350 Help!!!

well i have this 350 in my 72 C10, we have been trying to get this thing started but we can't so here are the symptoms and see if yall can help me get this started.

well at first the we wernt getting gas to the fuel pump but now we are, at first we wernt getting spark but now we get alittle every once and a while, it backfired out the exhaust once but only once but it keeps backfiring out the carb, no we figure its the timming but all the measurement tell us we are in the ball park to start it, the distributer is good and all the wires go to the right places and the spark plugs are new, looking at the front of the engine the timming marks are on the right side of the balancer but my dad thinks that it might have supposed to have been on the left side (he says some engines were like that, but i don't see any holes for the mark and the water pump makes it so you can't see nothin.



PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:CRY: :confused: :mad:

It was running before right?

when we bought it no. but the guy said it had only been sitting for about a year without running. we have completey rebuilt the entire engine so it should not be bad or nothin

try pulling number one spark plug, get number one piston tdc on compression stroke and pull the distributor cap. make sure rotor is pointing at where number one plug wire is on your cap. If not you have to reset your distributor

Are you sure the cam is in right? One tooth off can cause all kinds of problems that are difficult to chase down.

yes the cam is on right, my father suggested the same thing that pizzaman did, we have not done it yet but we most likley will tomorrow

if it's a fresh build I have to ask- did you pump up your lifters before installing?

what do you mean

did you pump them up with oil to get the air out- if not then you will have to wait for them to get oil to support the push rods- unless your running a solid lift cam. I have had this happen to me before & I thought the timing was off.

do you have an older 350, or is it the newer 87 up 350?

I think you said your getting fire at the plugs sometimes?
what color is the spark?
should be blue spark.

when setting the timing marks on the cam and crank did you set the cam mark at 6 and the crank at 12 o clock?

did the crank sprocket have more than one groove for the keyway?

looking from the passenger side of the truck what side of the vehicle is the distributor cap's batt and tach teminal connector is pointing to?

where are you getting the power to run the distributor's coil from?

if the lifters are all down, you will need to build them up. if they were down when you installed the pushrods and rockers. you may have damaged them if you tightened the rockers to far .

and are you timing to plugs starting on the drivers side of the engine and the first plug on that side is 1,3,5,7 ansd passenger side is 2,4,6,8. and the distributor starts with 1,8,4,3,6,5,7,2, and the rotor must be pointing at exactly the 1 on the cap?

did you know that there are 2 cycles the engine makes before you get top dead center on the compression stroke?

dont just go by the damper. go by the number 1 cylinder and where its at in its cycle.

I use a mixture of motoroil and STP , in a small bowl. submerge 1 lifter at a time and something like an old but clean pushrod, and while holding the lifter in one hand and makin sure its kept submerged push in with the rod entil you can feel it getting a little tuff , this is when you know the oil is inside the lifter and has worked out any air.

easy way to find TDC is to take out plug #1, disable the coil, and lightly stick your finger in plug #1 hole.... crank the engine and when you feel it give you a nice push, you know your at or at least close to TDC, from there, just do a little adjust ment, use a screw driver or something if you must, and turn the engine til you're at the spot in between going up and coming down