel,then WD and dry again.Leave it off for a bit to finish air drying.Also make sure the other components are dry.Wet plugs.coil wires can arc and keep fire from getting where it needs to be.

[Clatterville trolley]

Originally Posted by PanelDeland

What brand of Points/condenser did you buy?I don't trust anything but Delco after my buddy and I pulled the engine apart 3 times after a timing chain replacement.He used a cheap points set and they were bad out of the box.I would pull distributor cap and dry it with a towel,then WD and dry again.Leave it off for a bit to finish air drying.Also make sure the other components are dry.Wet plugs.coil wires can arc and keep fire from getting where it needs to be.

Thanks for the suggestion(s)!! I am happy to announce that I got it started today That is the good news, but the bad news is that I am not positive what in all the things I tried caused it to finally run.
I removed the dist. cap and dried it with a heat gun - kept it moving and didn't get it too close. Removed the rotor and cleaned it with brake cleaner and wiped dry. Put it back together and it still didn't have fire to the coil tower or spark plugs.
So, I removed those two items again and took the point set out completely. I sprayed it with brake cleaner and dried it with a towel. They are what is referred to as Uni-pak (I think that is the word??) The condenser has a long screw thread that holds it in and makes contact both. I disassembled the point set cleaning / wiping everything - followed by opening the points and using a point file lightly. After that I put a clean piece of paper between the contacts and let them close on it before pulling it out. Reassembled everything but the condenser and that gave me room to set the points to .019". With that taken care of I installed the condenser and made sure all connections were tight and clean.
When I tried to roll it over with a spark plug out and connected to the plug wire while grounded to see if I now had a spark IT STARTED!! So shut it off and put plug back in and drove it around the block - first time ever.
All-in-all a good day. Jay