Hey guys, I figured firing up the new 406 would be easy but I guess I was wrong. The longest I've had it running was for 1 or 2 seconds. I have put the balancer at 0, 10, 14 and haven't had any success over that range. One odd thing I noted though is if I get a kick or two like it wants to fire off, it is completely dead immediately after my next crank. No spit at all. So I move the distributor a very small amount (clockwise) to advance it. The engine then acts like it wants to start again so I feather the throttle a bit to help it out and it goes dead after a few sputs. I have tried retarding it before the advancements and it is completely dead in the counterclockwise range.

This happened last night a few times then tonight too. I'm getting scared of how much I'm cranking it over as I don't want to damage anything internally. I am using an MSD E-curve distributor at the "locked out" position like the manual states. I talked to a tech today and his suggestion was set it at 0 degrees then line up your distributor, fire it up and advance it to where you need to be. This sounds simple but it doesn't work. I have also tried it bumped up a bit to 10 degrees or so and nothing new. I have 12 volts at the Blaster 2 coil with the key on and it's getting plenty of fuel through the Mighty Demon mech secondary carb. I would assume it's getting spark as it has tried to start a few times.

I am 100% sure my wires are on correctly. When I made the Taylor wires I did one at a time starting from 1-3-5-7 then to 2-4-6-8 and putting them on the distributor 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 clockwise. I have checked them 2 nights in a row and they are still correct. I know my rotor is at #1 compression because I have removed the spark plug twice to make sure air was being shot out before determining my starting point.

I have done everything I know to do to get this thing to run. I'm almost afraid I'm flooding it in my attempts at starting and feathering the pedal but it hasn't acted locked up from a huge load of fuel. Trying dry today or immediately after a failed crank produces the same results. I'm about ready to throw this MSD E-curve in the trash can and re-wire my old distributor on. In fact, I would if I knew it was working correctly but the 350 that came out of the car had a huge fluttery flat spot that was either fuel or electric. Either way, I didn't care cause I knew what I'd be doing to the car. Here I am stuck and never expected to post this sort of problem. Please help me if you can.

 

It sounds like you might be 180 degrees off. Sounds like you know what you are doing, but I would go ahead and set it back up on #1 TDC, pull the plug and make CERTAIN your piston is at the top of the stroke.
rg

 

I have seen very experienced builders make this mistake. Don't ask me how I know!:o

 

 

Happend to me I had two wires on the dist. out of firing order.

 

Just came in from the cold garage after a frustrating day of trying to get a 350 started in a 64 Nova. Turned the distributer around several times. Car would start but run erraticaly and die, Finally called it a night but took the time to check the fuel feed tubes. Turned out some mud wasps made a home in the tubes an clogged the fuel delivery. Tomorrow I clean the tubes and check the bowls. Make sure you have adaquate fuel flow/pressure.

 

We had this same problem on a 1980 on initial start up. After several hours of wondering why the car would act like it wanted to start when we turned the distributor cap all the way to one side, we finally decided to lift the distributor and turn it by ONE tooth. BINGO. Fired right up.

I would not continue to try to start it if you don't change anything that might fix it. You may wipe a cam lobe. Don't forget to run it at about 2,000 RPM for 15 minutes after it starts to break in the cam.

 

Alright, I'll try these suggestions tonight when I get home from work. I'm almost certain I had #1 coming up when I setup the cap. Fuel system is good and getting plenty of fuel.

One area I was struggling at was after I made my wires and had them on the cap I pulled the distributor to prime the engine again then set it back in. Of course, the pump shaft moved and I didn't take note of that before I starting prepriming, but I did make a small mark off the rotor to my firewall using a straight edge. When I sat the dist back in I moved the pump shaft little by little until I got close to this mark. I then put my cap on and got the contacts close to #1 and attempted to start it. Is it possible to be off a tooth? If so, why wouldn't just turning the cap back the small distance of a tooth correct the problem? I noticed the helical cut gear has approximately .5" of movement on the shaft when you set it in. I easily have this much adjustment on my cap to get the rotor pointing back at 1. Am I doing this wrong?

