Technical No start 56 fo. T bird 312 "

Problem with 56 Ford t bird......won't start ! Towed into shop has fuel . Spark ...cranks over good almost catches but............need some help from a Ford tech.........has us stumped. My cell number is .... 978 973 6422. Meengrinch

 

With spark and fuel it should start. What is the history of the engine and what is the last thing you did to it? Your answer is probably the key to solving the problem.

Charlie Stephens

 

Pull the valve covers and see if the rockers are moving. Worked on a friend's '57 Ranchero w/292 that had same symptoms. In this case there were 6 pushrods bent so badly they came off the lifter and fell into intake. Not sure why unless it got way over-revved. Fished them out, straightened and reinstalled and it fired right up. Yes in the end it got new pushrods.

 

How old is the fuel?
Good spark? Weakspark?
Has the engine been apart?
Timed correctly
Firing order correct?
Old tired engine? Compression test?
Stuck valves
Timing chain stretched ? Out of base timing?
How is it cranking? Fast? Slow?
Cylinders dry? Washed out with fuel?
What do the plugs look like?
Points and condenser condition?
Fuel pump pumping fuel into the carb?
What did you have for lunch?
Did you wipe front to back or back to front?

Lots of things to check but this can all be answered in about an hour or 2.

Let us know what you find.

 

Maybe find a "tech" who owns a compression gauge or tester ….

 

Timing chain/gear issues or no compression. Vandenplas covered the whole list though.
First thing I'd do is pull #1 plug and bring it up on compression, line the timing mark up on the damper and then check to see where the rotor is pointing.
I'd also check for slack in the timing chain by moving the crank back and forth while watching the rotor to see how much the crank turns before you get the rotor to turn.
It might be far from the first car that drove ok, drove into the garage and had the timing gear loose it's fiber teeth or had the chain jump time when you went to start it. I actually had one do it to me after I drove the car on the front end rack to align it and then went to back it off the rack when I was done. Customer who was probably in his 80's swore that I had damaged his engine until the engine mechanic showed him the parts.
The cylinders being washed down because of raw gas or the engine being so worn out that it doesn't have enough compression to run are possibilities too. I'd run a compression test somewhere in the process.