72 cutlass problem... stumped

[JohnnyW]

Hey all... trying to fix a 72 cutlass and get it running for one of my soldiers. He went and bought it when it wasn't running and the PO couldn't tell him any of the specs of what had been put in it.

Has a 350 olds in it, heat and a/c has been blocked off and gotten rid of, HEI conversion, alternator conversion, remote fuel pump and modified fuel cell. Supposedly, engine was rebuilt about a year ago (who knows, I haven't torn it down). Exhaust is headers to S-pipe to corvette side pipes. For the most part, I think the PO was an autozone ranger who just bought every little thing that he thought was pretty and never knew what he was doing.

I'm stumped at the moment, fuel pressure is fine from pump to carb, jets are spurting fuel like they should, have power to the coil, and spark is produced at the cylinders. Timing is roughly right about where it should be (distributor was out when he bought the car). But, still not starting.

Based on everything that I've been looking at, I think some wires aren't where they should be, and something else has to be wrong that I'm just not thinking of. Any ideas?

[svnt442]

Olds firing order is 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 counter clockwise. Double check that and try again.
How was the HEI conversion done? You need a good switched 12V source for the power to it, not the stock resistor wire.
Start there and see what happens.
Check the plugs as well as they may have been fouled from not starting.

[JohnnyW]

Firing order and wire location is all good. That was the first thing I checked after installing the distributor.

Cleaned the plugs off this morning before starting on it.

From what I can tell, the HEI conversion was done by cutting the stock resistor wire and then running a 14ga wire to the batt terminal on the coil. I was thinking about finding a better switched 12V source, but with the resistor wire cut so close to the junction block, I don't think it would be making that much of a difference, but... If I was sure on that, I wouldn't be posting with the problem right. haha.

[svnt442]

Try running a separate wire straight from a known switched 12V source and ditch the resistor wire all together.

[texasred]

Seconds on dumping the resistor wire. You need a full 12v for that HEI.

C.J.

[Eightupman]

If it pops through the carb at all when you are trying to crank it, you have the distributor 180* out. Even with everything lined up, I see it time and time again. I've done it, and others have too.

John