Twisted46

Hello All,

I have been coming here for help during my swap project (350 in to a 74 Datsun).
Decided to make an account to see if you guys can help me with a specific issue.

So the motor is a very low mile motor with a mild cam. Used new parts everywhere when i was installing it.
It is running a small 390 Holley vac carb that was free with the motor and rebuilt and a dual plane manifold.
I got everything hooked up and the car turned over and never wanted to start. it would kind of cough and spit white smoke out of the exhaust but that is it.
There is no water in the motor yet.

I went back and checked my timing again and made sure everything was lined up. Rotated the crank to 12 and cam to 12 then set the distributor (HEI) for #1 TDC.
Rocker arms spin but are not loose when valves are not open.
I tried flipping the ignition 180 and immediately got a backfire through the carb.
I have been manually feeding the carb fuel and I have spark.

I have been fiddling with this for two weeks now and can't figure it out. Here is a video of what it is doing.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dT...1kZKE-sqN3tm3z
Hopefully one of you gurus will know.

I am new to the SBC world so I have been learning a lot but this one has me stuck.
Thanks in advance.

geo1

So you returned it back to o,one easy test is crank it over with finger on 1#plug hole, spark plug in wire laying on manifold,where's the spark at when pressure pops on finger

Twisted46

Hi Geo,

I did something similar to what you are saying but i have a clear cap and rotor so I did this test but just watched which pole the cap sparked to and it was correct.

geo1

Have you advanced distributor to get it to grunt on starter?

kevinkpk

That sounds like it isn't getting fuel, hit it while cranking with starting fluid (lightly).

Twisted46

Okay so I did a few things tonight and am still getting the same result when trying to start.

I lifted the valve covers off and re-adjusted all of the rockers to 1/2 turn past zero lash.
verified cam/crank timing and distributor and firing order.
Sprayed some starting fluid in the carb and still nothing.

I am really starting to wonder if my carb is to blame?
I have been manually adding gas with the accelerator pump when trying to start.

Oh yes I also pulled some plugs to check compression and they had some soot on them that i easily wiped off.
I tested cyl #2 and 100 PSI which is not bad considering the motor has not ran since rebuilt.
I will try to test more cylinders but it is hard with my block huger headers.