WillBilly53

Yeah, it absolutely demolished the gear. Gonna hear from the shop tomorrow, though! But yeah, need to look at the carb closer. Lamar let me borrow a working fuel pump and its definitely working. Got fuel all the way to the pancake filter (we replaced the glass bowl for the time being because it was pretty gunked up) but no fuel pumping in the carb. So gotta see about the carb... So much fun!

Here's a quick clip from yesterday. thanks Lamar! Almost there!

All in all Lamar and I had a successful day. She started, but couldn't keep it up as now it seems the carb is not getting fuel. By the way, we redid the timing and the rotor was 180 degrees off. We corrected it and that solved the firing issue right off the bat. I've been videotaping so I'll post a link to some footage once I edit it a little. I screwed up though and busted the starter. My hand slipped when hitting the throttle and didn't fully engage the starter. It seems to have been just enough to tear off the piece that slips into the teeth of the flywheel. I'm gonna find someone in town to fix it and in the meantime grab the spare one off the the parts car in NC this weekend. But like I said it was a great day!

Ha-ha! Sounds like the Petronix is coming off today...

LOL, Yep, I screwed up big time!

Yes, I think Lamar had mentioned making a mark on the pulley for future timing when he was over. And yes I assume also that the "5" stamping stands for 5 degrees BTDC as the manual indicates setting to this tooth is 5 BTDC. Fingers crossed for this weekend! -bell housing! Yep, still learning my terminology.

Yeah, Lamar can confirm, it's a pain the neck. There's a sight hole about a square inch with a sight pin and its located on the block back towards the trans on the drivers side. I tried everything from setting up my camera and zooming in to buying a toy telescope to magnify just to see the correct tooth on the flywheel. Apparently it would be knurled and painted yellow on the edge, but the paint had obviously worn off and I couldn't feel any knurling. It's also stamped with a "5" but I couldn't see it through the sight hole, so that's why I got underneath and took of the cover off. Found it in 5 secs. That was just to find the correct tooth, not even set it. whew!

Found it! I do believe that's a "5" indicating the timing mark on the flywheel tooth. *marks with yellow paint pen*. Instead of looking through the tiny sight hole up top, i decided to take off the cover underneath on the transmission to expose about 1/4 of the entire flywheel. Much easier to find the "5" stamp.

Yeah man, count me in with engine pulling and what not! I'm thin and got skinny fingers so I can get into small places pretty well. I hope Saturday will work out too. Thanks!

Hey Adam! Thanks for asking. Nothing as of yet. She still wont turn over. She keeps trying and now that Mr Earl and I spent Sunday priming the oil pump, she definitely turns smoother. He came over last Saturday and Sunday and has been helping me with some troubleshooting and general this should go here, that should go there stuff. We're pretty confident that all that is left is setting the timing. He brought over a fuel pump that seems to be working. I think I need to adjust the carb too, but I haven't been able to play with her this week (been finishing building out my art studio in the back yard) MrEarl is going to try to come order again this weekend to help out some more. More news soon...

Well, I've got brand new gas tank and fuel lines. Dang it! Gonna check the timing now...

Awesome, thanks for everybody's encouragement and advice. I got a little over 10 gallons in the tank per Old Tank. I'm still not confident the pump is working, but it may be my impatience. Thanks Brad for the fuel filter tip. There's an old glass bowl in line just before the carb, similar to the one from a Chevy like you suggested. It still isn't getting any fuel. And thanks Alfa for the reassurance on the spinning noise. I've got a pertronix electronic ignition and that's the flamethrower coil mounted that you see in the photos. I couldn't find the original, it may be with my parts car back in north Carolina. I'm going to reassess the carb to ought and double check the timing while I'm at it and give her another go tonight. I'll keep y'all updated of course. Thanks agin for everybody's help.

So I re-rebuilt the pump. Everything was correct, valves and such, but this time I maintained pressure on the rock arm while installing the fuel diaphragm and cover (which I don't think I did years ago). I now can hear suction when I move the arm manually. So I reinstalled it yesterday and man does it keep trying. For a second it things were spinning faster and I could here the pistons firing in succession and I thought it was a go but then went back to chugga chugga. The fuel bowl before the carb is still dry as a bone. The 2 barrel stromberg carb that I rebuilt around the same time as the fuel pump seems kind of janky, so I'm going to remove it as well and re-rebuild it, lol. the throttle linkage as stated before is goofy and not working with the carb and seems to be missing a crucial piece that I don't remember or see in any of my boxes. When I turn the key to "on" it immediately tries to start until I either depress the vacuum switch on the carb or turn the key to "off". This makes sense, right? - since my accelerator/throttle linkage is non-functioning at the moment? One concern - I was trying last night and a couple of times it would chugga chugga for a bit but then I would just hear spinning, but the crankshaft, fan blade and generator would not be moving. This scared the hell out of me and I'd shut it off immediately. I'm not in the middle of ruining this "brand new" engine, am I? No worries Lamar, I'll be around this weekend. I work Thursday and Friday night at the bar, but I'll be working on Naomi Saturday and Sunday.

