Mantaray80 Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Ok. It's starting to p*** me off now. Rebuilt my engine last year and dropped it in recently. Static timing was spot on when I built it. All ignition parts are new. Fuel pump is new. Fresh super unleaded with an additive put in.... Engine turns over lovely but absolutely refuses to fire! Fuel is getting thru. I did find there was no spark which I believe is because the car loom wire is duff, which I bypassed straight to the battery.... Still nothing....... Has anyone got any ideas at all?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyc Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 Either timing is 180 deg out or you haven't connected the earth to the back of the inlet manifold or is the fuel pump relay, if its an injection Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantadoc Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 180 Degrees out would light Cyl 1 on induction instead of Cyl 4, hence would spit back. If it was: A) mine B) electronic ignition I would, and have, used a spare dizzy hooked to the amp to turn by hand to trouble shoot with the coil lead near an acceptable earth (not dizzy) to watch for sparking. The ignition influences the injection. The injection doesn't influence the ignition (unless you had a dead short pulling the voltage down but you would soon know I expect. Above saves wasting your battery cranking and running around. The electronic ignition needs only +12 and earth. Dizzy doesn't need earth if electronic. Mis-trust all the green bullet connectors both male and female, especially the one that loops the rev counter in , bypass this to test for spark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantaray80 Posted August 12, 2010 Author Share Posted August 12, 2010 Sorry....should have mentioned, she's carbed with a normal dizzy. Running a Weber direct replacement which I know to be good as I had it running on another car. There's no "spit back" there's nothing. Just the engine turning over. Not even trying to fire. The last engine I had in it had the same problem. The only way I could get it to even think about running was to fit the dizzy 180 deg out from what the Haynes manual says. It ran, but not very well and wouldn't idle. I think my next port of call is to reaffirm I have spark, then recheck all the timing. If still nothing I will refit the dizzy 180 deg out again and see if it has any effect.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumster Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 As AndyC said, make sure you have good main earth strap connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 Sorry....should have mentioned, she's carbed with a normal dizzy. Running a Weber direct replacement which I know to be good as I had it running on another car. There's no "spit back" there's nothing. Just the engine turning over. Not even trying to fire. The last engine I had in it had the same problem. The only way I could get it to even think about running was to fit the dizzy 180 deg out from what the Haynes manual says. It ran, but not very well and wouldn't idle. I think my next port of call is to reaffirm I have spark, then recheck all the timing. If still nothing I will refit the dizzy 180 deg out again and see if it has any effect.... You have to ensure you have a spark before doing anything, you mention that if you have no spark, you will reposition the dizzy, the point is that if you have no spark from the dizzy it doesn't make any difference what position it's in, so it looks like you have an ignition problem to fix first then timing, the advise you have been given to solve that sounds the correct road to go down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantaray80 Posted August 12, 2010 Author Share Posted August 12, 2010 (edited) You have to ensure you have a spark before doing anything, you mention that if you have no spark, you will reposition the dizzy, the point is that if you have no spark from the dizzy it doesn't make any difference what position it's in, so it looks like you have an ignition problem to fix first then timing, the advise you have been given to solve that sounds the correct road to go down. No, I said I would check I have a spark, then, assuming I have one, if it still doesn't work, I'll reposition the dizzy.... Initially I was getting intermittent and low quality sparks. I have, in the course of the rebuild, replaced the entire ignition system, barring the dizzy itself. Only the car loom is original and seeing as it's 30 years old, I'm beginning to suspect that. Hence why I bypassed the coil feed directly to the battery. Will definately check he earth strap tho, thanks Edited August 12, 2010 by Mantaray80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 No, I said I would check I have a spark, then, assuming I have one, if it still doesn't work, I'll reposition the dizzy.... Initially I was getting intermittent and low quality sparks. I have, in the course of the rebuild, replaced the entire ignition system, barring the dizzy itself. Only the car loom is original and seeing as it's 30 years old, I'm beginning to suspect that. Hence why I bypassed the coil feed directly to the battery. Will definately check he earth strap tho, thanks Me again! The words " If still nothing" mislead me, but you are on the right track, hope you get it sorted soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantaray80 Posted August 12, 2010 Author Share Posted August 12, 2010 180 Degrees out would light Cyl 1 on induction instead of Cyl 4, hence would spit back. Question........with all the timing marks aligned, no1 cyl is at TDC....I take it this is the ignition phase of it's stroke? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantadoc Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 Question........with all the timing marks aligned, no1 cyl is at TDC....I take it this is the ignition phase of it's stroke? I've been caught out with this one in the past, as someone on here pointed out, as I wrote something that was in correct. What I always do is align the timing marks on assembly and with the rocker cover still off rotate the engine to TDC on the crank pulley but check that both inlet and exhaust valves are closed visually. Nothing beats seeing it lol. If it's switching from exhaust open to inlet it's at the top of the exhaust stroke. I think it's something daft like with Crank at TDC and cam pulley dot aligned with the dot on the plate CYL 4 would be on it's firing stroke so 1 rotation should see CYL 1 at TDC on firing stroke. Course the other way is to take plug 1 out and rotate the crank till you have compression against your thumb and the notch at TDC. However, the dizzy is round, it doesn't care about being 180 degrees out, you can just swap the leads, no mechanical reason to pull and re seat it, just a good puzzle for the next owner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantaray80 Posted August 13, 2010 Author Share Posted August 13, 2010 I've been caught out with this one in the past, as someone on here pointed out, as I wrote something that was in correct. What I always do is align the timing marks on assembly and with the rocker cover still off rotate the engine to TDC on the crank pulley but check that both inlet and exhaust valves are closed visually. Nothing beats seeing it lol. If it's switching from exhaust open to inlet it's at the top of the exhaust stroke. I think it's something daft like with Crank at TDC and cam pulley dot aligned with the dot on the plate CYL 4 would be on it's firing stroke so 1 rotation should see CYL 1 at TDC on firing stroke. Course the other way is to take plug 1 out and rotate the crank till you have compression against your thumb and the notch at TDC. However, the dizzy is round, it doesn't care about being 180 degrees out, you can just swap the leads, no mechanical reason to pull and re seat it, just a good puzzle for the next owner. Thanks for that. Very helpful. As for that last bit....Yes, figured that one out last time after having taken the dizzy in and out several times. Suddenly thought "D'oh!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 Thanks for that. Very helpful. As for that last bit....Yes, figured that one out last time after having taken the dizzy in and out several times. Suddenly thought "D'oh!" What's the latest on this, have you had it to fire up at all, if so what was the problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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