81 won't start- help needed!!
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 1,952
Likes: 6
From: Palos Verdes Peninsula California
81 won't start- help needed!!
I just got done with hooking up everything after an intake gasket change and now the 81 won't start. The engine turns over normally but it just won't fire up. There is also a heavy gas smell coming from the carb. Nothing was touched on the carb, it was taken off and put back on with tampering.
Everything has been hooked up as it was before the gasket change, and the car ran great before. The only thing I changed in the whole install was the addition of a exhaust restrictor plate on one intake gasket. Could this affect starting?
The car has the original E4ME carb.
Everything has been hooked up as it was before the gasket change, and the car ran great before. The only thing I changed in the whole install was the addition of a exhaust restrictor plate on one intake gasket. Could this affect starting?
The car has the original E4ME carb.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,192
Likes: 27
From: Boca Raton Florida
Yep, sounds like a straight up ignition problem. Make sure you got everything reconnected correctly on the dist and also that you got the dist indexed correctly. Your getting the gas smell because your pumping the gas pedal but its not fireing, so your flooding it.
Racer
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 396
Likes: 3
From: Buffalo New York
I had the same problem.Turns out the distributor was off about 1". I bumped the engine to get the balancer mark lined up on the timing tab, then pulled the distributor and installed it pointing at the #1 plug wire. That should get it to start, then use a timing light to zero it in. Good Luck!
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 152
Likes: 0
I had the same problem.Turns out the distributor was off about 1". I bumped the engine to get the balancer mark lined up on the timing tab, then pulled the distributor and installed it pointing at the #1 plug wire. That should get it to start, then use a timing light to zero it in. Good Luck!
It sounds like you removed the distributor, then re-installed it incorrectly. To correct this you must get the number one cylinder to top dead center, then re-install the distributor so that the rotor points at the number one cylinder (plug wire). That should get you in the ball park, you may have to rotate the distributor a bit by hand while cranking the engine to get it to fire, then use a timing light to set it right.
Good luck!
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 1,952
Likes: 6
From: Palos Verdes Peninsula California
It sounds like you removed the distributor, then re-installed it incorrectly. To correct this you must get the number one cylinder to top dead center, then re-install the distributor so that the rotor points at the number one cylinder (plug wire). That should get you in the ball park, you may have to rotate the distributor a bit by hand while cranking the engine to get it to fire, then use a timing light to set it right.
Good luck!
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