 

Try this. Pull #1 plug and put your finger over the plug hole. Have someone bump the starter. When you feel the air pressure pushing your finger out of the hole, stop. Remove the dist cap and see if the rotor is near the #1 cap and plug wire. If it is, good, you should have enough adjustment to at least get it started. However by now your plug may be wet with raw gas. Raw gas does not burn too well. Remove the plug and dry them off with brake cleaner. Or try a can of starting fuild down the carb throat.

Good Luck.

 

You need to make sure you have #1 coming up on the compression stroke. Just because your damper is at 0 degrees doesn't mean you have the correct TDC. Do as instructed just above...pull the #1 plug, hold your finger over the hole and crank the motor over. When you feel pressure blowing your finger off the hole you have found the compression stroke (vs. the exhaust stroke). Now pull the dist cap and see if it's pointing just after the #1 plug tower. If it's nowhere in the vicinity then you have your dist in 180 out. If so, pull it, rotate it 180 and put it back in and you should be good to go.

I just re-read your post and offer this as well as you don't sound real confident in the new ignition system that you have installed. Pull a plug, put the plug wire on it, ground the plug to the block (you can hold it against the block with a gloved hand if you are so inclined), and crank the motor. You should see a consistent spark across the plug gap. This should help you to narrow down your troubleshooting.

 

Here is what I did. A fresh engine should be primed for oil with valve covers off to get a visual. Before dropping in the distributor, bump the engine with the starter. Watch the exhaust valve to close, then the intake valve to close (on #1 cylinder). The engine will now be in the compression stroke. Try and bump the starter to get the timing marks aligned as clase as possible. Drop the distributor in so that the rotor will be pointing at the #1 plug of the cap. As the distributor goes in it will rotate. If not in the correct position, pull it out adjust accordingly. The purpose of getting the distributor in the correct position is to allow for maximum adjustment due to the vacuum advance can hitting an obstruction.
The car did start but only ran for a second or two. To me it almost sound as if the car is not getting fuel from the carb and is only running off the gas that was used by pumping it in with accelerator pump.

 

Best bet is to bring the engine to TDC. Bring up #1 cylinder to the highest point of the compression stroke. Remove the distributor cap and make sure that the rotor is pointing to the #1 wire from your cap. If not, then you may need to remove the distributor and drop it back in at least 1 tooth into the drive gear. Recheck that the rotor points to #1 and reinstall the plug and cap. Should fire right up! Good Luck

 

For those of you that took the time to help me, I thank you.

I was indeed "one tooth off" or one plug off at the distributor. Instead of playing line up the teeth and shaft game I put the engine at 12 or so on the balancer (on the compression stroke) then moved the plugs around. I ended up having to move the whole firing order 1 plug retarded (counterclockwise) on the cap. I suppose the ol get the distributor close then turn it the rest of the way doesn't work. I found it easier moving everything one plug back than pulling the distributor and stuff, but either way would have worked. I kinda feel dumb at this point too..being so careless to overlook this final step in a costly build. Anyways thanks to all for the help. For those of you following this thread, I will be converting a short clip of the breakin (as soon as I can) and posting it somewhere so you guys can take a look. I noticed the camera mic doesn't quite capture the range of sound and distorts a bit, but what the hay.

Ryan

 

Easy to do if you haven't done it many times. Because the timing needs to be advanced a few degrees to start then when you are at 0 degrees on your balancer ( or TDC on #1 ) the rotor will be pointing past the number one tower on the distributor cap and getting near the number 8 tower. If it's pointing directly at number 1 tower it won't start. See it's even hard to explain in text

 

Roger that Motorhead..workin on that video.

 

alright, finally got it. Here's a few combined pieces (camera guy kept pushign on/off) but it turned out good enough. I hit the throttle a few times during cam breakin and sustain rpms, then the last blip I let it drop ti idle for a sec then back up to breakin.

P.S.- Please note the curled up lookin rubber fuel hose is only temporary until I find out how you guys have run a metal line to demon carbs. Any info there is also appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsk3I4GApJM

 

Sounds great. Glad you got it started.

 

Love the video, and i am glad i was able to point you in the right direction.....Ron