Blackrat engine startup update. How do y'all get it fired on first key turn!?!?

Everything buttoned up, primed, adjusted, filled, checked and rechecked. Pushed it out of the garage and got about 20 seconds worth of turn over before battery went dead. It is\was a new Optima so I am sure that it was just due to sitting as well as all the trouble shooting that I did trying to find the source of the water in #3 cylinder.

The battery has been on the charger all night so it should be good to go this morning.

Just to verify my distributor install.
When I dropped the distributor I was TDC on the balancer and compression stroke. This was verified by both looking at lifter position and placing a finger over #1 hole and feeling the compression. The rotor was pointing at the #1 cylinder and then I put the cap on and rotated the distributor body where #1 on the cap was right where the rotor was in pointing to #1 cylinder. Fuel bowls are full. There was no popping, spitting or sputtering during the 20 seconds of cranking.

Does all this sound right ? Any adjustments to my setup before I put the battery back in and start cranking?

I ordered the better camshaft core and I am breaking in with outer springs only, lots of cam lube, Rotella oil and GM EOS so hopefully wiped lobes are not going to be an issue.


Thanks
Wade

If you bumped it over with your finger in the #1 hole (keep it clean, guys) and it popped your finger out, then you lined the rotor with the cap at #1 and got the firing order right, it should go on the first shot. Give a couple of shots on the go pedal, count to 10, and crank. If the valve adjustment is close (I forget- hyd or solid cam?) then it should run..

Fill up the float bowls with fresh gas!!!!!! What was the tune on your carb? Might want to adjust the idle mixture a bit to fatten it up so you never run lean. Pull off the advance so you don't get a lot of advance.

The only car that has has started perfectly within like .5 of a second was a NASCAR. As far as carbureted engines

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVTt8u5bqxY[/ame]

I have always found you have to turn a little advance in the Dist to get it to fire. You have brought it up on #1 and set the dist as I always do. Now just crank the dist a little to give it some advance and IF the carb and acc pump has fuel hit the pedal a few times and it should fire up.

Thanks guys!

I have found that I have a voltage issue somewhere between the harness ignition wire and the distributor. I have 12v at the ignition wire when the switch is on. From there the wire runs into the MSD box 6AL box. The box has a dedicated power wire that runs to the big bolt on the starter and I have verified voltage there. The MSD feeds the coil and then a double wire with plug in plugs to the distributor. When should I see voltage on either side of the coil ?


Guys I am not trying to be a jerk on this last statement so please don't take it that way. I know some have strong opinions about MSD boxes. This is not the thread to express them please. I just need help tracing the problem. This is a fairly new box that was working fine when I pulled the motor. I have to go with what I have. This said thanks for any suggestions and advice you can give me.

Wade

Someone (Bird?) will have a wiring diagram for the MSD. That will be the first thing to look at.

I'm guessing that it's cranking and you're getting no spark? Check the coil wire- see if there's spark there. Maybe the cap/rotor died.

http://www.msdignition.com/1download.htm

Pick your poison. I don't know your specifics.

Yellow73SB said:

The only car that has has started perfectly within like .5 of a second was a NASCAR. As far as carbureted engines

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVTt8u5bqxY

Click to expand...

Well, not the ONLY one ever....
[ame=http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m270/sixfooter_01/?action=view&current=PICT0317.flv][/ame]

Thanks guys. I think it was my own fault. I ran the test that MSD recommends for testing the ignition and coil and I got spark as soon as I broke the short. Long story short it was either corrosion in the connection between the dizzy and the box or the fact that I "may" have not had the dizzy side of the coil wire seated all the way.

Motor fired last night!!! I was only able to keep it running for about 3 minutes before the PS control valve finally crapped itself and blew PS fluid on the headers. I have to clean up that mess today and then finish the cam break in.

Good news is I have great oil pressure (Thanks TimAT!) and no engine leaks....

Wade