American Motors: 61 Rambler Classic, fuel air mixture, rambler classic

Question
Hello Kevin
I'm the guy who asked about putting a V8 in my 61 Rambler ......... Anyway, my mechanic says the engine is not "blown", Here's the story ............ engine ran hot, water pump went, after it cooled I added coolant and tried to start it, it would crank but not start, I had it towed to his shop, he says it is in time, has spark, gas and compression and the points are good and gapped but it still does not start any help.
Thanks
John


Answer
John,
Your 360 needs only three things to run, providing they happen at the right time.
1) Strong spark. Pull a plug wire and hold it 1/2" from the engine block. Crank the engine and confirm that you have a strong spark jumping to the engine block.
2) Proper Fuel/Air mixture. With the key off, look down into the carburetor and operate the throttle. You should see a solid spray of fuel shooting down into the engine. Make sure it's good gas with no contamination of water.
3) Sufficient compression. Remove the spark plugs. Use a compression gauge to measure the compression of all 8 cylinders. They should be around 175 psi. There should be no more than 15 psi between the highest and lowest reading.
4) Crank engine to place cylinder #1 on Top Dead Center on the compression stroke. Confirm that the timing mark is on TDC. Remove the distributor cap and see if the rotor is pointing to cylinder #1 on the distributor cap.

Let me know what you find.
Kevin