Im new on this forum, so hello everyone! Ive got a '79 Corvette C3 with a 350c.i./ auto trans. Me and my dad have owned this car since '97, its pretty much stock 58,000 miles on it, and i love it!

Anyways, ive been slowly doing some work to it over the past few months. I swapped out the stock intake manifold for a Edelbrock chrome, ported intake from Summit Racing, and swapped the stock 550cfm carb for an Edelbrock 650cfm with electric choke. My brother took most of it apart, and I kind of took the helm from there. Im pretty sure I got most of the vacuum lines hooked up where they need to be, read over dozens of diagrams on here.

But I went to fire it up yesterday, and it turned over very slow, and spit starting fluid out of the carb. So I looked up a different firing order(I was surprised how many different ones were listed), and tried that one out. It fired up after a few tries, but it idled alittle rough. Before I could fire it back up, the battery died. So I tried another battery that I knew was good, same thing. So im wondering if theres a bad ground somewhere? I found an unattatched on the valve cover i still have to bolt down. But I dont think that could be causing this.

Anyone else have a problem similar to this?

 

Bring to top dead center,and check to make sure your distributor is in the right place.On the intake swap...it was removed....I'd start there.

 

Well by reading what has been done sounds like the distributor is maybe not in correctly. Also the statement of how many firing orders there are for a Chevy! There is only one for a 350 Chevy V8. 18426572 thats it! Cylinders are numbered as sitting in the drivers seat. One is the front drivers side as well as that bank is 1,3,5,7 and starting on the front passenger side 2,4,6,8. You would need to turn the engine to bring cylinder one up to TDC firing/compression and wire the firing order from there. Also looking down on the distributor it turns clock wise.

 

Ditto on the distributor....I did a job many years ago and SWORE I put it back together correctly. Tried for 30 minutes to start it.....then this jerk I worked with tole me my dist was 180' off. NO WAY I insisted, I paid attention. Guess what......I was wrong. It was in 180 off.

 

Well I went back to turn it over after letting it sit for awhile. It started right up, and seemed to be running alright. Turned it off to try it again, batterys dead.

You really think it could be 180 off? Im thinking it wouldnt even turn over then right? Ill put it to TDC and start over next time and give that a shot, but you really dont think its battery/connection related? Ive got lights, and theyre bright so it couldnt be the battery but I keep thinking ive got a bad connection somewhere.

And thanks for all the advise guys, greatly appreciated

 

If she was way out then she wouldn't fire off like that,so you eliminated the 180 out,but even a tooth off will change it up.You said you were spitting gas out the top,so she's still out of time.Double check yourself,and put a timing light on it to take the guess work out of it.
None of that explains the pull on the charging system tho.Yours is a HEI,so it's kinda straight forward plugging everything back in.Are you sure your battery is good,and doesn't have a dead cell?To do a intake/carb combo swap....the only electrical is @ the dist.,and it's plugs on the HEI.Where did you pull your hot wire for the electric choke from?

 

The battery is good, I tried 2 different batterys with the same result. It would turn over a few times, but eventually id loose the charge. My nest step was a timing light, just have to borrow one from my buddy.

I ran the electric choke to the alternator, seemed more convenient then running through the firewall to my fuse block. But I never touched anything wiring/ground related besides that so I dont know why it wont hold charge. I looked up the common batter drain problem in these 'vettes but it happens too fast to be that.

 

Not sure what you have going on here as I for one get lost trying to understand what your doing. But if you really have good battery's it is possible to run them down right now with a shorted starter, many places will check them for free if you bring it to them out of the car.

 

Went back today and cleaned up both grounds, the one from the starter to the bellhousing and the one by the driver side frame, no dice. So I used my circuit tester, and i have power going to the starter. But it doesnt click at the solinoid when I turn it over. The lights just get really dim. Usually you can hear it clicking at the solinoid, but nothing. The only thing that happens when you turn it over is the lights get very dim. I tried putting a battery charger on it to start it. When the connection is made the lights get brighter, but still doesnt give me igniton.

I also checked the ignition at the fuse block, and its got power. And all connections at the starter are tight with no corrosion.

 

The problem was the battery, put the battery from my dads '96 3500 in it, and she fired right up. It idled ok, but the timing is off pretty bad. Got the timing light so next time I get some time in the garage she should be running nice. Even though I spent a few hours chasing a problem that didnt exist, atleast I have some peace of mind with all the grounds/terminals cleaned. So thats good.

Thanks again guys for the help, I really appreciate it. After I get the timing sorted out Ill post a video if you guys want

 

To ensure timing is really right...I would

Take off valve cover on driver side

Take out number 1 plug

Put paper towel in outer edge of spark plug hole, use a little water to make paper towel soft, have it adhere

Click key, will soon pop out - it is then on number 1, confirm this with timing marks and also by checking rockers arms on number 1 cylinder. Even on a high compression motor, say something 13 to 1, this will get you in the ballpark, my father's Camaro will pop a paper towel out 3/4 of the way up the cylinder, but again helps get in the ballpark

Take distributor cap off, it just so happens on a SBC or BBC motor that when the car is set up on number 1, the rotor should be facing number 1. In most cases should be pointing around the tip of the valve cover as depicted in this picture.



Do this and I can all but gaurantee that you will find the distributor is in wrong, take it out, turn with screwdriver until with trial and error, you get the distributor to drop in flush with the rotor facing number 1

Then start car...

 

Sounds simple enough, ill give that a shot.
thanks for the helpful hint man.