Won't start

67Dart273 said
The depth of the piston has nothing to do with compression stroke or 1 turn (of the crank) "off" The piston is up at the TDC mark whether it's the no1 firing stroke or not.

There are two ways to find out, other than guessing

One was posted above, on V8's you can "stick your finger in" and feel for compression. You could also use a compression gauge

The second way "if you happen to have" the valve cover off, is bring the marks to TDC and see if both no1 valves are closed. If not, turn the crank 1 turn

Slants are more complicated because there is very little dist. movement, and the gear moves a bit as you drop it in. I guess you know there is a second bolt up under the dist.

OK, sounds like I need to double check TDC again. The paper towel trick might work better if I had a helper - isn't there a decent chance I'll just crank it past the compression stroke and end up somewhere in the exhaust stroke?

Regarding the 2nd bolt on the underside of the dizzy, what's that for? I haven't adjusted it at all since I've had the car. Does that give me additional rotation beyond just loosening the bolt on the block?

I don't have the valve cover off atm, but with the oil fill hole, I might be able to shine a light in there to see the 2 valves up front. Otherwise I should probably get a compression gauge - will hand cranking the motor slowly be enough to register on a gauge? With the fan on there, I'm only getting maybe 1/8th turn with a breaker bar.

Thanks, guys... I needed a sounding board and someone to set me straight.