Any and all help is appreciated. I broke my one rule about toys twice in 3 years. I bought something that did not run. So I bought a truck with a blown head gasket, bad idea.

1991
F250
4x4 TTB
Single cab long bed
351W

The guy said he drove the car 100 miles every day to get to work until the head gasket blew. He also said that he pull over right away and turned it off and got towed home. The back left piston had coolant sitting on it and evidence of where the gasket had blown. He removed his beloved muffler and placed the ad on CList. I cam in and removed the heads and had them worked back to stock plus 5 broken bolts removed plus the rear crossover tube plugged. The lifters were shot so they were also replaced, but awfully tight to install. Mistakenly I did not point the distributor in any specific direction before removing. When assembly began I put the #1 piston up and pointed the dist to #1. If all else fails I can clock it 180 deg and start over. I still have a few vacuum lines to sort out , but nothing critical at least from what I can tell to hamper a start up test. All undecided ports were plugged so that no vac leaks occured. I go to start and 1 it's hard to start 2 it sounds like a rod is being slug around (all pistons are attached) but that's what it sounded like. I'm going to remove the belt and see if I can get a little help. The coil was disconnected the first few cranks just to get oil up and about. What could I be missing.

 

does it sound like it wants to start? if you have the dizzy pointing to #1 you probably need to advance it slightly. Timing should be 10* btdc with spout connector removed. make sure you have fuel pressure also, plug the coil in and have someone crank the motor as your turning the dizzy.

 

Yeah...BTDC is that turning it clockwise from center? It's been a long time since and that was on a running vehicle. Spout connector is just the main plug going into the distributor? Does the banging noise sound about right? BTW my exhaust ends after the cat at this time.

 

no, there is a little pigtail set of wires that come off near the dizzy. that large plug must stay plugged into the dizzy.

hard to say regarding the banging noise. if the cylinder had rad fluid in it and the guy tried to start it you may have a bent rod.

 

Off to the chiltons manual then.

 

Update with video.

YouTube - 351w hard start after head work

 

Sounds like some off timing to be honest, Id back it off a good bit and try again.......starter and flywheel dont sound too good

 

Something is horribly wrong those sounds were also made when the coil was unplugged. Sticky lifters and possibly a jumped timing chain. I'm just going to swap engines and have this one rebuilt someday.

 

Having the timing way off will make an engine very hard to turn over. I agree with deeznuts822 that you have a timing issue. When you had your heads off did you rotate the crank to check the rotating assembly and check all cylinders for any damage? Something like a bent rod may have shown up at this time. I would play with the timing some more before I write off the motor. Pull the plugs and put a socket on the crank and turn the motor over by hand and see if you can feel any binding when you rotate the crank. If there is noticeable resistance anywhere in the rotation you may have some internal engine damage.