Illicit Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 Hi all, I own a 1972 Buick Riviera (455 cui) I recently made a friend who sent me a nice HEI and he walked me through it. And I’ve re done it maybe 20 times. We had no spark at first wich was the pickup coil and I took the distributor apart and rebuilt it with a new pickup coil then I had hood spark. So I have 12volts on start position and after so much research it is impossible to have 12v at crank so, I have 11v or 10v and that is perfect at crank. Next I had rotor pointing at cyl #1 and timing marks at 0 exactly. The spark plug wires are in correct order. I removed the resistor wire from engine back to fuse block and replaced with 10g wire. I have fuel and new spark plugs. The engine cranks and cranks but dosent start it’s been 2 months of trying this and it’s just not starting, everything is timed correct at TDC. I haven’t taken the engine apart so it can’t be combustion/Air. We are completely baffled. I need some help really really bad it’s stressing me out. Appreciate you guys a lot thank you so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 I've had more than a few fried HEI modules in the distributors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illicit Posted July 24, 2022 Author Share Posted July 24, 2022 5 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said: I've had more than a few fried HEI modules in the distributors. I have spark, if it was fried wouldn’t there be no spark? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 14 minutes ago, Illicit said: I have spark... Even though you have the rotor pointed at #1 cylinder and the timing marks at 0 degrees on the harmonic balancer, the engine could be 180 degrees out of time and firing on the exhaust stroke instead of the compression stroke. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illicit Posted July 24, 2022 Author Share Posted July 24, 2022 Just now, Ronnie said: Even though you have the rotor pointed at #1 cylinder and the timing marks at 0 degrees on the harmonic balance, the engine could be 180 degrees out of time and firing on the exhaust stroke instead of the compression stroke. I had my wife keep her finger on cyl #1 with spark plug out and found the compression stroke with that method. While I turned the balancer to make extra sure I was on the compression stroke instead of the exhaust stroke. She wouldn’t feel anything if it was the exhaust stroke right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 That is one way to test, but if I were in your shoes I would remove the valve cover and watch the rocker arms to be sure both valves are closed when the # 1 spark plug is firing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan95 Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 If you have spark, and you are confident that the timing is at least close, then I would verify things elsewhere. Did it run fine before changing ignition parts, or is this after reassembly or other engine parts at the same time? A broader picture of the engine's situation would be helpful to know. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 Even if 180* out it should occasionally pop (or shoot fire back through the carb). Is it getting fuel? Try dribbling a little gas down the throttle body then crank... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 5 hours ago, EmTee said: Even if 180* out it should occasionally pop (or shoot fire back through the carb). Is it getting fuel? Try dribbling a little gas down the throttle body then crank... This^^. In fact, when 180 out you will hear the popping (or more likely poofing when it does not quite make a backfire) alternating between the intake and exhaust as you crank. It is kind of subtle, and few people hear an engine with the timing 180 out often enough to realize what they are listening to. On the other hand, once you hear an an engine doing that, and realize what it is, it gets almost impossible to miss from that point on. Puh---pooh---puh---pooh---puh---pooh---puh---pooh---puh---pooh---puh---pooh---puh---pooh--- 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illicit Posted July 26, 2022 Author Share Posted July 26, 2022 So I found the problem I feel like such a noob 😂 it was 180 degrees out of rotation in the exhaust stroke not the combustion stroke 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 Glad you got it fixed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illicit Posted July 26, 2022 Author Share Posted July 26, 2022 (edited) It was backfiring like gun shots all my neighbors came out of their houses 😂🤙🏽 Edited July 26, 2022 by Illicit (see edit history) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RansomEli Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 Illicit, Welcome to the club. We all make dumb mistakes, but what's important is that we publish our solutions here so that others will learn from our experiences. This way the AACA forum becomes a kind-of collective Borg (referring to Star Trek & Jean-Luc Picard). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodge28 Posted August 29, 2022 Share Posted August 29, 2022 If it is made by man it can be repaired by man, No magic to it. Happy motoring. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now