David, Lots of good things to check. Some I've done: 1. Tonight, I will do the "finger in the spark plug hole" check. I thought if the chains were on wrong, you'd bend a valve for sure. I followed the book & DMCH to the letter. I'm pretty confident I set that part of it right. I also cranked the engine 3 or 4 times by hand to make sure nothing would hit. 2. I've cranked it over w/a spark plug. It does spark regularly. 3. Starting fluid has -no- effect at all. That tells me it's timing. 4. The plugs are wet which says I have fuel. I've disconnected the cold start valve (electrically) to avoid flooding. 5. I'm going to check the dizzy and wire placement again tonight. I think I may know what it is. Hopefully, by dealing with items 1 and 4, I'll figure it out. I know I'm close. Rich --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "David Teitelbaum" <jtrealty@xxxx> wrote: > When you have a problem like this start with the basics. You do need > the starter to turn the motor over at a fast enough speed. When you > get it to turn over fast enough remove a spark plug and stick your > finger over the hole. When you crank it over you should feel vacuum > and compression, this will tell you that at least the valve timing is > close. Now crank it over again with the spark plug attached to the > wire but laying on the block, you should see a spark at regular > intervals. If you are getting spark now you have to check you are > getting fuel. You could try a SMALL squirt of starting fluid (ether) > and if you atrat getting pops or it runs for a moment then you know > you have to troubleshoot the fuel system. You need to find the system > that is not working. You could try a compression test. Check the > ignition wires that they are going to the correct cylinders, this is > the firing order. Make sure the fuel pump runs. Maybe you forgot a > plug somewhere like to the distributer? You were in so deep that there > are a lot of possabilites so you need to try to eliminate them one by > one. Try cranking it over without any spark plugs. If it runs much > better do the compression test. You may have really screwed up the > valve timing and made the engine too hard for the starter. > David Teitelbaum > vin 10757 > > > --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "cruznmd" <racuti1@xxxx> wrote: > > Looks like I burned a vacation day for nothing. This thing isn't > > going to start. > > > > I've positioned the distributor both ways and it won't catch. Bill, > > at DMCH asked how fast the engine was cranking. > > > > Well, the truth is, not very, and it has to have some speed if it's > > going to catch. I've cleaned all the ground points, battery > > connections and such. I've got a new Optima battery @ 700 or so cold > > cranking amps and a trickle charger that has the 50 amp "start > > booster" function on it. None of that makes it crank over any faster. > > After cranking for only 5-10 seconds the starter is pretty warm to > > the touch. > > > > If anyone else has any other ideas I'm all ears.