I'm just sayin it sounds like spark going to the wrong cylinders, Finding TDC on compression stroke, knowing the cylinders by number & knowing the firing order, stringin the wires correctly... it's no good if your rotor spins the oposite way from what you've planned & what you think it's doing. You say it's got fuel, are you giving it a drink? pouring a little fuel down the carb throat?
Can you look down the carb throat & work the ****erfly shaft full range & see that it's getting a steam of fuel from accelerator pump? I don't want to keep dogging you about fuel if you say it's getting fuel then it's getting fuel. I've got a 223 I6 & the carb is in terrible need of rebuild. I've often times got to give her a drink down the carb & once she fires up & fills the float bowl I can find the sweet spot with the choke plate to help her drag the fuel she wants through those nasty neglected fuel circuits. I have to run it with a mostly closed choke plate at idle & at higher rpm I can open the plate & let her breathe. reminds me, I think I'll call in an order for that carb kit right now while I'm thinking about it. It's easy to say "got fuel, got compression, got spark, no problem" And that's the way it should be, I mean really, that's just the way it works. If you've got spark like you said & you know you are sending it to the right slugs in your 6 on the top of compression strokes, then I'd go after that fuel thing. Open the choke plate & give her a drink of gas & spin it over. good idea to have a wet towel handy incase she is 180 out or fires back through the carb & flames up. I don't know about all of those carbs but I know mine has a plastic insert in the throat that makes up the shape of the induction bell below the venturi. That plastic bell can burn for a long time if she coughs fire up through the carb...... or so I'm told.... I wouldn't know personally...
The carb is freshly rebuilt. The guy i bought it from said the car sat for about 6-8 months (maybe longer) and when he tried to start it, it wouldnt idle at all. So he sent off the carb and here we are. Now im trying to get this ******* goin.
Fought this fight before, I think you need to get the distributor cap secured right. Make sure no cracks and contacts are clean. If everything everyone else mentioned is correct (especially the valves not too tight or open), I'd double check the float level on that carb. I'm at the point where I don't trust anyone's carb rebuild or new out of the box (exception Tom Langdon) anymore. If possible I'd even borrow a proven working carb and try that out. You smelling any gas when you try to fire?
With the ignition switch in the run position you should have power at the coil, hold the switch on start check power at coil, if no power when in the run position either switch is bad or wired incorrectly, starter wires crossed, same causes if no power when in start position. The reason I know this is because this happened to me in my sons car that had a dodge start switch that has two ignition poles, we simply changed some wiring.
Let me add while our car was in the start position it was getting power as soon as we went to the run position power ceased. So you have spark, you have compression, you have fuel, firing order is correct w/rotation, than you have to look at power delivery, source and sequence
Here's 3 things to check: (1)Dizzy bushings. When worn out spark becomes intermittant because dwell is all over the place. (2) Remove the rag that was stuffed into the intake when the former owner rebuilt the carb. Chances are it got ****ed in a bit when it got spun over after being overlooked at reinstallation. (3) Potato in exhaust pipe. Can't inhale if you can't exhale.
Ill check all of those things this weekend and see what happens. Thanks for all the input. The HAMB is AWESOME!
This is great stuff I am fairly new to this stuff my self. I have a 62 comet S22 I retrieved a 170 out of a rolled running falcon and i also am going through exactly what you are to a T I had a couple of old timers that drag raced since the early 50's look at it and told me the same thing spark fuel and air timing so on so fourth, well after checking everything they still could not believe they could'nt get it running they said of all the years of drag racing they never ever could'nt get a motor running well they couldnt they even put Acetylene in the carb a **** load of it needless to say I stood outside as they cranked over it still would'nt fire everything that is listed up above was tried several times by several really knowlagable car people .I just pulled the motor out and bought rebuild stuff for another motor a 200 we will see what the out come is because like the guy said it has become a challenge to ripp the thing apart and see if it is as simple as a dead mouse or something like that I will be pissed if it is Ive put a lot of time into this.
Ok, I think you are on the right track. 1. When you brought #1 up on compression, did you line up the timing marks on the vibration dampener and the tab or timing cover? 2. Did you set the distributor so that the points just start to open when the cam turns to #1? 3. Does the engine have enough compression to run? if it has been sitting for a length of time the rings may be dried out an not sealing. it may have enough compression to push against your finger on #1 but not enough to run. I would pull all of the plugs and run a compression test to be positive I had compression in all cylinders and it was equal or pretty close to equal. If/when you do a compression test prop the throttle wide open for max air flow and have all 6 spark plugs out of the engine when you do it. If the compression is up to snuff you have eliminated valves, rings and air flow. 4. Do you have a resistor byp*** wire running from the solenoid to the coil so that you have a full 12 volts to the coil when you are cranking the engine to start? 5. are the plugs dry an clean on the electrodes and are they gapped correctly? 6. No vacuum leaks on the intake and around the carb? This could be wrong gasket, fitting left out of manifold, fitting not capped or plugged. Usually they will try to start but not run well or idle. When you adjusted the points you did have the rubbing block on the ^ of the distributor cam and not the __ part between the ^ ^ and you did use a clean feeler gage to check the gap?
