[Cliff R]

WAY back when I first started building V-8 engines for customers I sent one out and the customer couldn't get it to fire. He ended up pulling the water pump and timing cover and discovered that I had the timing gears/marks "180 out". He called up here all pissed off, trying to round up a linch mob to have me tarred and feathered and ran out of town on a rail, and no matter how much I tried to explain to him that all he needed to do was rotate the engine from firing #6 over to firing #1 and re-installing the distributor he wasn't going to hear any of it. He labeled me STOOPID and that's just the way it was going to be.

Learning from that experience I started REQUIRING the distributor with the engine and started installing them at 10-12 degrees BTDC on the #1 firing position and "static" timing them. This is done by setting them so the points are just starting to open or the reluctor is just starting to line things up to fire the coil with the engine turned so the balancer marks are lined up on the #1 compression stroke.

That worked OK for a while then I had some issues with folks throwing untested carbs on fresh engines and "washing" them out or excessive cranking before they would fire up.

This led to requiring the carb AND distributor sent with the engine so I could delivery the engine with both items in place, both parts tested, static timed and ready to eye-dropper some fuel in to the carb vent so the engine would fire before it made one revolution.

That worked pretty well for a while but I still had a few customers that had issues so I started dynoing all the engines I built and delivering them turn-key ready to fire with no leaks, knocks, timing set and ready to plug & play.

Some of lifes's lessons with this hobby that should make folks realize that all hobbyists don't have the same experience or skill sets and can quickly get themselves into trouble with these sort of things........FWIW.......

Anyhow, I am NOT trying to be overly critical here, but the basic fundaments for this sort of thing need to ALL be in place BEFORE you attempt a start up after a cam change or with a "fresh" engine. Camshaft installed correctly, lifters set at the correct pre-load, known working distributor installed on the #1 compression stroke about 10-12 degrees BTDC and "static" timed. The carb should be a known working flawlessly unit, fuel in it, etc before you attempt to start the engine. I'd also go as far as to pressure test the cooling system since the engine was all apart AND put a small hole in the thermostat or push it slightly open and cut a small piece of platic tube from your can of carb cleaner and pry the thermostat open and let it come to rest on the piece of plastic. This will allow you to top off the cooling system before you fire it up and you don't have to start dumping water in and all over the engine when the stat opens and it "pukes" water all over, the fan picks it up and sprays down the engine compartment and cars windshield, etc, during run-in (sound familiar?).

A lot of these things are learned from decades of doing this sort of thing and finding all the weak spots in your armor. Hope the info helps some...........Cliff