Charlie_brown

I finally got everything in order to finally break my motor in tomorrow. I'm priming my oil pump tomorrow and will hopefully be able to start it up. how long should i prime the pump? And any and all pointers on breaking in a BBO is appreciated.

442Harv

Prime it till you get oil to all the rockers. You need to rotate the motor 180 degrees a couple times to get it to oil both sides. Need to start right up, and run it right away at 2000 RPMs for 20 30 min to breake in the cam if it is a flat tappet cam, Very the speed a little, not below 1500, and not over 2500. Should also have cam breaken additive in the oil. After breaken, drain oil and change filter, then should be set to go. Watch the gages, have a fire extingester, and water hose, and tools handy, works best with two guys, one to keep[ it running, and one outside to watch for problems,like leaks. Can be a scarry time first start up,fells good when all goes well.

D Appeldorn

? how do you do that if you have a automatic like a th400.

gona buy next month a crate 455 olds engine

442Harv

You asked how do I do that, what do you mean prime it? If that is what you mean, you need to get a oil primer tool, and a heavy duty drrill, that turn counterclock wise. and turn till you get oil to the top.

D Appeldorn

i ment, drive within 1500 and 2500 rpm.
or did you ment to put it in N and atach a tach to stay between 1500 and 2500.

i run a th400 automatic so it is difficult to stay between that.

442Harv

Just start the car and run it, not drive it. In park

panos

You dont have actually "drive" with the car ,just put it on P (or N with handbrake) and give it "gas" until you reach about 2000-2500 rpm and stay there for 20-30 min.it doesnt mater what transmissin you have.Btw were did you found a"crate" 455?

Charlie_brown

I'm tired and pissed. I got everything complete today even went and got me a tach to make sure i stay in the 2500-3000 rpm range. Tighten all my bolts double check everything down to the torque converter bolts. Even avoided the Florida rain. Then come to find out the oil pump primer my buddy lent me was for a cheby. So i had to prime it by taking all the spark plugs out and disconnecting the fuel pump and turning it till i got oil pressure. Tightened everything back up filled the fuel bowls and turned the motor but no start. Turned the motor again NO START. Turned the distributor check my plug wires. Started the motor again it sounded like it wanted to but no start. After a couple times of trying this and afraid i was going to ground a cam lobe down i called it quits. I really hope i didn't hurt the cam. In the midst of all of this i got a 3 foot flame to come out of my carb but it still didn't start. I'm done for today but what could it be that is keeping the motor from starting. Did over look something?

citcapp

set the number one cylinder to top dead center and make sure the distributor rotor is pointed to the number one sparkplug wire and that all of your plug wires are set to the counterclock wise rotation of the distributor and in the right order. These items being incorrect are the most common problem I know of when a new engine won't start. Good luck

tim72

Is the Rotation of the spark plug wires *** BACKWARDS?

Charlie_brown

I wish that was the case but the #1 piston was on TDC before the initial crank. The dist was pointing to the #1 plug. No *** backwards plugs either tim. 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 counter clockwise. I'm looking on car craft at there article

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/ccrp_0...00_repair.html

Looking at this i see i didn't do anything to the idle mixture screws

Run to Rund

At #1 TDC firing (meaning both valves shut, and the #6 valves just starting to open/close), set the rotor tip about 3/8" beyond (CCW) the #1 post of the cap. That will give you enough advance for the engine to start, and you can set timing later.

By the way, I prime with a 1/4 drive ratchet, extension, deep well socket taped to the extension. That way no part is so small it is likely to drop far even if the duct tape fails. I turn the ratchet until I hear oil squirting, get heavy resistance to turning the ratchet, hopefully even get oil to the rockers. I do fill the tappets manually before installing them. I fill a spray paint can lid with oil and depress the plunger repeatedly until air is purged from the lifters. The mains except #1 are fully grooved so there is no need to turn the engine and re-prime. Priming is a lot easier if the oil pump has heavy oil or cam lube in it.

442Harv

If it is backfiring out the carb, I can tell you for sure the distributor is off, most comon mistake is 180 degrees off. Even a couple teeth can be a problem. Also you can have it in the right spot, but to retarded or to addvance. it will be a problem

Charlie_brown

I saw that the distributor being 180 could be a potential problem but I don't completely understand what that means. Now as for retarding and advancing the distributor I was turning the distributor between each start attempt both retarding and advancing it.

Casa

Sounds like a timing issue to me. I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago when I dropped an HEI in my 350. Turns out when you spend all day doing tune-ups on late model dodges you forget the dist on an olds is supposed to spin CCW (plug wires were *** backwards, doh!). Since you've checked that already, I'd say check and double check your timing. I've seen distributors off by even 1 tooth causing issues similar to this. Kinda obvious, but check to make sure cap/rotor are good and there's no condensation in the cap.

tim72

Been there and done that on the 180 deg off. Bring number one up to top dead center. Turn the ignition to on. Take number one plug out at number one cylinder. Put the plug back in the boot. Ground the plug and then turn the distributor back and forth slowly until you see a spark. No spark then something is wrong. If you get spark you are at the starting point and should be able to start your motor at that point.

