Technical Crank, hard start, rough idle and dies, backfire through the carb

Thank you for the kind words, squirrel. I've spent every waking moment of everyday since Friday that I have that doesn't involve working at my job, on thrashing to get this thing done, including working in the rain, in pitch black with a tiny worklight and spending 4 hours outside when it's 46° out without gloves on because I can't work with them. I really don't feel like being heckled and called an idiot.

 

61 CHEVY454 Keep us posted on how you make out. I have been known to screw up the firing order on my cars even when I had the wires marked with tape and magic marker with the cylinder # on it when I pulled a dist. out, so don't feel bad , we all have been there buddy.Bruce.

 

me too, and I've also not put the plug wire on all the way, so it fell off, which results in rough running and sneezing.

 

No, I'm not saying you're an idiot.
At this moment I have a T shirt on that's older than you.
While wearing that T shirt since 1996 I've fixed more things than I can possibly remember. Ive been doing this **** for twice as long as I've had this T shirt. I've also seen the Internet fix many problems and been personally responsible for more than a few long distance fixes. I've also seen the Internet go in fantastic tail chasing circles and marathon threads because of mystical mechanical malfunctions.

Apparently you have one of those mysticals, it worked fine & then you touched it & now it doesn't however you're certain everything is correct. Look at the 2 conditions- 1st is "IT WORKED FINE" and the 2nd is "NOW IT DOESN'T" and then look at what happened and bridged those two conditions together - "YOU TOUCHED IT". Your problem must have occurred in the process of you touching it and something is wrong with your methods or components or your methods. Not a big deal either way to help you get thru it but the the preconceived notion that your work in the dark, cold, and wee hours is flawless is part of the problem.

 

Couldn't it be some sort of resistance wire that was or was not there before and now is or is not, that changed voltage to the coil/box/distributor? or something like that?? @squirrel knows what I'm trying to say.

 

Could it cause what I'm describing though? Could just two plug wires being switched cause this?

My work is definitely not flawless and is mediocre at best, at least on the ignition, but I know all the wires are crimped where they said they should be in the diagram to the best of my knowledge...and it starts but dies and sneezes. So it's either timing, switched plug wires or I have the pickup wired wrong.

Is there any other options even though the fuel delivery system (mechanical pump to carburetor) worked perfectly before I messed with the wiring.

The only things I touched are the coil to dizzy wire, maybe a plug wire but I didn't see any loose and the HyFire box.

Is there any settings on the HyFire box that could mess with it this much?

 

I'm still not sure exactly what was on the engine when it last ran properly.

Did it have points?

 

Since you "may have" moved the distributor by accident.... Throw a timing light on it and verify the timing...... Right after you go to the plug wires you didn't touch and make sure the ones you pulled to make room to get to something we're put back in the right places you didn't touch them in.

Sounds like you need to learn to tidy up the wiring as you go. Makes the job easier in the long run.

Sent from my Moto G Play using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

The HyFire box and the same distributor was what it ran with before, but I pulled out the box thinking I didn't need it and had to reinstall it

 

I'd still like to see what it all looks like...

 

Maybe just a bad connection when you reinstalled box? Something simple like the distributor cap not being on all the way, if you took it off?

 

It looks like **** now since I'm just thrashing to get it done and going to clean it up once I know it works.

Is there a way that me grounding out the box to the alternator could cause issues? It says to ground it to ch***is or frame

 

....or bad connection on the ignition wire? What all got rewired/replaced during all this?

 

I'll check all the connections when I get home

 

Everything with a harness from Speedway Motors.

 

UPDATE:

According to this, if the wiring is backwards, it would throw off my timing up to 20°, which considering my symptoms and the fact that I never messed with the timing, would make sense. What do you guys think?

 

Who knows....do you have a timing light?

 

Nope :/

 

It's kind of like trying to help someone, when I'm blindfolded and my hands are tied behind my back

 

ok im old school and time everything by ear ****tttt i still own a timing light you should get to the store and buy one. like i said earlier in this thread you might have the box wired wrong. check that and time the ***** with a light

 

I had the same symptoms as described in post #1 on my wife's OT car. We took it out of storage last Spring and it started right up and ran great. Drove it home (20 miles) and parked it for a couple of days. A few days later, I started it up and it ran like yours did - popping & stalling after a few minutes of run time. I figured electrical and chased that, then the carb. Turned out to be a bad intake manifold gasket and maybe bad valves. I replaced the gasket and had a valve job (there was some oil in the runners) done. Put it back together and it runs fine now.

 

Would there really be no sign of it beforehand?

 

All I can tell you is I've been working on cars for 50+ years and had absolutely no prior sign of any problem with it. I drove the car home from storage, so I can blame it on my wife, either..

 

I smell alot of gas when it's running for the short time it does, giving it gas doesnt really help. I'm outside it right now. Gonna try switching the pickup wires around

 

Y'all are the ****ing best. The magnetic pickup wiring was backwards, even though I'm pretty sure I followed the instructions. She runs!!!!!!!!!

I know it looks ugly but I'm gonna start sorting out the wiring now that I know she runs.

 

That wiring looks vaguely familiar.

 

Ok, you're right, pics might not have helped

good to hear you got it fixed! and you still need to figure out where the timing is.

 

Well, checking the timing was my downfall. Went to adjust the timing and the oil drive gear or rod went into the oil pan most likely, because my friend told me the knock I'm hearing is lifter noise and that I most likely have no oil pressure.

After breaking down and crying trying to tell my grandfather that no, it won't work today like I said it would, he told me he'd sell me his car for $1000 and go buy a new Kia.

So I'm selling the truck to my coworker for the $600 he offered me, unless anyone here wants to give me more.

I'm sad to see it go.

 

What?!?! That does not compute, that you think the oil pump drive fell into the pan because you were trying to adjust the timing?

 

Because I was messing with the distributor and I guess it came off, because there's a knocking noise that wasn't there before that is neither piston slap or rod knock, and it's burning alot more oil from the right bank than usual.

My friend said it's more than likely the lifters aren't getting any oil.