I have an 86 ford f350 one ton dually with the 460 in it. I Basically purchased an 87 fuel injected 460 motor, tore it down bored out .30, added a new stock equivlent cam and timing chain set, new lifters and oil pump then transferred all of my 86 top end stuff over to the new block. (Don't worry guys I have plans for the old block for a muscle car I want to build someday)

anyway, My new / rebuild will not start. I have spark, fuel etc. I have the duraspark II distributor. I've pulled the distributor and set the engine to TDC and aligned the timing specs to 8 btdc, then I reinstalled the distributor with the rotor pointing to the #1 position but the motor still does not start. Sounds like it wants to so I move the distributor clockwise or counter clockwise and then it either stays like it wants to start or it doesn't. Other than plugging the vac advance what have I left out????

 

You are not at TDC for #1, but 180° out. You are at TDC for the 5th cylinder in the firing order, which is #6. Either rotate the motor 180° or just set the dist. rotor to #6.

 

Tried per your detailed instructions and that of all data, chilton and the like. Still not starting. I have spark, fuel, air. What else?

 

Compression is all that is left. You need 4 things to run, fuel, air, spark at the right time and compression to tun. Have you tried maunal choking the engine?

 

I have great compression. Brand new rings and I can feel a lot of air coming out on the compression stroke. I cant even keep my finger on the hole when I try. I did unscrew and retorque the valves to make sure I did not have them to tight. Still same problem. Cranks fine but no start. I even sprayed carb cleaner in the carb to try and get a reaction.

 

so lets say you have air,compression, whats left is fuel and spark double check your fuel then check for spark not just any spark it needs to be a strong spark, it might be a faint blue spark caused by a bad wire or something of the like.

 

Thanks a lot for the help on this. I still haven't figured it out but since we live in a small town I finally got to the point where I had to take it to the local shop here. Hopefully it's something small that I'm missing but I need the truck. I'm a mechanic with some experience and to be honest I truly enjoyed pulling this engine apart and putting it back together. I felt really good that I took my time and was very meticulous about putting everything back together. I'm anxious to know what it was myself. I'll post back. I love fords, I just hate losing. This is my first big block rebuild and I have another 460 block that I will slowly build up to put in a future project. I just feel whipped and I hate to lose!.

 

Just an update to this. I was staring at this motor and looking around for everything obvious and thought it's time to meticulously try Yet again. I pulled the distributor again but this time I noticef the cam was turning and the rotor was not. Weird, then I noticed the pin holding the cam was missing. Wow, what a find I thought. Put a pin in (had to man one), set TDC and "Brooom" Whooooo Hooooo.

My Rebuilt 460 is alive, purring like a kitten and can pull like a clydesdale. Thanks for all your suggestions.