Rebuilt 318 Refuses to Start
I think I cleared out the carb when I pulled it, but I can't say for sure. I'll take a gander at it today. I suppose it won't hurt to throw some oil down in the cylinders as well. Should I attempt to start it at TDC on the harmonic balancer, or do I want to advance it before I try starting it? Also, is it normal for the gas mist to come out of the carb while cranking?
I'd sure put at least 5-10 degrees of advance in, but it should start with 0 ignition advance. To tell the timing: Are looking at where the tooth on the reluctor wheel on the distributor shaft lines up with the small blade of metal in the reluctor itself to tell the timing relative to the damper mark? If not, are you using a timing light?
Mist back up the carb: Sounds possibly like just a lot of fuel in the carb; too much fuel pumped in, or the carb gummed up? Or, if it is pushing back up with any speed, it can be a valve timing or valve closure issue. What type of lifters? If hydraulics, did you pump up the lifters with oil? If so, this could be hanging the valves opens. The easy way you would know this is with a compression test. IMHO, you need to do that and stop messing around not knowing and borrow a compression gauge; guessing from the air wooshing out of the plug hole won't really tell you much anything except that the rods are connected....
If the valves are not hanging open, then the cam timing could be off. Again a compression test is the first easy way to check to see if it is waaay off. Then pull a valve cover and rotate the crank past the TDC timing mark on the damper. Either the #1 or #6 cylinder intake and exhaust valves should be about equally open with the intake opening and the exhaust closing as it moves past TDC. This is a rough check to see if things are way off or close.
You are right about degreeing the cam but if this cam is new, or the chain is new, then you could indeed have wrongly machined parts. Degreeing the cam is also all about getting the cam timing spot on; small errors in parts machining can add up to throw it off several degrees; 2 degrees is gonna show up on the track.
And sorry... .DON'T put in a 1/2 cup of fuel down the carb if that is what you mean. (I think someone was pulling your leg...) It'll fire off a teaspoon full if things are right.
