383 build no power
this is what I found when I tore it down this is supposed to be tdc
If #1 piston is in fact at TDC, then the cam is out.
But;
Simply spinning the crank over to put the crank dot straight up, on a multi-keyway sprocket, "means squat".The piston has to be at TDC no matter what.Then if the cam dot is at either 6 or 12 oclock, it is just close enough to work; on a chebby. Us Mopar guys always degree our cams, to see exactly where it falls in, and to fine-tune it, if needs be. Right? Well, on our hotrods we do.Right? Okay mostly we do..........If the sprocket is out just one tooth, then you get what you got; disappintment.
Very early in my wrenching days,I was asked by my soon-to-be brother-in-law,to see why his teener wouldn't start.Unbeknownest to me she had stripped a few of those pesky nylon teeth,and the cam was way out.Not being the brightest bulb in the pack, I thought the timing had just slipped. I mean, that's what the lite was telling me, so I just cranked the dizzy, until it began to fire.Soon I had it firing, but it sounded flooded, so I held the throttle to WOT. Well, sure enough, it fired up;and stalled the instant I released the butterflies. Well I figured out pretty quick, it was
really flooded. So I tried again, this time keeping the throttle open all the way, with one hand, whilst twisting the dizzy around, until I found a happy place and the engine actually ran. With the throttles pegged. At some ridiculously low rpm that I estimate mightabin 400rpm. This was about 1976, so at age 23, I was still pretty clueless.
Slowly, it began to dawn on me that this might be more than a flooded engine with a slipped dizzy.The rest of the story gets fuzzy, but soon I had the T-cover off, and there it was; lotsa missing nylon teeth, and the chain kindof draped over what was left. Thinking what a hero I was gonna be, I procured the parts and went to town. Yup, I degreed that set right there on the workbench, getting the dots lined up. Then when I went to slip the set on, nothing lined up, of course. Well I was just bright enough to know that the crank didn't really have to be in any particular spot, so long as my sprockets didn't lose mesh with the chain. So, okay, no biggy, just rotate the bottom sprocket until it gets started, and then start the top one, right? Well, the cam keyway was nowhere to be found. Oh, wait, I think I see it;way over yonder. Yup, that sweetheart was out several teeth. Well you can guess the rest of the story.
The point of the story is this; teeners will run with the indexs off by "several"teeth. But you will have to be very creative, or incredibly lucky, to find the magic combination to make it happen, and you certainly can't drive it like that.
The engine was in a nearly mint 71 Demon, which, some years later, became my DD. No valves were kissed, so Ima thinking Harold(the owner) was a very lucky guy.