IT FIRED!!!! But now it wont idle! After some investigating, it seemed the plug wires WERE mixed up (rookie move, i know) and now they are good. Anyways, it will fire and idle kind of rough but when i go to hit the gas it wants to die out. Ive had a similar experience with another car and it was due to a missing powervalve spring. This carb is FRESHLY rebuilt and this is the first time it has run on this motor since the rebuild. Also, this problem was the reason the previous owner had the carb rebuilt. Any advice will be great guys!
Sometimes things are right in front of you all the time and frustration blinds you. Anyways that is good news, now just work on the carb it sounds like your problem now
Cool! I'm going with vacuum leaks around carb or float level, because you say idle and acceleration are bad. Did you get new carb to intake gasket with the rebuild? What are idle and fuel/air screws set at? 1 and 1/2 turns from screwed in are good places to start. What kind of carb is it?
Im going to check that this afternoon. If a car was to sit for a long time, what in the carb would cause these problems? This carb was acting funny, then rebuilt, now it is still acting funny. Not saying its DEFINATELY the carb, but what would change?
if it fires try slowly feeding the carb with fuel and see if it stays running. don't forget safety gl***es and fire exstinguisher. bet the float is set wrong or their is dirt sitting on float. keep us posted good luck.
IT IDLES! But it wont run! Apparently the ****** isnt working right. When we got it, it had a pretty bad ****** leak. We fixed it and added Red Line ATF. I had some left over from my last ******. Anyways, I think we may have added too much cause after we shut it off it spewed some back up through the fill tube. About a half quart to be exact! Does this ****** require Ford ATF? Im unsure. It will start to barely roll and drive for about 5 feet or so but when we go through the gears the wheels just keep spinning like its in neutral. What is wrong with my ******? Also, what other transmissions will fit the 215?
Looking back on it, I probably shouldnt have put synthentic oil in that old *** ******! Its going into the shop today to get the ****** fixed. Thanks for all the help guys. One last thing. I have a VERY small leak from the metal fitting that goes into the elbow that goes into the carb. Its the hard-line from the fuel pump. Is there a gas resistant teflon tape i can buy that i can wrap on the threads to keep it from leaking? Its on as tight as it will go but it wont stop leaking. Normal teflon tape will just disinegrate right?
Putting any kind of thread sealer on a inverted flare nut does NOTHING. The sealing area is the cone area on the end of the tube and where it seats in the fitting. Pull the line off and check out the flare for damage/cracks. If it looks OK replace the carb fitting as the seat in it is probably damaged.
Glad to hear you got it running, sort of. The trans is a Ford-O-Matic, which is also known as a Merc-O-Matic and later is called a FMX I believe, same basic transmission. The bellhousing unbolts form the trans, so even if you find a ___-O-Matic from some V-8, the trans should bolt up once you remove the bellhousing and put the 215 bellhousing on. The trans is a three speed, although many of the cars, and that one, only have two positions for Drive and Low on the detent. But it IS a 3-speed trans. Does the engine rev up if you give throttle slowly? If so that indicates the accelerator pump circuit is plugged, although you can also look down and see if it squirts when you goose the throttle. If it does not run at higher rpm, that means you have a plugged circuit inside.
I think it was a bad fuel situation. Im going to put another inline filter and see if it helps. The longer we ran it, the better it ran. When we went to fire it up, it started on the first turn every time. Im pretty sure it was just a small issue that will be resolved soon. Thanks for all the help. Also, i sent you another email this morning.
Did you ever fix the problem and get your car running smooth? I have the same engine 215 6inline, and it runs smooth at idle, but backfires threw the carb if i give it higher rpm's. I have set the timing, points, gaped plugs, and the vacuum for the advance seems to be good.....Valves maybe? Blake
Ya, it does the same. It feels as though the accelerator pump isnt working as stated above. The carb is coming off next week. Other than that, it does run good. You just have to be carefull taking off, then once you get going its fine!
Interesting...could be a few things. Water in the fuel? Pull the top off the carb and make sure the bowl is clean. Ruptured vac advance diaphram? Vac*** leak?
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