SonicBlueFiveSlow

Ok guys, here's the deal. I had planned to degree my cam tomorrow as I am 95% positive that's the reason I can't get it to start. I bought a degree wheel kit from Summit and it came with a wheel, dial indicator with magnetic base, piston stop, lightweight checking springs yada yada yada. The motor is in the car, the heads are on, headers are connected, intake and carb are all on.

I had planned to take the readings right off the tip of the pushrod, but from what I've been reading I need a solid lifter or else the plunger in the hyd. lifter will collapse and my readings will be inaccurate. How much truth is there to this? I don't have an old lifter that I can use to convert into a solid one and I have no way of buying one in time to have it for tomorrow.


Cliffs; Want to degree cam tomorrow, motor in car, all assembled, has hydraulic lifters and heard you can't degree with them because the plungers will collapse.

projectresto83

Well what have you done to check the other possibilities? I.E. fuel, timing, compression................ The most common issue is the timing is of.
List your setup and what you have done to check the problem.....

mjr46

you won't get accurate readings if the lifter collapses..ie is not a solid/converted lifter

SonicBlueFiveSlow

I'm getting fuel, I had a nice strong blue spark with the HEI (I have a full Mallory setup now) compression is good...put my finger over #1 plug hole and had someone crank it, it blew my finger off with some force. When we were messing with it last to try and get it to fire she would just sit there and chug and occasionally pop...

We fooled with the distributor quite a bit and then only thing it would do is pop, sometimes through the header and sometimes once or twice through the carb.

TrimDrip

Could the distributor be 180 out?

projectresto83

Your timing is off and you need to restab your dizzy.

Joel5.0

What is the cylinders cranking compression pressure? For a cam position to cause a no start, it would have to be a tooth off, in which case, valves would have bent...... which will show in a cranking compression test. FYI.... check the orientation of the distributor as explained here. Also make sure the firing order on the distributor cap is correct, starting with #1, CCW, 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8, passenger side cylinders are 1-4 and driver side are 5-8.

If you still want to degree the camshaft, all you need to do is remove the #1 cylinder rockers and check the tappet lift from tip of the pushrod after setting the dial indicator as parallel as possible with the pushrod. The pressure of the dial indicator will not collapse the HR lifter.

SonicBlueFiveSlow

If I was a tooth off retarded, would that cause exhaust valve clearance issues?

AdderMk2

it could, yes

TrimDrip

if it was 180 out, it would be firing with the exhaust valve open one way, then when you turn the distributor, it would be firing with the intake valve open. Thus the reason it is backfiring ever which way.