82 Ford Explorer F-150, 302 engine. He just rebuilt it we don't think the timing is right. It's already in the truck so how can we turn the engine by hand to bring it to TDC with out removing the Crank Pulley? Or is there even a way?

Symptoms...constant back fire through the the carb. igniting the fuel in the intake then ocassional back fires out of the exhaust ultimatly no cylinder hits. (thank god he bought a Edelbrock instead of Holley so we dont have to worry about the power valve.)

Tried bumping the starter to find TDC. "not an acurate method but should get it close" then once we felt it was close we checked the distributer and put #1 on it, we tried slowly turning the distributer back and forth while cranking, then moving all wires one spot over and rotate Dist. some more while cranking. Then roate the wires one place over, and again turn the distributer while cranking. We rotated the wires in 1 full circle around the cap. Every where that we put them we have the same symptoms with out any noticeable variance in symptoms. Any suggestions that we might be over looking would be greatly appreciated. Please second guess me, I would rather you assume we did it wrong than think we might have done something or not did something and not say anything. At this time I don't care as long as it starts.

 

hmmm....
im sure you can turn the motor somehow to get TDC, theres no fitting on the pulley for a breaker bar or anything?

Sounds like your carb could be off on the fuel/air mixture with it backfiring, may be getting too much fuel.

Just a thought, ive done lots of work on my old chevy with distributers, dwell meters, timing lights, carburators, etc UGH!! it gets aggrivating, but its sweet music when you hit the right combo and the truck purrs like a kitten.....

Good luck!

 

Unfortunatley the crank bolt is behind the pully and the pulley is held on by four small bolts and since they are off center then they will just tighten down and not turn the motor or to try and back it up, they loosen instead. ARRG! It is a new carberator I was hoping they had it set to a basic starting range from factory then we could tune it in after it starts. It has been so long since I have messed with carbs and distributers I forgot how much trouble they are...ARRRG! Once it starts Im confident I will remeber how to set the timing and the Air/fuel but getting it to start right now is looking distant. LOL

Please refresh my memory or confirm it serves me right... For a starting point is it tighten air/fuel adjusters down then back out a 1/4 of a turn each?

 

yea 1/4 turn is what i always do

 

Alright...thanks... he pulled the pulley off tonight and I'm going over in the morning. We'll bring it to TDC, set the distributer, then set the carb and see what happens. Hopefully it will atleast start even if it's rough I can tune after that!

 

It sounds to me that it's firing on the exhaust stroke. First make sure you have the proper firing order at the dist. Mark TDC on the the crank(or where the timing marks are). Pull the #1 spark plug and crank the engine with a finger in the plug hole. This will help you find the compression stroke. Then bump the starter until you feel the air coming out of the cylinder and bring the piston right to the top(a screwdriver in the plug hole will help determine this).

Put the plug back in, check your firing order, and try to start it. Rotate the dist. SLOWLY while it turns over and you should be able to time it close enough to get a rough idle. Then dial in the timing, adjust the carb. and you should be good to go.

I've run into this problem on my '69 Tbird a couple of times(didn't mark the dist. before pulling it out). This is how I get 'er going.

 

Just a comment....make sure you have the correct firing order.

302 vs 351W

The cam makes the difference. They will interchange.

 

As for the turning the motor thing, dont they make tools specifically for crasping the flywheel to turn it manually?

 

We were using a pry bar between the flywheel bolts when it was on the stand. But now it's back in the truck and bolted to the transmission. The crank pulley is to deep to get to those bolts with a pry bar so we had to take it off and use the crank bolt on the harmonic balancer. On Chevrolet, AMC and I think Dodge too, the hamonic balacner bolt is what holds the crank pulley on so did not have to remove it.

Well we got it TDC and when we pulled the spark plug we noticed it was fuel fouled, plus timing was off 30*. So reset the distributer again and pulled the rest of the plugs all of them were fuel fouled and soaked. So we regaped them 5 of the 8 where over for some reason and we are letting them and the cylinders dry over night. It's now getting fuel, the timing is on, we called Eddelbrock and they said to set the Air/Fuel at 2 1/2 turns out, (it was 4 turns out) so we did that soon as the fuel dries out of it and the plugs are dry then tomarrow we'll put the plugs back in it and if the garage gods are willing, then she should take off.

 

no no no, i mean ive seen tools that grab the teeth of the flywheel... so you can do it fron underneath the car

 

Here's what I always did.....line up #1 cylinder on TDC...it will either be TDC on the compression stroke, or TDC on the exhaust stroke.

Now drop the dist in with the rotor pointing at #1 on the cap...make sure you use the right firing order
(make sure you don't go backwards, either, as in clock-wise vs. counter-clockwise)

Now, it will either start, if you happened to line up #1 on the compression stroke (50-50 shot), or it will back-fire and cough and what not if you happened to line up #1 on the exhaust stroke (50-50 shot)

If it backfires instead of starts, pull the dist and put it back with the rotor 180 degrees from where you pulled it. There is an art to getting the rotor to point where you want it to point as you drop it in....the gear makes it "roll in" or "twist in" if you will.

If you have it "twisted in" where you want it, but it isn't set down all the way into the off-set, roll the engine over by hand till it falls into place.

 

1Bad97f150
If there is not one then it is a very good idea and it wouldn't be hard to make one.

Net Wurker,
Yes we remembered after the first time, that it wasn't as easy or as much fun as we thought that we remebered that it was to drop the distributer back in. We keep fighting with the oil pump drive shaft too.

This is the dialoge script of the event: (edited for general audience viewing)

 

Turned out it wasnt the timeing...It was off a little but very much we were able to turn the Dist. cap and get it in with room for advancment/ retardment on both sides. How ever it was the Carb the linkage was holding it open slightley flooding it plus the adjusters were 4 turns out, When we called Edelbrock they said to start with 2 turns out each. Got all that fixed and it fired right up on the second turn of the motor. I put an audio and video clip of it running with the open headers here.

82 F150 finally running... Sweet sound of it with open headers both Audio and video clips

Thanks for your help guy, it was appreciated!

 

ahh...gotta love open headers....

 

It's to bad we can't keep it like that!!! Though it would suck as cold as it's been it would warp or bust the valves with in 3 seconds of shutting it off if we let it get to running temperature. But ohh it sounds good....We have to put ear plugs in when we start it in the garage. Thanks again guys!!!

PS for the recorder to pick up anything besides white nois I had to put the mic about 15' outside of the garage to capture the audio.