so, after pulling the engine in my '66 dart, installing the cam plug and the oil gallery threaded plug (after forgetting to install them on the first go around) we got the engine all buttoned up.

We tried to start her up and nothing.
test the starter and it is bad, replace and she turns over, but no running.

she will "fire" but wont run.

question:
Timing or carburetion?

I tried to adjust the distributor to see if that would help, but it didnt really produce much of an improvement.

The carb is a two barrel-progressive weber.

if it were you, what steps would you take to adjust carb/timing and get her running (even if badly, but staying on) to fine tune her to get her running well.?

specs: 225 bored over .060, new cam, lifters, valves, springs (all stock specs), clifford ram intake, weber 2barrel 32/36 Progressive carb, dutra duals, electronic ignition, and electronic charging system (from '73 dart).

Caesar

OK, I get that with a new starter the engine spins. What do you mean it fires, but doesn't run? If an engine fires, it's running. It starts and then dies as soon as you release the key? That's usually the ballast resistor.

Did this carburetor work previously? Is there fuel in the carburetor? Did you verify TDC #1 cylinder before installing the distributor with the rotor pointing to cylinder #1? Do you even have spark?

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Joshua

Recheck the valve adjustment and the distributor position.
Loose is better then tight with the valves at this stage.

To correctly position, find TDC on the compression stroke, use the timing marks and position it 10 degrees before TDC.
Position the distributor to point to the number one spark plug wire.
DD

Uh...no, that's not so. I'm sure you've worked with enough engines to have encountered at least one that would fire while cranking, but not strongly or consistently enough to stay running on its own. "Cranks and fires but won't run" is not at all unusual, and can be caused by carburetion, ignition, or timing issues.

I would start by verifying TDC vs. the mark on the crank pulley, then carefully rechecking the distributor position. It is so easy to get this wrong, even when you've done it many times before. A tooth off in either direction will produce results ranging from spitback through the carb to "cranks but won't fire" to "cranks and fires but won't run".

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Boy... I hear that on getting the distributor position correct and how hard that can be, even when you have done it countless times.

I just had this situation yesterday. I got a call from a local SL6 owner that could not get an newely rebuilt SL6 to run.
I stopped by his place, had him crank the engine and "heard" it skipping thru cylinders while cranking... re-adjusted the valves and found 2 tight ones... fixed that.

Next, checked the distributor's position, it was 180 out, reset it and the engine fired-up... after 5-6 seconds we shut it off because it had no oil pressure.
Pulled the filter, no oil inside. Poured oil into the filter and down into the oil pump, reinstalled and restarted... it ran with 55 lbs. of oil pressure.

Checked the timing and it was way advanced with no adjustment left in the slot. Silly me, I left my special SL6 distributor wrench at home so I pull the distributor and adjust the bottom slot / bolt... I do this 3 times and it's still not right so I leave the bottom bolt loose and finally get the timing where it needs to be, then carefully pull the distributor one last time to tighten the underside bolt.
What a pain this job is with-out the correct tool.
DD