Hey neighbors!

Not sure if anyone's around, but thought I'd seek some local knowledge. I'm running short on time and knowledge trying to get the '71 FE 360 going again.

It ran ok when I moved to AZ at the end of 2016. It passed emissions and I drove it infrequently for the next year or so until it ended up parked in the backyard in NE Mesa. Then I learned about pack rats as they started to move in. Hate those things. Mostly annoying packing crap (literally and figuratively) on the intake and inside the hood but not much damage. Then they broke inside by chewing through the transfer case boot. That was it. My 17 year old son was inspired to work on it, so we pulled it out (wouldn't start) and cleaned it up and have tried to give it some needed attention. Gutted the interior, pressure washed the rat stuff out, POR15'd some surface rust in the pans and reupholstered the bench. Looks and smells better.

Maybe we should get it to run. Suspected a fuel issue and the Autolite 2100 was in rough shape. Right or wrong and influenced by my 17 year old to go 4 barrel we put an Edelbrock AVS carb and Performer Intake on it. While there, put a new water and fuel pump. Before parking it the plug wires were replaced and still looked good. Distributor has Petronix and cap looks ok. Went ahead and changed plugs again, pretty black. I did some poor marking when I pulled the distributor though and have tried to start fresh with TDC and rotor pointing to #1. No start. I can get some effort and some backfires, but won't run. Pulled fuel line at carb and there's gas.

Anyways, a weekend project is taking over a month. I'm ready for some help if I can figure out where to go. Any suggestions?

Jeff

 

Pack rats are such wonderful creatures.....I once stored a vehicle for a buddy's son who was going into the service. Pack rats got in there before I realized it and they literally ate every scrap of rubber under the hood, including the plug wires. My buddy had read that moth ***** would keep them away, so we had covered the intake and every flat space with them, didn't make any difference, I think it attracted them as those were gone too.........

Couple things to try are double check and triple check the timing, and make sure your plug wires are set up in the correct firing order, use starting fluid or small amount of gas poured down the throat (I use an old oil squirter with gas to do this as I can control how much gets sent in) to make sure its not a lean condition with the new carb and the initial adjustments (obviously do this outside with a fire extinguisher handy). Double check the initial set up adjustments for the carb as well. Have you done a compression test to see where the engine is, if the old plugs were fouled, that may be contributing to your challenge.

Also, is it possible that any crud got sent into the new carb that could have plugged a jet? While you have fuel, if its not metering correctly, you will have issues. I fought an engine once that was getting some small crud flaking off a fuel line that was down along the frame. I would clean out the carb, it would run for a while, then die. After four or so tries at this, put a filter right at the carb. Eventually discovered this little piece of hose along the frame I wasn't aware of. Once I pulled that, it was clear it was really degraded.

You should also consider posting in the engine section for that motor and the specialists can chime in with more specific advice.

Good luck to you.

 

Thank you LeeinPhx. That's some good advice. I'll triple check my plug wires and timing then really look at fuel. Probably go ahead and change out my new fuel filter as I'm afraid it could be slowing flow with what was in the tank. I probably should of flushed that tank out first in hindsight.