Sbc new cam and heads won’t start!

Is your damper marked at 90° ? I find that much easier than the comp EOIC method...

 

I have the rotor pointed to number one on the engine and that post is also the number one spark plug wire. Is that what you mean?

 

Yes that is the way you are supposed to install it your cam timing is off

 

Biting my tongue to keep from laughing .....

 

Just to clarify, you are using .030 for you valve lash, both intake and exhaust, correct.
Most experts agree that setting the lash one cylinder at a time is the correct way especially on a high performance cam.
https://www.dragzine.com/tech-stories/how-to-set-and-adjust-valve-lash-like-a-pro/

 

Wtf is the difference between crank at 12 , cam at 6 and crank at 12, cam at 12 other than #1 or #6 firing position ??

 

The marks always go together. That’s just the way they are set up

 

Small block chevy crank gear at 12 cam at 6 will be tdc firing #6

 

When on the compression stoke of number 7 the rotor pints at almost the driver seat

 

I mean when on the compression stroke of number 6 cylinder at tdc it is almost pointed at the driver seat

 

Not knowing what this 30- 30 cam is.
Could be cold natured, do you have a choke, accelerator pump working, set your base timing up more.

 

What's important is what # wire is it pointing at ....( When the cap is in place )

 

So you changed the heads, cam,intake and the dist. on a good running engine and now it won't run.
Any chance the old cam was a hydraulic unit and you're using the old hydraulic lifters on a solid lifter cam ?

 

The rotor does not want to aim at number 1! The wire going to number one spark plug has to be in the hole where the rotor is pointed when number one is at TDC. . ***uming number one cylinder is actually at TDC.

 

O. M.... G....

 

On a HEI it should be pointing at the p***enger seat ant TDC firing #6

 

What we need to know is what plug wire in the dist. is it pointing at. It should be pointing at the wire that leads to the number 7 cylinder.

 

Bingo.

 

I wanted note out of the engine and no it’s a new solid cam with new solid lifters

 

Another one ! Good Lord.,..

 

Cam turns half the speed of the crank. What happens when you turn the crank one revolution, the cam mark that was at 6 will now be at 12.

 

I checked tdc on number 1 again the rotor is pointed just to the left slightly of number 1.

 

Timing mark on crank at zero

 

A picture of the distributor with the cap off (from the top)would be most helpful. Have the harmonic balancer lined up with the TDC mark on the timing tab. Most of the guys on here can tell you where to go from there.

In addition to what A****er Mike said, a couple of other scenarios I have seen are wiring the cap in the wrong direction and not allowing for the helix of the distributor gear when installing.

As a retired Autoshop teacher, I have seen many variations on this. The most unexpected one was a student putting the coil wire on #1 and the #1 plug wire to the center of the cap. It actually ran!

 

And the cam is at either #1 or #6 firing position , THAT depends on the cam manufacturer .IME , cam dot at 12 is #1 firing position , cam dot at 6 is #6 firing position ...

 

The cam and crank gears should have been lined up as shown in the photo below. Still if you had the cam gear at the top it should have lined up at the bottom after one rotation of the crank.
Lining up the gears like that tells me that you are normally used to working on a different engine that isn't a small block Chevy. Am I correct?
Firing order is as in the second image with clockwise rotation.
YOUR only interest is that the rotor points to number 1 on the distributor when you have number 1 cylinder on TDC. You do not give a rip that it may or may not physically point towards the actual cylinder and anyone who told you that is a bul**** artist that needs a kick in the ***.
One backfire can blow out a power valve but that shouldn't keep it from starting or cause big backfires.

Story on myself, back years ago I had an Olds Cutl*** with a 350R as my daily driver/drag car and was used to tuning it. I built a T bucket with a 283 and it backfired just like your engine is for several nights on end when I was trying to start it. Woke up at 02:30 one night with the revelation that I had wired it counterclockwise to match the Olds pattern rather than clockwise to match the Chevy pattern. Went out in my bathrobe put the wires in the correct firing order, busted it off with open megaphone headers, shut it off an went back in and back to a very sound sleep.

 

If you don't have one, go get a vacuum gauge and connect it to a manifold vacuum port. Let us know what it shows when you crank. The odds are that the carb is not set up properly, you are losing vacuum through the valves, timing or otherwise, or your timing is way off. Just for argument's sake, did you buy new properly sized push rods? I would start there if you don't have adjustable rockers.

Sent from my XT1650 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Put my finger in number 1 work plug hole and it blew my finger off and I spun the motor a little to get it to zero

 

Guys, I've never seen one run with the distributor 180 deg. out. Have you?
I'd say it's got something to do with the gasket/ mounting flange for that hunk-a-junk Holley DP or an internal problem with it.

 

Let's forget where the rotor is pointing for a moment. It does not matter and it can be reset later. Right now we just want to get it running. It does not matter for this test!

Forget about timing marks for the moment. It does not matter for this test! This a bridge that will be crossed later.

Remember Ford and GM number the cylinders differently..Make sure you are numbering the cylinders correctly!
Refer to your shop/engine manual for cylinder numbering and firing order.

The rotor could be pointing to the moon. It does not matter.

With you finger find number 1 compression again. Note rotorary ****on location.
Do this twice or thrice more confirming that #1 piston is at the top of it's compression stroke.
After doing this 3 times......the rotor should be landing in about the same spot.

This spot where the rotor is pointing now.....Is Number 1.
It does not matter how the distributor is marked. Where that rotor is pointing now after confirming compression stroke is #1.
If it's not pointing to marked #1 on the cap....no big deal. You can run your wires from here and it will run.
Or
You can pull the distributor and walk it around to marked #1 on the cap.

Sometimes the oil pump drive will not allow the distributor to drop into the sweet spot....you have to bump the starter or turn the crank to get the distributor to drop in.

Now....let's look at the timing marks.....you should be close.

Now let's confirm the order and run the wires.

Now try to start it.

You can tweak a little with the advance.....If it's off you may find the distributor is off by a tooth......
You may have to reset the distributor again.

Lastly......
It's good to have a confirmed working carburetor.