Thanks Montana

I'm with you all the way on that, the only firing order i use is the one on the intake! Could an intake from a different motor fit my 400? also i am using the firing order from service manual for a 400.

 

What I will suggest you do is reinstall the distributor one tooth offset from its current location and try; if that doesn't give any changes, then reinstall one tooth off in the other direction (offset it from the original installation, not one tooth off from one tooth off, that'd be back to where it was ).

I remember when I first reassembled my 400 and I put the distributor in what I thought was the correct location; it spat and chugged and complained and carried on, but it did *sort of* run.

Another thing you might do first is simply try turning the distributor significantly far from where it presently is and see what happens.

 

BTW I need to make sure of something real simple....

Ford labels their cylinders like so:







Chevy does like so:

 

Well i might be thinking along those line also but i don't see the point if my timing light puts me dead on . I have also tried it 180 out and 90 in either direction and it spits and backfires more 180 out but still nothing, remember it did rum at one time in the location it is in right now thats why i had asked if something like the stator or reluctor could mess up the firing order if bad.

 

The firing order is determined by the order of connections on the rotor.

 

Thats the order i used with the timing at TDC for starters

 

The coil is going to be fired when the pickup in the distributor instructs the module to do so, irrespective of what your timing light test might lead you to believe.

THIS SITE somewhat shows the importance of the dizzy not being one tooth off.

 

Ok so correct me if i'm wrong, the timing light also fires exactly when the pickup in the dist.instructs the module to send spark to the #1 cyl. it dose'nt send two different commands, so when my light connected to the # one cyl lights and show the balancer and pointer location to be at tdc i will have to believe that the dist is in correctly, there is no other way. Am i missing something . When the coil executes its command to fire cyl #1 it also sends that command to fire the timing light, they are one command.

 

An inductive timing light fires whenever it sees a pulse on the plug wire you've got it clamped to. This is the same pulse that fires the plug, and the pulse is generated because the ignition module told the coil to fire. The timing light always gets clamped to the #1 plug wire, since that's what the timing marks refer to.

Is the choke snapping shut before you go to start the motor?

 

I really understand the timing lights opperation and i just wanted to make sure everyone agrees that it can be used to confirm that my dist. is installed properly.

Choke does shut and i have held it open too. If i crank it too often like that it will flood so after a while i clip it open. I even plugged vac line to the brake booster with the thought it might be a bad leak in the booster.

 

Maybe with trying to start it repeatedly, you have flooded the engine pretty severely and washed down the cylinder walls resulting in not enough compression to start, does your oil smell of gas? if so, clean or swap out the plugs, change the oil and while the plugs are out give each cylinder a few squirts of oil, crank it over a few times then reinstall the fresh plugs.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Definately worth a try.

 

I feel safe in saying your Duraspark is working correctly. Start looking elsewhere as suggested. Only thing else I can add would be to pull valve covers and verify valves open and close at proper time. That would be my last resort. I didn't read back thru whole thread to see what carb you have, but if a Holley and it has backfired even once, a good chance power valve is blown, but engine still should be making an attempt to start.

 

Thanks for all the input!

If i'm not mistaken the compression test confirms that valves should be working properly but i can still look, Keep in mind that before my ignition module failed the truck ran fine and was driven up the ramp of a car carrier in 4WD and then around the block and into my driveway. This has to be something so simple and i just can't find it. Oh and carb is motorcraft 2150 2barrel (just completely rebuilt and purchased from NAPA.

 

Had one drive me crackers for a week before I found it. One little stupid thing. It happens sometimes. I guess you have rotated dizzy while cranking to see if it fires. I have had some crazy off with timing settings. Make sure to unhook vacuum line to distributor and cap at carb till you get it running. One less thing to fool with. If you can get a set of fresh eyes to help you, wouldn't hurt. I've had my 17 year old see something I've missed. Good luck, I can't be of any more help.