[78 Nova]

Hi,
I just finished rebuilding and installing a chevy 327 small block. The car has fuel, air, and spark... but, wont fire. Please help! I have checked the firing order and timing. It seems to be alright, I dont know what it could be.

[ January 04, 2003: Message edited by: 78 Nova ]</p>

[OddRodder]

Don't start sweatin' yet. what you have probably done is, set the distributor at 180' out. Pull no.1 plug and turn the motor over, as the piston comes up on the compression stroke, you should feel air trying to escape around your finger. now, line up yuor timing marks on the crank and cover. Pull the distributor cap, is the rotor lined up with the No.1 post (most likely it is turned the exact opposite or 180 out). pull and reset the dist. and it should fire right up! Good Luck! <img src="graemlins/drool.gif" border="0" alt="[drool]" />

[HotRodMan]

Oddrodder has some good advice and I would try that first. If that doesn't work, I had a car once where everything was there, spark, gas, compression, timing, the car would not start and it turned out to be a partially bad ignition switch. I was getting spark, but it was weaker than it should have been and wasn't enough to start the motor. You can run a jumper wire from the positive post on the battery to the positive terminal on the coil (thus by passing the ignition switch). If it starts then, you either have a bad ignition switch or wire.

[telephone man]

I just noticed that the date of this thread is 2003!! Oh well, I'll throw in my 2 cents anyway. I rebuilt a small block Chevy a LONG time ago and when I pre-adjusted the valves (hydraulic lifters), I turned the rocker arm bolts a little too much. When I turned the key, it sounded like an electric motor spinning as there was very little if any compression. After I re-adjusted the valves, it fired right up.