Here is how it currently sits: Firing order is 18736542 Found TDC by opening valve covers and locating cylinder 1 and timing it with distributor. Getting Fuel, Air, and Spark Nicson intake manifold with 2 Four Barrel carbs New spark plugs New gel battery with 800 CCA All that and nothing. Pulled plugs and they are wet with gas. Tried spraying starter fluid into carbs, nothing. Yesterday I was 180 degrees out on my distributor and i would get some backfiring. Today i corrected that and im not getting anything now. just the starter turning over the motor but nothing is igniting. What am i missing?
Seems fine. Don't have anything as a reference to. I did some reading, and I might be flooded. The carbs are leaking gas out of the seals. Not a big leak, but enough to wipe with a finger. I'm going to let the motor sit overnight, pull the plugs, clean them, and then try again.
so is this a fresh rebuild? Careful not to wash the cyl walls with all that flooding. you did not mention if there is compression in the cyl's. Tony at Ross Racing advised me to set the timing at 8btdc as that is where they like to run
For simple distributor remove and replace: Pull the distributor, pull number one plug, put your finger over the plug hole and crank it over till you feel compression coming up, rotate the rest of the way to put the pointer on tdc. Take the cap off the distributor but leave the rotor on. Lower the distributor and use the rotor to turn the distributor shaft to engage the oil pump drive, if the teeth engage pull it back up but keep the pump drive engaged. Rotate the shaft and re-engage where you want your rotor pointing at number one plug wire. Re-install the cap and wires, pay carefully attention to firing order and yes it rotates counter clockwise.
Do you have spark at the coil wire ? Do you have spark at the plug wire ? Do you have the coil wired up correctly ? You may have to put another set of plugs in . After flooding with this new crap gas sometimes the plugs won't fire. Be careful with the starting fluid . You are putting gas in the the crankcase every time you flood the motor. Ever see an oil pan blown up by over use of starting fluid? Not to mention drying out the cylinder walls and possibly scoring a wall. Good post by Paul about dropping the distributor.
Have you ever had this engine running? Did you rebuild it or is it a used engine? If used, have you checked the timing chain for slack. Back in the day I worked on many olds motors with jumped timing chains.
Good info. I tried it out this morning and it started to sputter. I'm thinking that I did flood the carbs. Pulled the plugs, blew air in the cylinders, dried off the spark plugs, and will try again later today. I'm getting spark at the wires and at the coil. Not sure what the compression numbers are reading (wet or dry) but it seems strong, based only on when the plugs are pulled and how much air shoots out when turning the crank to find TDC. I will run a more detailed compression test later. But good info. Thanks guys. I'll report back with what I find. Hopefully I can get this old beast roaring again.
If you got the cylinders real wet you may want to put a little oil in them. If you washed the cylinder walls down too much you may be too low on compression to start.
It looks like the plugs keep fouling. I even tried getting towed by another car, and a big ball of fire came shooting out of the carbs. I'm thinking that my jets are too big. Markings on the carbs say "GM 4 Jet Carburetor RP." I have two of those sitting on top of a Nicson manifold. I hear those come off of boats?
guess it would be time to pull some compression stats on each cyl so we can rule that out we have asked about the history on this engine, can you fill us in on that...new rebuild, older rebuild, good engine ran good when pulled in 1980 or just a junk yard dog??? if you have not done an intro as a new member you should complete this also before the "intro police" catch on
If you have a single carb manifold now would be the time to put it on until you get it running correctly. Then change to the multi-carb setup.
"a big ball of fire came shooting out of the carbs" A cylinder fired while an intake valve was open. Timing????? Jon.
I'll be sure to fill out a proper intro. But as for the motor, it was "said" running 10 years go. The guy that i purchased it from got it from a junk yard and heard it running in the original Oldsmobile. He also told me that he would spray WD40 and turn the motor over by hand to keep everything nice and lubricated. Lots of parts of the car has been rebuilt, but nothing was ever said about the motor. I do not have the original manifold, but am very tempted to buy one. I would rather get the car running before I sink anymore money than I have to, but I am running low on options. And no, I have not checked the timing chain. Was hoping to find a fix that didnt involve pulling parts off just yet. I was thinking that too. It happened when i was being pulled by a buddies car. But before that, it didnt backfire at all while trying it with the starter only.
Spoke to last owner and he never got the motor to run with the current dual carb set up. Going to look for a oem manifold and hopefully that fires it up.
Might help to indicate where you're located. Might be a HAMBer around the corner with a stock intake for you...
I had one of those "ran when pulled engines" just a few years ago. Put it in the rack and tried to start it after adding fresh fluids, plugs, checking for any stuck issues. Never could get it to fire. Pulled the plugs and ran a comp check only to find comp down around 30 in most cyl. Oil did not help the compression so I set it aside and gave it to a friend who is tearing it all apart for a rebuild. Before you go throw money after another intake I would check the compression.
I also discovered gas in my oil pan. Draining it now. I guess the carbs are leaking into the manifold.
can I cut off fuel to the rear carb and block off the air path way? Will fuel and air get to all 8 cylinders with just the front carb?
chance are good that you have washed the cyl walls with all that gas. Oil up those cyl's before you try to start it again. What are you using for fuel pump? Is there a chance that the pump is pumping fuel past the needle seat when carbs are full and flooding the engine? Look into the carb and see if you can see gas dribbling across the throttle blades. That engine may run with one carb. Worth a try, at this point.
Depends on the construction of the intake manifold!!! Maybe yes, maybe no. I wouldn't want to do it without examining the manifold. If you are going to try this; do it in reverse! Cut the fuel to the front carb and try it on the rear (again, I wouldn't, without examining the manifold). IF the manifold can work with only one carb, the primary side of the rear carb is closer to the center of the engine than the primary side of the front carb. I personally feel you have either cam timing or ignition timing issues; and would test in these areas. Jon.
I've just noticed that there's a resistor on my coil. I checked it and the volts going in to the resistor is 12 volts and coming out is 5.xx volts. should that be on there?
Depends on the coil ..... If it has an internal resistor, no. Sent from my Moto G Play using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
SHE FIRES!!! Points were off. I got it to fire with the rear carb only. Front carb is not getting fuel and I made a plate to block the air flow into the manifold. The car is still not turning over as easy. I have to move the dizzy around, give it some gas, and once in a while, hold my hand over the intake of the carb. I put cylinder #1 at TDC and then moved the dizzy till spark plug 1 sparked and then moved it a hair back to set my timing. Still wouldnt fire up as easy. So, would it help if i only blocked off the rear 2 barrels of the carbs on each one? So I'll be running a 2 two barrel carbs instead. Would that help it start up better?
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