Jj52391

Hello all,

I am in the middle of having a shop change out the heads on my rocket 350(73-74), and they seem to have an issue with getting it started after changing them out, as well as changing out the carb. I am being told that there is compression, spark, but no fuel going to intake runners. They dumped gas down into the carb, but it still won’t start. The motor cranks, and apparently everything else looks to be normal, but this is all what I’m just being told. Just want to see if anyone on here has any ideas. Thanks

-John

oldcutlass

Just a guess, they may have wired the distributor like a Chevy which turns CW and an Olds turn CCW. Another thing is that the intake manifold gasket was not seated correctly and they have a vacuum leak. Engines need 3 things to run, air-fuel-and a well timed spark. There are many other reasons, if your mechanic can't figure this out, then he is not a mechanic.

joe_padavano

^^^THIS! Troubleshooting a no-start is very straightforward. My money is on the distributor being 180 out (assuming the plugs are wired correctly). And dumping gas down the carb to start it is a good way to wash the oil off the cylinder walls and cause premature ring wear. Use starter fluid.

Jj52391

So they are saying the distributor is correct, no vacuum leaks and intake is sealed. It’s just not drawing the fuel into the cylinder. It’s hard to know exactly what they are seeing by just having them tell me. Thanks for the replies.

oldcutlass

Did they look into the carb and see if there is 2 solid streams of fuel spraying in there when they manually operate the throttle. If it did not start with pouring fuel down the carb, that's not it. They need to recheck the firing order and make sure they have spark. If all the above checks out tell them to advance the timing a bit and try again. This is not that complicated.

joe_padavano

So how, exactly, did they determine this? It's not exactly something you can observer or test for. It's also very difficult to NOT have fuel flowing into the cylinders if the carb is getting fuel and the engine is producing vacuum.

cjsdad

If the valves are opening and closing even close to correctly, it will suck air and fuel into the cylinders. Even low compression will run if it has air, fuel, and (well timed) spark.

Jj52391

Talked to them today and they seem to have no clue. I’m having them tow it back this evening. Such a huge waste of time and money

Sugar Bear

Are you going to fix it yourself?