So I have assembled my first engine and I want to fire it up on the stand before I drop it in. So far I can get it to turn over but no spark. I have verified timing, changed the grounding point, recharged the battery, checked the coil. I don't know what to try next it just won't start.
ground from the negative battery to the engine block or heads..
positive to the starter top post ..
positive wire with usually a switch in the middle to the BAT terminal in the HEI Cap.
bump the starter and it should fire..
do you have a distributor hold down clamp.. so the ground path is through to the distributor housing.. this is required..
rotor installed???
huge hint.. since its on the stand.. did you dead stick time the distributor..
pull the #1 spark plug and slowly rotate the motor till you get compression coming out the hole.. remember this is a 4 stroke engine.. 2 crankshaft turns to one of the distributor.. bring the damper mark to a stop at 6 or 8 before TDC.. with the rotor now pointing in the proper direction take it off so you can see the tips of the pickup coil.. turn the housing slightly to align the tips of the pickup coil with the tips of the reluctor on the distributor shaft.. this is dead stick timing.. you will be able to start the engine without needing to turn the distributor to get the timing close..
if you have power to the COil BAT terminal.. is there any damage to the HEI wiring..
the 3 wires down from the cap supply power to the module..
i have found these wires broken where they go thru the strain relief into the side of the housing.. i included a few part numbers on the image to help find replacements.
if you don't know if the HEI is working.. there are bench tests..
Sorry, I should have noticed this earlier... how did you verify timing with no spark? Or were you talking rotor phasing?
As your first build, you may have the crankshaft one turn off... The crankshaft spins over two turns for each one turn over of the distributor... one crankshaft turn is the correct one, one is the wrong one for inserting the distributor into the engine... Once you get spark at the plugs, you have to make sure you're on the correct crankshaft turn... the one where both intake and exhaust valves are closed on #1 cylinder at -0- degrees / TDC (Top Dead Center)... and the distributor rotor is pointing at #1 terminal... #1 cylinder on a Chevy is the front one on driver's side of engine... (Ford is passenger side) On Chevy, #1, #3, #5, #7 on driver's side...
Ran into this on my first run stand...if your ignition power switch to the distributor is on a switch panel separate from the engine, make sure you have a separate ground wire from the panel to the engine....all it needs is a 10 gauge wire, but you need to make a complete current path for the switch, distributor, and battery.
Well I made sure I had TDC on the compression stroke. Also made sure I was aligned with the rotor on the #1 cylinder. The ground is on the block now it was on the head. The one thing I did notice is that my 12v to the coil may be too small. right now it's just a old harness wire I had lying around probably about 14g so I will change that out and see what happens.
is this a new aftermarket HEI.. some come dead in the box, loose coil connections..
ground strap on the coil??
distributor plugged in to the cap??
full 12v to the batt connection on the hei??
lift up on the center conductor on the rotor, to be sure it has a connection to the coil??
make sure the coil to rotor button in the cap is sticking thru the cap??
tach wire grounded out on something??
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