OMG HEEEELLLPPPP!!!

[jlangholzj]

As some of you know, I recently put in a new cam. w00t for me, or soo i thought.....

When I got her all put together it ran, but the valves were of course a bit noisy, but I knew that could be fixed.

broke in the cam and aside from some popping and roughness that i figured to be timing, it ran ok a 2k.

SOOO, i pulled the stang back into the shed and about that time dad showed up, and we set the valves. I put the valve coveres back on and crancked......nothing. I tried setting the distributor one way or the next, nohting. Every now and again I got a big BOOM of a backfire. but thats it.

I thought maybee I was 180* off, so a turned the rotor, nothing.

My next thought was maybe I set them too tight, and they really never close. So I backed off the valves quite a bit and still, nothing.

I swear that I had that distributor at every notch on the gear and still, NOTHING!

I set the #1 piston @ TDC on Compression and even when I set the rotor at the #1 point on the cap, i figured that It would atleast fire. still, NOTHING!

we pulled all of the plugs at the cylenders and they all have spark. The only thing that I can think of to do next is to have some one rotate the crank and pull the plugs one by one and see I they fire when they are supposed to.


THis whole darn thing is ....ing me off!! probally because it's so simple that it's right in front of me.

so what do you guys think?? what's going on here??

I'm almost starting to think that they sent me a craprolet cam

 

[BornInAFord]

I'd suggest it probably is a combination of common issues--I suspect timing and vacuum leaks as these would produce some of the symptoms that you describe. Get a timing light as this is one of the more useful tools for your situation. Another useful tool is a vacuum gauge. They should cost less than $50 for the two of them...

When you set your #1 TDC, are you sure it was on the compression stroke? You are pretty close (the car ran, but "may" have had a vacuum leak when you broke in your cam), but I think you might have gotten turned around when moving the dizzy w/o a timing light. Good luck, you are almost there! Let us know what you find.
Daniel

 

[Nosboss]

An easy way to make sure you are on the compression stroke is to pull the #1 spark plug and put your thumb over the hole as someone turns the engine over. Once you feel the air being pushed past your finger you are on the compression stroke. Now you can look at the timing pointer to find TDC of the #1 cylinder.

If you don't get any air being pushed past your finger then you have one of two things going on... valves are out of adjustment or possibly bent valves.

 

[D.Hearne]

Sounds like you may have suffered a wiped cam like hundreds of others. Might be time to pull the intake back off and check the lifter bottoms. If the lobes are wiped, the lifter bottoms will also be destroyed.

 

[1966ponyguy]

Also check

I know it sounds simple, now, but there is a post here from me with lots of help from everyone that describes the same problems I was having. Beat my head on a wall checking and re-checking everything in the world; except the rotation of the distrub rotor. Had the plug wires going in the wrong direction from #1 terminal. Can't blame anyone else, spent way to long on the hard stuff to notice the easy stuff.

 

[mr-fixit]

I know it sounds simple, now, but there is a post here from me with lots of help from everyone that describes the same problems I was having. Beat my head on a wall checking and re-checking everything in the world; except the rotation of the distrub rotor. Had the plug wires going in the wrong direction from #1 terminal. Can't blame anyone else, spent way to long on the hard stuff to notice the easy stuff.

Good tip! Been there, done that. I also put a cam in a 289, could not get it to run right under 2000 RPM, turns out for that cam, I needed to use the 351W firing order.

 

[Edbert]

While all good info there's something missing in there...

You removed the valve covers from a running engine.
You adjusted the rockers, replaced the covers and now it wont even fire much less start?

Are you SURE nothing else changed?

I know it has now, but if you can backtrack your steps we can figure out what else changed.

 

[BornInAFord]

]I swear that I had that distributor at every notch on the gear and still, NOTHING!

I set the #1 piston @ TDC on Compression and even when I set the rotor at the #1 point on the cap, i figured that It would atleast fire. still, NOTHING!

He also move the dizzy around a bit.

I didn't even think about it, but I think D. Hearne speaks wisdom here. The newer oils have caused a whole batch of recent lobe muching. If nothing else, pull the valve covers again, rotate the engine by hand/ratchet (with the coil disconnected and the car in neutral) and follow all the rockers as they move up/down.

I hope it's something simple/overlooked. Good luck!
Daniel

 

[jlangholzj]

I'm sorry for being such an idot.... but whats a wiped cam?? lol

I used plenty of assembly lube installing it but besides that, can i run into trouble??

also I put in fresh 15W-40 and a new filter on the install.

 

[D.Hearne]

Wiped cam and lobes = not good. This happens when the lobes and lifters fail to wear in together or in the case of my two failures (a single lobe each on two cams) the lifter fails to get spun by the cam lobe on initial fireup. When this happens, the damage takes place in the first thirty minutes of run time. Borninaford's advice on removing the valve covers and observing the movement of the springs while slowly rotating the crank is a good idea. Usually if there's just one or two that wiped, those will be easy to spot and be noisy little devils too when the engine's running. The recent rash of cam and lifter failures wasn't just due to the lack of zinc in modern oils, it was also due to a change in the Parkerizing on the cam lobes and bad lifters. And sometimes too much lube on the lobes is as bad as not enough. The cam lobe fails to grip the lifter bottom enough to spin it in it's bore. Flat tappets don't simply ride the lobes, they spin at the same time, this reduces the wear between the lobe and lifter.

 

[Fast63]

I know it sounds simple, now, but there is a post here from me with lots of help from everyone that describes the same problems I was having. Beat my head on a wall checking and re-checking everything in the world; except the rotation of the distrub rotor. Had the plug wires going in the wrong direction from #1 terminal. Can't blame anyone else, spent way to long on the hard stuff to notice the easy stuff.

just in case anyone is wondering, the dist. rotor spins counter-clockwise.

Also, cam manufacturers are now recommending using a diesel oil for break-in of new cams because they still retain zinc in the oil. The recommend shell rotella or delo 400, maybe some other brands. I put delo 400 in my new engine, but haven't fired it up yet. It's 15W-40.

 

[rbohm]

before you start digging back into the engine, start by getting back to basics;

check the firing order
check to make sure the intake is properly torqued
check that the carb is properly tightened down
check that all vacuum connections are tight and not leaking
check the vacuum hoses for cracks
check that you have proper fuel pressure
make sure the plug wires are in good condition and are properly separated
check your ignition timing
run the valves again, and set them a tad loose. you can adjust them properly later.