won't start.

There is no screw on the carb that controls fuel mixture. The screw that you are talking about controls the idle AIR mixture. By screwing it in, you have made it even MORE rich at an idle and it will flood worse. Screw it all the way in and back it out about 2-1/2 turns. It can be readjusted when you get it running.
Sometimes even trying to burn the plugs off like that it still won't work. Once a plug gets fouled like that it is very difficult to start in an already flooded engine. If you are short on cash you can try it though. Before you put the plugs in, turn the engine over several times with the starter to help disipate the fuel in the cylinders.
Did you do a compression test? Did you double check the distributor for firing on #1 cylinder? You haven't mentioned any of this.
I hate to keep beating a dead horse on this, but if you are going to get it started these things need to be done.
Ed

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why didnt you say that in the first place.

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Mike,

I just wandered off into Stupidville for a minute. That's in Klewless County, just south of the Whatthehay river, in the Great State of Confusion. :D

Like you said, I never worried about the cam after I put it in dot-to-dot. Next in line was valve adjustment, then proper distributor installation.

Kinda like driving an automatic. . . you don't need to worry about the next gear.

it's wanting to fire. It kicks over just won't quite make it. I did a compression test

#1 140
#2 165
#3 150
#4 160
#5 95
#6 160
#7 120
#8 160

would a lifter out of adjustment cause a low compression on #5?

I have an edelbrock 1405 and i double checked the timing today. I watched the valves on #1. after the intake valve opened I lined up the balancer to 10 btdc and dropped the distributor in right at #1

Hmmm I don't have an oil squirter. I used to have a syring that I injected tranny fluid into my air tools if I can find that I'll use it

if I'm not mistaked #5 was the blackest of the bunch

put about 1 1/2 ccs of oil in it and it didn't help any

is the compression on the rest ok? would that one cylinder keep me from starting?

I'll get new plugs tomorrow and I'll check the valves. I'm thinking it'll be an intake valve. I'm getting a whoosh everyonce in awhile through the carb

i appreciate everyone's patience. Actually this is the first time I ever used my 300 dollar snap on compression gauge. It's just been sitting there looking pretty

my biggest fear is somewhere along the line I bent a valve

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Originally posted by Henry Rifle
On a Chevy V8, aren't the cam and crank timing marks supposed to line up at 6 and 12 (dot-to-dot) rather than at 12 and 12?

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As I started reading the thread I thought no spark.

But as the timing issue came up - the dot-to-dot at #1 TDC immediately came to mind.

Bert

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Originally posted by firebird45331
that's what I've been saying, Everyone keeps telling me that my car won't start because I aligned them originally at 12 & 12. I aligned them last night at 6 and 12 and it still won't start.

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if you know for a fact that your timing gears will come dot to dot at some point in time while you are turning the motor then your cam is in time. now you can move on to something else. run through the valves and take all the slack out of them, get the #1 cylender on comp. stroke by blowing your finger off and putting the timing mark on TDC. after you do that then drop the dist into the motor on #1 in the cap. wire the motor, be sure you have gas and ign. cranke motor. should start. if it dont go back to "A" and do it again. if you are in time, cam and dist. got gas, got ign. valves opening and closing then it should start. it would have to be a very bad vac. leak to keep it from cranking. be sure to recheck the plugs they will foul out quick sometimes with a no start. other wise i dont know. :CRY:

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Originally posted by Hurst01
Hey, Mike,
Neat looking avatar you have . Does your truck look that good?
Ed

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no! i really dont have any good pic gonna take some before to long.:cool:

some more in the gallery

before I foul out a new set of plugs tomorrow afternoon. should I have the choke open or close?

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Originally posted by firebird45331
before I foul out a new set of plugs tomorrow afternoon. should I have the choke open or close?

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if the carb. is squirting fuel you dont need no choke. dont keep pumping it either, if it dont crank. it dont take much fuel to start a motor or run it at idle. :cool:

I'm still getting a backfire right when I first crank it, but I have a feeling I have the intake valve on 5 too tight or is bent. and I do believe I'm flooding the piss out of it. My old quadra jet needed 5 or 6 pumps to get it to start. I mean it's only backfired right when I first crank it. sounds like a fart under the car. The it whooshes throught the carb.

Quote:

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Originally posted by firebird45331
I'm still getting a backfire right when I first crank it, but I have a feeling I have the intake valve on 5 too tight or is bent. and I do believe I'm flooding the piss out of it. My old quadra jet needed 5 or 6 pumps to get it to start. I mean it's only backfired right when I first crank it. sounds like a fart under the car. The it whooshes throught the carb.

