Well, the engine is turning over and that's good. But all I've gotten thus far is a snort out the carburetor, so I'm wondering:

How much is there to timing? I took care of the cam and crank sprocket and dialed them in and aligned the timing there.

But what about the distributor and it's relation to number one piston? There's quite a detailed explanation in the ignition section of the FSM discussing what to do if the engine has been turned over without the dizzy in, and how to re-set the relationship. I did not follow this before re-installing the distributor and I think this would be a problem.

ALSO, the dizzy can rotate with the hold-down screw, and I'm wondering what position it should be in.

Anyone care to educate me?

Thanks

First find top dead center with both intake and exhaust valves closed on number one cylinder. You can do this by rotating the engine by the front pullywith a dowel placed in the removed spark plug opening. Watch as it rises. Mark your balancer for TDC then. In most cases the mark will be there in the right place already, but not always.

Then install the distributor so the rotor is pointing at number one wire tower. I have a cap I cut a section out of under number one so I can see the rotor. You can relocate the wires, or remove and reinstall the distributor until you get it right. As a tip, number the spark plug wires with the cylinder number themselves, and remove the wires from the plugs but keep them attached to the cap while fooling with the distributor. This gets them out of the way and the numbers make reinstall easy.

It should start then.

Sam

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On the initial fire up I went with 5 degrees (initial) BTDC and it ran fine and didn't get too hot.....I wouldn't go over 10 degrees initial for the break in process. After the initial 25 minute break in you can readjust the valve lash and reset the timing up to 10 degrees.

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Aggressive Ted

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74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

Follow sams advice on finding tdc with both valves closed. Do you have a remote start switch? I install the distributor with the cap off, in the ballpark of the #1 cylinder, then put the cap on. I leave the hold down bolt loose. hook up the timing light and put it in place where you can quickly grab it after the engine starts up. Crank the engine with the remote start switch and turn the distributor at the same time til she fires up. grab the timing light and set the base timing quickly. tighten the hold down bolt and bring idle up to 2500rpm to break in the cam.



Dont have a remote start? Put the ignition switch on, connect alligator clip to battery, and another clip to small lug on starter. When you touch the 2 seperate wires together it'll crank.

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70 Plymouth Valiant 4dr

Make sure you are on TDC compression and not exhaust stroke. Next thing i would try would be to check if your even getting spark to the plugs.

Should have alerted you that I figured out the distributor orientation correctly. We're running and in the fine-tuning stages now. But thanks!