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I may catch some flak for this-- Way back when I was working as a dealer tech- we had lots of problems with the uniset points. No start, running rough, missing, a long list. To the point there were not very many of us that were using them.
Try putting your Pertronix back in- nothing to lose at this point- and it was working?
Guess what I have in my points distributer. With zero problems. I've worked in a GM dealer parts dept. for the last 45 years,(Parts Manger for the last 28), and don't recall any major issues with the Unisets. Oh, we had the occasional one go bad like everything else, but nothing major.
I may catch some flak for this-- Way back when I was working as a dealer tech- we had lots of problems with the uniset points. No start, running rough, missing, a long list. To the point there were not very many of us that were using them.
No flak. Fact. We had the same issue at the service station.
Guess what I have in my points distributer. With zero problems. I've worked in a GM dealer parts dept. for the last 45 years,(Parts Manger for the last 28), and don't recall any major issues with the Unisets. Oh, we had the occasional one go bad like everything else, but nothing major.
I set the timing to about 8 degrees BTDC as shown in the pic. And I also made sure to hit the 8 degree mark during the compression stroke. I know this because I moved the crank after the intake valve had closed. I checked the spark plugs and they are wet with fuel. I also checked the plugs for spark and it's happening.
Then I pulled the distributor cap to see the position of the rotor and it was pointing to cyl #1. Notce the silver mark I made on the distributor to know the position of cyl #1.
Now if only this dang thing would start I'd be a very happy camper...
Last edited by ONeill202; Jul 2, 2017 at 09:43 AM.
I set the timing to about 8 degrees BTDC as shown in the pic. And I also made sure to hit the 8 degree mark during the compression stroke. I know this because I moved the crank after the intake valve had closed. I checked the spark plugs and they are wet with fuel. I also checked the plugs for spark and it's happening.
Then I pulled the distributor cap to see the position of the rotor and it was pointing to cyl #1. Notce the silver mark I made on the distributor to know the position of cyl #1.
Now if only this dang thing would start I'd be a very happy camper...
engine flooded. plugs fuel fouled. cylinders fuel washed causing low compression. pull plugs...clean plugs or replace. crank engine over WITHOUT touching gas pedal to try and pump as much fuel out of cylinders. let sit overnight to let cylinders "dry out". next day squirt few drops oil into each hole. crank engine to oil rings and get compression back. you either have too much fuel being dumped in, too weak a spark or a combination of both causing it to flood. probably a lot fuel sitting in bottom of intake too. cranking voltage AND speed need to be good. 9.5 volts is bare minimum. how much gas did you pour in??
engine flooded. plugs fuel fouled. cylinders fuel washed causing low compression. pull plugs...clean plugs or replace. crank engine over WITHOUT touching gas pedal to try and pump as much fuel out of cylinders. let sit overnight to let cylinders "dry out". next day squirt few drops oil into each hole. crank engine to oil rings and get compression back. you either have too much fuel being dumped in, too weak a spark or a combination of both causing it to flood. probably a lot fuel sitting in bottom of intake too. cranking voltage AND speed need to be good. 9.5 volts is bare minimum. how much gas did you pour in??
If you have poured fuel down the carb, this is good advice, I usually just replace the plugs to make absolutely sure they are not the problem. I just had a similar problem with (don't laugh) a Briggs & Stratton engine, it won't start, getting fuel, it showed "some" spark. I finally just replaced/gapped the plug and it fired right up. Since the plug was showing some spark, at first I didn't think that could be it until I used the KISS principle and just got a new plug.
engine flooded. plugs fuel fouled. cylinders fuel washed causing low compression. pull plugs...clean plugs or replace. crank engine over WITHOUT touching gas pedal to try and pump as much fuel out of cylinders. let sit overnight to let cylinders "dry out". next day squirt few drops oil into each hole. crank engine to oil rings and get compression back. you either have too much fuel being dumped in, too weak a spark or a combination of both causing it to flood. probably a lot fuel sitting in bottom of intake too. cranking voltage AND speed need to be good. 9.5 volts is bare minimum. how much gas did you pour in??
Well I've been pumping the gas pedal for a week now so I guess I got a boatload of gas in there.
If you have poured fuel down the carb, this is good advice, I usually just replace the plugs to make absolutely sure they are not the problem. I just had a similar problem with (don't laugh) a Briggs & Stratton engine, it won't start, getting fuel, it showed "some" spark. I finally just replaced/gapped the plug and it fired right up. Since the plug was showing some spark, at first I didn't think that could be it until I used the KISS principle and just got a new plug.
The plugs are pretty new. I'll pull one out and post a pic. They do look greasy and covered with fuel.
engine flooded. plugs fuel fouled. cylinders fuel washed causing low compression. pull plugs...clean plugs or replace. crank engine over WITHOUT touching gas pedal to try and pump as much fuel out of cylinders. let sit overnight to let cylinders "dry out". next day squirt few drops oil into each hole. crank engine to oil rings and get compression back. you either have too much fuel being dumped in, too weak a spark or a combination of both causing it to flood. probably a lot fuel sitting in bottom of intake too. cranking voltage AND speed need to be good. 9.5 volts is bare minimum. how much gas did you pour in??
Here's what the #3 spark plug looks like:
I'm going to pull them all out and clean them. I'm also going to let the cyl air out over night as you suggested.
Last edited by ONeill202; Jul 2, 2017 at 06:32 PM.
And it wouldn't hurt to spin it over with all of the plugs out, along with pulling the dipstick and making sure the oil is not loaded with gas too.
Okay here's where I'm at with the no start saga...
I pulled all the spark plugs and yes they are covered in some black oily muck that is covered with gas. The spark plugs are not more than a few months old and show very little wear. This is not surprising since I don't drive the car much. I did spin the engine over a few times as suggested and I didn't see any fuel coming from the cyl so that's a good sign.
I'm not going to bother with cleaning them. I'm going to the parts store in morning and picking up a new set.
While I had all the plugs out I ran a compression test on #1 and it doesn't look too bad in my opinion.
More to come...
Last edited by ONeill202; Jul 2, 2017 at 04:20 PM.
Compression looks good. Like Big3Bird said you've been running rich too. Might want to lean the idle mixture screws a bit before trying to start it back up. Once you get it going you can always go back and adjust.
Since you have good compression, your valves are not out of adjustment. What I did not see in you posts is, does the engine fire at all? When timing is off, like 180* out, it will kick and backfire, etc. So timing should be good... With base timing at 8* it should spin easily and fire. You primed the carb, so you should have fuel.
Sounds like spark is the issue. Perhaps the cap is bad?
Compression looks good. Like Big3Bird said you've been running rich too. Might want to lean the idle mixture screws a bit before trying to start it back up. Once you get it going you can always go back and adjust.
I had hoped to report some good news on the 4th of July, but it was not to be. I replaced the spark plugs with a new set and still no luck. I checked the voltage while cranking and it's above 10 volts at the coil. It does fluctuate while cranking, but I'm guessing it's because of the current draw from the starter.
Last edited by ONeill202; Jul 4, 2017 at 10:42 AM.
