1966 Barracuda 273 Died!!! HELP

RedFish said
I just noticed in your sig that this is a manual trans car too. That leads me a little more toward the timing chain.

Sorry, but I believe you looked at Chryslerfat's signature....mine is an automatic.

txstang84 said
In SBMs, the gear isn't held on the dizzy driveshaft...the gear is part of the oil pump driveshaft and the dizzy just has a slotted drive...

I didn't know that. I thought the gear was part of the dizzy. Just goes to show my limited knowledge on mopar engines.

txstang84 said
The cam turns the oil pump driveshaft, the slotted drive for the dizzy sits in the top of that driveshaft.

You sure the dizzy doesn't spin when you turn the engine over? If it was running fine after your close call then just suddenly died...that's kinda odd. I could see if the shaft sheared, but usually if that happens, the shaft will freewheel when you spin the rotor. Can you even get the few degrees of rotation from the timing plate, or is that locked up too?

I'm positive the distributor isn't spinning when I turn it over. I was able to look through the windshield and see that it wasn't spinning. I always had a helper looking. I didn't try moving the timing as I was trying to diagnose it in a parking lot and quit when I realized it wasn't an easy roadside fix. I ended up towing it home.

cosgig said
The cam drives the distributor drive gear and the oil pump by way of a hex shaft on the end of the drive gear. See the pic in xtangs post? That flat blade on the bottom of the distributor shaft is the only thing that drives the distributor!! First thing I would do is pull the distributor and check to make sure that tang is there and the distributor spins freely. Next, have someone crank the motor and look down the hole to make sure the gear is spinning. If it's not, you may have a busted timing chain as mentioned above. You can also back out the gear with a large flat bladed screwdriver and check the shaft to make sure the oil pump is still being driven. My bet is on the timing chain!! Geof

That's exactly what I was going to do. Gonna have to wait till this weekend to "dig" into it. I was really enjoying the car and was hoping to refrain from putting new parts in until winter.

Some great advice guys. Thanks. I'll post an update when I get it worked out. Also, will any small block mopar LA engine drop in, or would there have to be modifications done to make certain ones work? Just in case i decide to go with a different engine.