So I had a buddy of mine come over who knows more than me about cars. We started doing some trouble shooting and definitely have spark but definitely no fuel going to the carb. The problem seems to be the fuel pump that I rebuilt years ago. I removed it from the engine but kept the intake line from the tank connected. I manually moved the rocker arm up and down to see if it would spit some fuel out of the outtake. Nothing at all. Dry as a bone. I'm sure I did something wrong back then so I'm going to re-rebuild it today. I've got a couple of questions regarding these pumps. The manual says the fuel and vacuum sides are completely independent from each other, so I assume I don't have to have the connection to the wiper motor connected in order for it to still pump fuel, correct. However I noticed one of the other outs on the vacuum side runs to the intake manifold which to have connected. Please forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is this for? I'd honestly like to just get an aftermarket single action pump and then convert the wipers to electric. Also, is there a way to test the fuel pump for operability while it is not installed? I'm thinking of hooking a spare line/hose to the intake to a jar of PB or fuel and a hose on the outtake to an empty jar then manually move the rocker arm. I have an old spare off my parts car that I'd like to test.

Anyone know of an aftermarket single action fuel pump for a 322 V8?

Guess those photos weren't much better. Anyways, so I checked the oil level and we were off about a quart and a half. So replenished that. Poured a swig of gas in the carb and tried again. I got some, what I would call, compression "pops" (not backfire though) and the rotation sounded a little faster like it was about to pick up for a second, but then would go back to a slow "chugga chugga chugga" but still no go. Id like to say this is still pretty exciting for me and I thank everyone for your help! Almost there, I can feel it. It's 53 degrees here - might be interfering as well?

I like the motor oil mostly: Guinness, Boddingtons, Duck Rabbit, but I rarely turn away a gold old fashioned Pabst Blue Ribbon! Sorry for the picture quality. iPad is great, but it's camera leaves a lot to be desired. I've attached some slightly better photos. The oil filler is covered with duct tape, I never had the original cap my guy that rebuilt the engine said to cover it until I find a replacement to keep nefarious particles out. Gonna check the oil level and try the smidge of gas in the carb trick. Be right back!

Right on, yeah I got the fire extinguisher handy. Still nothing. It's trying but not going for it. What little I know - it doesn't seem its getting fuel. The wiring harness is new and I've double checked the connections to the diagrams in the manual and the instructions from Y and Z's. Could someone take a look at these photos and see if there's something obvious? (besides the air cleaner on the carb) On a related note, could someone tell me if I'm missing something on the throttle linkage? It's kind of loose and wobbly. When I attach the return spring from the equalizer shaft to the bracket on the engine, the hold thing leans out and scratches the left bank valve cover. Is there something that attaches on the other side of the shaft that helps stabilize it? I had noticed that the fuel bowl had no fuel in it, so I filled it up manually, but still won't start. Should I try spraying starter fluid in the carb?

Holy cow! I've got action! Still couldn't get it to start, but it's trying. I was fooling with the wiring under the dash because it was bugging me that the instrument and map lights wouldn't come on when the headlights and dome light would. Well I found the fuse holder pigtail for the radio ( and I promise I didn't do this), but it was connected to the middle terminal of the circuit breaker on the light switch. I removed it and was just fooling around to check the lights and dang thing tried to start! Scared the fool out of me. So I've put some fresh gas in the tank and gonna try again after I pick my girl up from work.

Okay, so I hooked up the oil pressure gauge and vacuum control correctly! Thanks Willie! Now I hooked up an aftermarket ballast resistor but it started smoking. I unhooked it and checked the voltage at those wires and got the same readings at the coil. And I was actually wrong, the reading at both locations fluctuates around .03 - .05 when set at 20 on the voltmeter. I check the voltage on the generator and it starts at .87 and starts declining. Any advice? Gonna flip though the manual now...

Speaking of batteries - I might should mention that I bought the cheapest 12 volt at pep boys for the time being. It has a CCA rating of 525 at 0 degrees and 655 above 32 degrees. The actual OE replacement battery from Antique Auto Battery has a rating of 850. Was wondering if this could be part of my problem as well?

Actually, I stopped working on her before I got a beer and yes disconnected the battery. Thank you though!

Thanks Willie! As I sip on some Bellhaven Scottish Ale, some things have occurred to my little brain. What exactly connects to the vacuum control on the distributor and would this affect my current situation? I thought it was the oil pressure gauge, but the manual says that this installs on the crankcase near the distributor. So I checked for voltage at the coil and I got .56 when I set the voltmeter to "20". Can you tell I don't know what I'm doing? (just so everyone knows, I've stopped working on her for the night, because I've got beer in hand. Don't particularly want to start the year of dead.

Got the ammeter connected, but still nada. Gonna have a beer now. I'll pm Lamar tonight. Thanks for reminding me he lives in Athens! Edit: also meant to add that the ammeter did not dip to the negative side when the key was in the "on" position.

Okay so I have headlights! (Might've helped to screw the ground wire to the radiator baffle, lol)