[gambit22]

Finally got that driveshaft in with a little finagglin! Thanks for all your help guys. Here's the deal: the olds 403 won't start, I'm thinkin it's a timing problem. It seems as though, according to the timing light, the spark is being introduced at the opposite time it is supposed to be! Anyone have any ideas as to what could have caused this? The only thing I did was swap out the tranny and install a smog pump. Thanks alot guys.

[gambit22]

Heh, maybe I oughta be more specific. It seems as though the plugs are sparking not before TDC, but when the piston is near the bottom of the cylinder. I haven't timed my distributor yet, but a few degrees isn't enough to make THAT much of a difference, correct? It's as if the dist. is in 180 degrees off!

[Brian Baker]

Smog pump on a 403? You sure you've got your timing light connected to teh correct cylinder? Seek local professional help.

[68ragtop]

If you can give us more specific symptoms, I'm sure we can help.
Are you saying your using a timing light, but its not running? if your 180
off with your distributer, your not going to know that with a timing light.
if someone else is cranking the engine, & your holding a light on it, 180 off
will still show the mark in the right spot. If thats what your doing.

[gambit22]

Well, one person's turning the key, and the other is holding the light on cylinder number one, as you can see from the attached highly advanced computer graphical animation. When the key is turned, the engine turns over just fine and every cylinder is receiving spark. Yet it seems that the spark is just way off according to the timing light. In other words, it's not even close. Also, I hear a "poofing" noise that seems to be coming out of the carburetor, I assume it's the gas that's not being ignited. I also about destroyed my driveway with an extremely loud backfire . I am about ready to seek professional help, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious.

[68ragtop]

Did you have the distributer out of the car since it last ran? What things did you change?

[Brian Baker]

That looks to be a 403 all right...but where's the smog pump? Did you mean to say you replaced the power steering pump? It stands to reason that if you touched nothing else and you're getting fuel and spark, it should run. I have a hunch though that more was done than you're telling. Seek professional help.

[gambit22]

Sorry for the confusion: I took that picture before the work was done. All I did was:

1.) install a smog pump: that is to say, there wasn't one on before. That includes vacuum hoses and all related valves.

2.) replace the tranny.
68ragtop: I did take the distributor cap off, but not the distributor itself, in order to get at the bellhousing bolts.

[scotts78TA]

Hey Brian, dude, tone down the "assumptions". The guy is asking for help and your replies sound somewhat....suspicious.

Ask the questions and lets see whats up.

[455wagon]

Did you hook back up the 3 prong wire to the cap?
Take a test light and make sure that when you turn the key on you have power at the bat terminal on the dist.
Check that you put the red wire to the Bat treminal and not the tach terminal.

Good luck.

[68ragtop]

Check your firing order, If you pulled the cap, I am guessing you pulled some wires too. 18436572, I would ditch the timing light for now, I don't hink its helping you. Rotate the crank so the mark is just before "0". Pop the cap back off check were the rotor is pointing. If its pointing close to were the #1 plug wire is, your proobably in the right spot to start checking your firing order. If its ponting in an area of the cap that doesn't seem like the #1 wire could have ever been connected, rotate the cank, one more complete turn & back to "0". If you did not loosten the distributer, Just check the firing order & be sure the cap didn't break anywere.

There are beter ways to be sure you are on #1 tdc ignition, but this might be the best way for you seeing you didn't remove the distributer.

[Brian Baker]

When this kid can conjur up a cogent description of what was done, and what the problem is, and express it completely, perhaps then I'll tone it down a bit. There's nothing that pisses me off more then when someone is asking for help when they give incomplete information, and expect a complete answer. If they're not capable of providing the information, then the best thing for them to do is not touch it at all, and seek professional help.

It took 8 posts, and a prompting from me, for the guy to finally admit that he pulled the distributor cap off (when before he said "all I did was install a tranny and smog pump"). Why would anyone install a smog pump on a 403 anyway? I've never seen a 403 of any year with a smog pump installed on it, least not in any Firebird.

Dude, your firing order is out of whack (see 68ragtop reply). Seek professional help.

[dragula81]

Originally Posted by gambit22

. Also, I hear a "poofing" noise that seems to be coming out of the carburetor, I assume it's the gas that's not being ignited. I also about destroyed my driveway with an extremely loud backfire . I am about ready to seek professional help, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious.

Sounds to me like your dist is 180 degrees off. Both of these reactions sound like a dist 180 off especially if it backfires out the carb.

Check your timing as stated above. MAKE SURE your on the compression stroke.

[gambit22]

Brian: if you're going to be so angry about it, just ignore me. I need a smog pump because I live in California and I want to drive my Firebird around. My Buick has a smog pump with the 403 motor, and best I can tell, my Firebird came with one too.

Wagon: I did connect the red wire to the BAT terminal and not the TACH. Will check for power tho. Thanks.

Ragtop: Will try these steps; thanks alot for the help.

[Brian Baker]

You got it, gambit'

[piratepowwow]

Hey, you sound like me back in November. If you are using a timing light when the engine isn't running, it is obvious that you don't know what you're doing. I did the same thing with the timing light.

To make sure your #1 cylinder is at TDC COMPRESSION STROKE what I do is seal the spark plug hole with my finger and have a friend rotate the crank (rotate the crank clockwise with a breaker bar and large socket, I think 1-1/8") until you start to feel pressure building up in the cylinder with your finger. Continue turning the crank until the piston is at the top of its travel and confirm this by noting the timing mark is at 0 deg.

Now we need to make sure you've got the plug wires in the right spots. Here is another mistake I made when I did it for the first time. I thought that the numbers of the cylinders represented their firing order and connected the plug wires in that order (1,2,3,4...etc) on the distributor cap. Big mistake. The cylinder number denotes the cylinder's physical position on the engine, not it's firing order. The firing order for your engine is stamped on the intake manifold behind and to the right of the carb on top of one of the intake runners. It should be something like 1-8-5-6-3.... i can't remember exactly. Anyway, connect the wires to the distributor cap in that order.

When you are connecting the wires, start with #1 cylinder wire and connect it at the position located right above the rotor, as this is the cylinder that would be currently firing if the engine were running. Proceed connecting the plug wires following the direction the rotor travels when you turn the crank using the breaker bar.

You may have to experiment rotating the distributor forward or backward a little bit at a time to see if you can get it to crank (to rotate the distributor there is a hold-down bolt down by where the dist goes into the engine, loosen this bolt to rotate the dist)

Once it is cranked and running (probably running like ****) you can then try your best to keep it running while you use the timing light. The 403 should be set to 24 deg BTDC ignition timing. I know 24 deg is a lot, but trust me this is about where you want it. If the mark shows up after 24 deg, rotate the dist counter-clockwise, if before, rotate clockwise.

LMK if you can't get it working, but also lmk if you do.