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whooshing and farting sounds like me in the morning, a good cup of coffee will fix that. i thought you had a problem. :LOL: :LOL:

I don't drink coffee
been know to take a shot of vodka in the morning though

which brings me to a point. I'll have a bottle of whiskey here for the first person who comes here and gets this friggin car running so I can at least drive it.

It's maker's mark, it's the best I've ever had.

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Originally posted by firebird45331
It's maker's mark, it's the best I've ever had.

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thats what made me do all those things, had to quite drinking. if youre drinking vodka that early in the morning might be the reason you cant get the motor started late at nite. maybe you need to work on the motor in the morning. i know you dont want to hear this, but if its not inside the motor i bet you i can have it running in less than 15 min. just joking about this other stuff. if its making whooshing and farting sounds its out of time. which way is the rotor turning? your doing something wrong over and over. :confused: one valve out of adj. ant gonna keep it from running. i dont know. :CRY:

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Originally posted by Henry Rifle
Mike,

I just wandered off into Stupidville for a minute. That's in Klewless County, just south of the Whatthehay river, in the Great State of Confusion. :D

Like you said, I never worried about the cam after I put it in dot-to-dot. Next in line was valve adjustment, then proper distributor installation.

Kinda like driving an automatic. . . you don't need to worry about the next gear.

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i was up in confusion yesterday. this is a few things i dont worry about no more.
pulling the leaver on a automatic foot brake release.
or dimming the lights on a car with auto. dimmers.
or cutting the lights off on cars with timers on the lights.
or lock or un-locking auto. door locks.
that's some of the things I don't spend a lot of time worrying about . ill bet other people on here have other little things they dont spend a lot of time think to much about it either.
:whacked:

firebird45331 didnt mean to jump your post. couldnt help myself. i think i got into your vodka.

Firebird, lets go through a valve adjustment to see if we can help you out on this.
Turn the engine clockwise from the front while watching the intake valve for #1 cylinder (drivers front). After you see it open AND close, watch for the timing marks to come up and stop on Top Dead Center. That is the firing position for #1 cylinder. (Good time to reasure that the distributor is pointing the right way) Loosen all the rocker arms so that there is no doubt that they are loose.
With the #1 cylinder at TDC the following valves can be adjusted: Exhaust- 1,3,4,8. Intake- 1,2,5,7.
Turn the engine one complete revolution until the timing marks are again at TDC which will put #6 cylinder in position to fire. At this time the following valves can be adjusted. Exhaust- 2,5,6,7. Intake- 3,4,6,8.
When adjusting, GENTLY wiggle the rocker while slowly tightening the nut. When you feel the wiggle BARELY go away, stop. This should be Zero lash. Then go to the next one and do the same until you go through the cycle. After you go through all of them, start at one end or the other and tighten them an adidional 1/2 turn, no more. The book calls for 3/4 turn, but I have found that used lifters tend to have a slight miss sometimes. This eliminates a lot of confusion on which ones are tightened enough or not. Should you feel like you have over tightened any of them, back it off and do it again. You can take a piece of chalk and put a mark above each rocker somewhere after you adjust it so that you don't lose your place.
Recheck the compression on the questionable cylinders for reassurance if you want. It only takes a few minutes to completely go through the adjustment. It takes longer to remove the valve covers than it takes to adjust the valves.
Ed

gently wiggle the rockers or the pushrods?

where's jeffersonville indiana?

Hi there

I agree with the guys, it sounds like the timing is resonably close, you are getting good compression on most cylinders, it should start. A couple things to check:

Is the starter motor turning it over fast enough to fire?
Is the fuel old, ie oxidised and no good, maybe set up a temporary gravity feed fuel tank with new high octane fuel?
Is the carb clear and letting air in, take air filter off and see what happens when cranking it over.
Are you getting good spark at each cylinder, ie fuel and air going in with compression, good spark will make fire even if timing is out a little bit.