Charlie_brown

Tonight I bumped it over till it was almost tdc then turned the crank till it started to push on my finger. I took the cap off and it was 4 plugs after #1 so i tightened the cap and moved the plugs around. It still didn't start won't be able to get back on it till Thursday 60 hr work weeks and all. Lol I forgot to take the battery terminal off and got a good shock too.

jr711

Hey Charlie I have almost the exact same build, and I had the same problem you are having right now. The problem was that my rocker arm nuts were on too tight. Loosen them up and I bet it will start.Then you can adjust them while the engine is running to tighten them up.

Charlie_brown

I'm back at square one! Yesterday i redid everthing to ensure all was right i took out all plugs and turned the motor over (by hand) till #1 piston pushed on my finger. I took the cap off and marked where it was pointing and reinstalled the plugs accordingly. Filled fuel bowls (the front was empty and the back didn't need much). The only other thing i think could be keeping me from firing up is maybe i didn't put enough gas in the tank to actually settle in the sump. I really doubt this since the car is significantly lower in the back then in the front but could the gas have settled on the very back of the tank and not be in the sump? I put a little less than a gallon the tank figuring it would be enough to break the cam in but could it have not been enough? And seeing the front bowl empty only supports this. What do you guys think?

D Appeldorn

buy a transparent feul filter, or drop some gas in the carb, wait a moment and trie to start without puting the pedal down.

i had it to at first time starting the engine, most of the lines where full of air.
bought a transparent fram feulfilter to check the feul if it gets to the carb or if i had rust in my gastank

J-(Chicago)

1. Break it in with a fuel jug, and a clear fuel hose to see what's going on.
2. Both the intake and the compression stroke will move your finger. So find top dead center-ish with a pencil, and check your balancer is at zero.
3. set your rotor and firing order to #1 cylinder. Try it then. If it backfires, then it's most likely 180 out.

Charlie_brown

forth times ah charm. She purred for me the first time today! I'm all grins to say the least. So now i've got the timing down but it cuts off once the fuel bowl is empty. Fuel pump is pumping I've got the black nylon braided lines so i can feel that it makes it up to the regulator but it just wont fill the bowl. The allen headed ajuster was completely seated i've turned it out quite a bit but it still isn't filling the bowl. The fuel pump is used so i'm really leaning towards getting another but only if needed. Any ideas as what could be the problem or if its the carb itself maybe the float?

Erinyes

Check the volume of the pump. Make sure the carb is full of gas, disconnect the fuel line at the carb, direct the flow safely into a can. Look for a pint of fuel within 30 seconds at idle.

Yes, this can be dangerous. Have someone handy with a fire extinguisher.

It would be much safer to hook in a pressure gauge, but it is possible to have pressure within specs and insufficient volume. Test the pressure first, and if it's not somewhere around 5-7 psi, then you can avoid the volume check.

BTW, these specs are but a fading memory. Check your specs for your setup.

Charlie_brown

The fuel isn't reaching the carb. I removed the lines going into the carb and there is not and has never been any fuel in the line. I'm sure it's making it to the regulator but I'll check later on today by taking the line off going into it. I stoped by the performance store and ordered a new diaphram and spring hoping this will solve my problem. A buddy was telling me it could be that the pump just isnt pumping enough pressure to get the gas through the regulator. I don't know how true this is but the parts store guy suggested I start with the regulator internals

dr425x

ok from your pics it looks like your using that pos fram fuel filter its way to restricted throw it away. had a customer with this and he would always run out of fuel in his bowls. also you need a free flowing fuel filter as close to the tank as possible. gravity feed it with the pump as close to the filter as possible remember all elec fuel pumps push fuel way better than they can pull it (also use a fuel pump relay let it handle the load). then mount reg as close to carb as possible and set to 7 psi running at idle( its important to set at idle because voltage will be around 11-12 volts instead of the 13-14 volts when running and 7 psi will be closer to 9 and you will over power the needles and flood). this will ensure that your holley blue pump is set up correct. it will provide more than enough fuel. do not run that blue pump to the nitrous fuel sol and your carb. it will lean out. you will have to run a seperate holley red pump no reg needed directley to the nos fuel sol.

Charlie_brown

Well I'm in atlanta on a well needed vacation, but i figured out the problem prior to leaving. I took the fuel line off that was coming into the regulator and when i took the fitting off i found that the rubber inside the line was about 6 inches back from the fitting and was all bunched up for a lack of words my fuel system was constipated. So my plan is when i get back, to cut the line back to where it is open and put on a new fitting and new hose from there. I wish i had pics but how could the fuel lines do that i mean the only thing up the regulator was the braided line. Could it have been a mistake i made when installing the hose?

Charlie_brown

I got the new hose and fittings all on the car. Started the car last week ( Oh open headers sound sooooo good) and found that i needed to seal my intake so i had to shut it down and take the intake off and run a bead of rtv around my back water jacket. So i'm all set again to break the cam in but i'm hung up on how to set my floats. At least thats what i think it is the last time i started it i had fuel gushing out of the vent and in the sight glass it was at the top. But at the time i didn't have a psi gauge on my regulator could it be i have to much or too little pressure to the carb, or is it simply the float that would cause this?