Hey all, I have a 1971 F100 with a 351W. I re built the carb, and I had to pull the distributor to get a part number off of it to get a new vacuum advance. I put the new advance on, timed it, and now no start! It cranks and cranks and cranks till the battery goes dead, but will not start for the life of it. Even with gas/starting fluid down the carb.

Things i've checked:
Timing - its timed right
spark - i get spark, and ive cleaned the plugs
fuel to carb - the pump works, i can see the streams of fuel going into the bown when i pump the pedal.
went back through the carb and checked everything out. nothings wrong.
re-timed it several times. - i took the #1 plug out, turned the engine over till it was at TDC, inbetween the compression and power stroke, backed it off a little, and put everything back together, set the dizzy to spark on #1 plug.


What are the other things i could have done wrong that I haven't checked? What does it sound like to you guys? This is my hot rod project, i'd love to have it running. I hate the idea of letting an engine just sit. Thats not what theyre meant to do. They're meant to RUN. It bugs the snot outta me seein it sit there dead.

Edit: this is an OLD 351W, no computers, nothing like that. the most electric thing on the engine is the distributor. No choke thermostat, no regulators of any kind.

 

are you sure you are not 180 degrees off with the timing? ive done that before and thought i had everything right

 

as chris said id check to make sure your not 180 out. just a question when you said you dont have a choke thermostat is that mean its a manual choke or do you not have a choke at all?? if theres no choke that might be the problem. you might have to choke it somehow.

 

Try a fresh set of plugs. Sometimes when the old ones have been soaked with fuel, and even though they look fine, they won't fire for crap. Also agree on checking the timing to see if it's 180* off.

 

Sounds like the choke isn't set or the fast idle isn't engaged. If your fast idle isn't set up correctly, the throttle plates won't be open far enough for the engine to start. If the choke isn't set correctly, the mixture won't be rich enough to fire. Lastly, if your choke is set up correctly but your pulloff clearance isn't, the choke may be completely cutting off the throat of the carb. I say these things because these are specifications that are easily overlooked when rebuilding a carb and will prevent the engine from starting when not dialed in.

I also saw that you said "no choke thermostat" - does that mean you have no choke at all? If so then that is at least part of your problem. Also, if your can't get the engine to run, how are you timing it? Are you statically timing it? If so then that should get you in the ball park at least enough for the engine to fire.

 

I'd disconnect all of the choke to eliminate it as a problem. In Portland's elevation, you shouldn't need a choke at all.