I would check the easy stuff.
Justin

Firebird,
You can gently wiggle the rocker or you can take all the verticle movement out of the pushrod. the idea is to take al the movement out of the pushrod and rocker WITHOUT compressing the lifter any. ZERO LASH.
I don't know how you adjusted the valves before. I wanted to give you the correct procedure of adjusting them. By following the procedure I outlined to you, I usually always go ahead and seal the valve covers with RTV sealant (I don't use gaskets). When the enging heats up the valves will be even tighter, so no need for a 3/4 turn a that the factory recommends.
Ed

ok all adjusted and the new plugs are in. Just waiting for the battery to charge. Have a question on #5 I found my adjustment was was too loose, would that cause low compression too if the valves weren't opening enough?

most of the time if it opens at all it will get enough air to show comp. but one cylinder shouldnt keep it from running. :HMMM:

well I'll probably know tomorrow or later tonight after the battery is done charging. I replaced the plugs and adjusted all the lifters. hopefully this works. It doesn't matter if I set the balancer at 10 tdc or 0 does it? I set it at 10 and dropped the distributor in at #1. Guy at work told me that would make my timing off by 50 degrees. I was like wtf?

firebird45331 now that you got a min. mix you self a vodka and walk us through how you gonna start this car. starting with the TDC marks

vodka? it's about gone, got some wonderful whiskey though. as it sits now I planned on putting the battery in and cranking it. I believe it's at #6 tdc. I have the new plugs in, I double checked the wires. I have the balancer set at 10 degrees before tdc and I have the distributor pointing at #1. Well actually right now with #6 being at tdc it should be pointing at 6. I did check the pin in the distributor gear and it was there. I screwed the adjustment screws in and backed them out 2 1/2 turns. I don't know about edelbrock carbs though when it comes to cranking time. Do they need pumped? should I close the choke? As stated earlier I had to pump my old quadrajet 7 or 8 times to get it started.

untill you get that timing right it never gonna start. you have no idea where the timing is. if i sound up set i am. you can be sure about all of this before you ever turn the motor over and then you wouldnt have all this problem. im trying to tell you how to know where you timing is not guessing. go back and read what you wrote. if you will do what i tell you i belive the car will start.

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Originally posted by lt1s10
untill you get that timing right it never gonna start. you have no idea where the timing is. if i sound up set i am. you can be sure about all of this before you ever turn the motor over and then you wouldnt have all this problem. im trying to tell you how to know where you timing is not guessing. go back and read what you wrote. if you will do what i tell you i belive the car will start.

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Keep swingin' 'til the bell rings, Mike :LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL:

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Originally posted by techinspector1
Keep swingin' 'til the bell rings, Mike :LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL:

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im gonna start this car one way or another:whacked: firebird45331 dont make me come up there. :LOL:

firebird45331 dont make me come up there. :LOL: [/B][/QUOTE]

lol by all means please do. I have whiskey for ya. or rum

I am sure that my timing is set at 10 degrees btdc. I did it according to a previous post. I turned the engine and watched the intake valve open open and close. I brought the line up to 10 degrees. I have my distributor marked for #1. I reached in the distributor hole with my screwdriver. I checked the position of the oil pump fitting and turned it to match closely to the distributor. i dropped the distributor in and seated it. I made sure the rotor was pointing at the mark I made on my distributor and I tightened it down. Then I adjusted the lifters according to a previous post. According to the post then turned it one revolution to #6 TDC. before I start it tomorrow I'll pull the cap to make sure I'm pointing at 6, but if everything I did up to this point is correct then it will be pointing at 6. and that's how it's sitting now.

im not sure you know where the valves are. forget the valves if you got all the slack out of them. turn the motor over with your finger over the #1 hole untill the comp. blows it off. move the timing pointers to 0 on the HB. then tell me where the rotor is.

dont do no more or no less than what im telling you

what sucks about doing it that way Is I have have to use a 5/8 deep well on a 1/2 in ratch and do it one handed until I feel compression and the sob ends up slipping off and I take the skin off my hands on the fan motors and power steering pump. When I see the intake valve open and close I put my finger over it and I feel compression

put something in the hole like a rag. something that cant keep going. once you feel the comp. how far do you have to move it to line up the marks?

Firebird,
Did you rotate the distributor like I said to check if the spark is in the right place? I hate that you are trying to chase around everyone's ideas, but everyone is really trying to help you. Everyone also has their own techniques on this sort of problem. I would have liked to have had you set the timing at around 12-14 degrees BTDC, but 10 will probably do it. It may be a little slow. It does make a difference. If it is set at TDC and aligned up with #1 on the distributor cap it will definitely be too slow and hard to start.
I hate to mention it because I don't normally do it, but I am tempted to tell you to use starting fluid rather than a choke or pumping it. Starting fluid is less likely to flood it. It also would not have hurt to have a squirt of oil in each cylinder to enhance the compression. With all the gas that has been in there the rings are probably washed down and could cause compression to be slightly low. I wish that I could be there with you to help start it.
Ed
Ps, Tell your coworker I said he is goofy.