long story but. I was headed for the first day of hot Rod power tour. I had run 800 miles when it died and I coasted to the side. When I checked out the problem I found the distributor cap is loose and the hold down had vibrated and fell out. So while on the side of the road I fashioned a long bolt to make a hole down what I didn’t know was a piece of the dual sync cap Fell into the distributor and locked it up. When I tried to start it there was a loud clunk clunk clunk. Needless to say it never started and I had to get towed to the hotel. So after working on it in the hotel decided that distributor was trashed and I ordered a hyper spark. Now we get to the meat of the problem I installed the hyper spark and it would not fire until I turn the key off then it would backfire through the carburetor and try to run backwards It never did start again I had to haul it from North Carolina back to Southwest Florida so I have been working on it for a couple weeks now and nobody can figure out what is wrong. It will only run about 40° advanced it does it run good but it does run warms up the fans on it doesn’t have any power I haven’t even tried to drive it that way. I pulled out the hyper spark out put in MSD wired the sniper for no timing control to eliminate that. It still does the same thing so it has nothing to do with the sniper. I said it again this morning started with top dead center which is correct I pulled the timing cover to make sure. I set the distributor to 15° by my timing tape then cranked it without fuel and watch the timing light it showed 15°. Then I plugged in the fuel and cranked nothing I turn the distributor up to 30 or 40° it starts and runs pretty good. I have talk to every mechanic I know and everybody says I’ve already done what they would do even Chris from Efi pro has tried to help me. Does anybody know what this could be. I pulled the intake and check the Cam it looks good I did a compression check I had 155 to 160 on all cylinders I pulled the timing cover to make sure the chain didn’t jump it was fine I put a new intermediate shaft in but that was just cosmetic new wires new plugs I can’t find the problem.
Only runs 40 Degrees advanced
- Thread starter mr65cuda
- Start date
-
512Stroker
We are all here because we are not all there.
Boy that is strange
Perhaps your harmonic balancer has gotten out of whack and the timing tape is no longer true to TDC.
Is it a stock balancer or aftermarket?
Balancer is correct because I took the timing cover off and double checked with the marks on the timing chain and number one piston
Oh it is a LA 360 Hughs whiplash Cam ported stock heads sniper fuel injection. And yes I did pull the timing cover off to make sure the chain didn’t Jump. I added a chain tensioner while I was in there.
Does the distributor wire into the fuel injection system in any way? It almost sounds like an extreme lean condition. My inclination is that if everything checks out mechanically, as in proper firing order, rotor lining up with #1 at tdc, etc. that something screwy is happening with the electronics. Is it a locked rotor distributor or vacuum/mechanical advance? What kind of ignition coil and control module is it using? Any chance the the ignition box took a spike through the pick up unit from the secondary side of the coil when the distributor crapped out and knocked the cap off?
Chain/sprockets may be correct with piston at TDC- but in this position is the balancer TDC at zero on the timing cover?
You mentioned a new intermediate shaft, is it indexed properly to tdc? Lastly, do you have second timing light to check with? I had one die on me and it would have been worth it in aggravation alone to have bought four timing lights. It's 90 degrees of crankshaft rotation between each distributor post. At 40 degrees, it's almost halfway between terminals when firing.
B'cuda
Well-Known Member
No expert here, but a question , was the whiplash came installed dot to dot or advanced? I've been running pretty good with 36-38* total advanced on an old D.C. cam installed straight up not much though only 474 lift, and a DC electronic vac advance dis
It was jammed really hard it bent the bottom of the distributor shaft I will try to post that. But once it was twisted and acted like a screw and screwed it self up against the clamp and then slam back down and that’s what the clunk clunk was.
Yes the distributor is unlocked it has weights and does advance the timing. The sniper is completely unhooked from the timing section it is just acting like a carburetor. I have a 6AL and a MSD blaster coil. The box works great I can plug a distributor into it and spend it with my fingers and it will throw fire like hell. You can see the LED flash every time it is triggered.
The intermediate shaft can be placed anywhere as long as you sync it with number one cylinder and top dead center. The timing like I am using his new I do have another one but it runs like it is advanced because it is a week and if I turn it down to say 20° it will die. And I can see the timing advance as I rev the motor up.
Yes I installed it dot to dot no advance. It had been running very well. Until this happened it hasn’t run right Sense
Hey, someone posted that the pin sheared on the cam, but it turned over like it had no compression.
What if this scenario was similar?
Except cam never slipped as far.
What if this scenario was similar?
Except cam never slipped as far.
Yes something very screwy is happening to it. I have changed two or three distributors all of them act the same I even did a Slo mo video of the rotor firing. To see where it was hitting. I tried to post it but it was too big. I have checked TDC a number of times. I have checked firing order and rotation a number of times. What is wrong with this website now I haven’t been on here for a while I have to keep logging in every five minutes
Yes I thought that was possible and I checked that I had the cam gear off and even put a chain tensioner on it while I was there. Plus I had good compression on all the cylinders
Yes I checked that while I had the timing cover off
Man I was hoping somebody else had the same problem and knew what this was. I am baffled
Fuel issue? Vacuum leak?
Just suggestions.
My buddy had me chasing a timing issue and i finally gave him an ultimatum- bring me the carb or i will never go under your hood again.
Edelbrock. One bowl was totally gummed up. Cleaned it up and it was humming like its old self.
Just suggestions.
My buddy had me chasing a timing issue and i finally gave him an ultimatum- bring me the carb or i will never go under your hood again.
Edelbrock. One bowl was totally gummed up. Cleaned it up and it was humming like its old self.
Exactly what I was about to mention. Maybe run a vacuum gauge to see what it shows. Is it possible you have a carburetor you could switch over to just to check it out with? You would probably have to set up a separate fuel supply to do it with but I am really suspecting the fuel mixture.
I don't understand how a rich mixture changes the timing. Fuel is fuel and electrical is electrical. Educate me. If the physical components are assembled correctly- the cam is correctly installed, TDC on the balancer is also the piston at TDC (balancer is accurate), then I have to be thinking that we are getting a false signal from the timing light. I don't mean to insult your intelligence, but are you sure that you are hooked up to #1 wire? Does your timing light have an advance knob and is it set to "0"?
It wouldn’t be a rich mixture that would cause this issue, it would be a very lean mixture. Much like at cruise rpm when the cylinder charge gets diluted by exhaust and the carburetor is just off idle and it eats up to 52 degrees of mechanical and vacuum advance. But, if it were this lean, it would have a tendency to overheat. It sounds more like a vacuum leak or more likely that changing the sniper to not control the distributor has caused an unseen change in the fuel delivery curve. I would like to hear more specifics of the build, though. Displacement, camshaft type, static compression, etc.
But along those lines, I take it you are using an MSD timing light for the multiple spark discharge?
Doesn’t appear to be fuel because the sniper is still in complete control of the fuel and air it shows AFR that is in line with where it should be. It is trying to balance the idle at the normal setting of about 800 and the map sensor which is similar to vacuum is about the same as before. To put a carburetor in I would have to have a regulator plumbed in somehow. So I do not suspect fuel because I can read the AFR it is in the timing somehow I have compression I have fuel I just have spark at the wrong time somehow
10-4, that eliminates that, then. I take it your using a timing light that reads the multiple spark ignition properly, too. I’ve only heard of erratic timing readings instead of a way off reading when using a standard light with an MSD. If your timing tape is indexed to 360 degrees, I would check timing on all cylinders to see if it is the same.
-
