Classic/Antique Car Repair: 61 Rambler Classic, spark plug wires, rambler classic

Question
Hello Dick,
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
I'd like to take a look at it myself, but unless you happen to be in the Temecula CA area, that's out of the question!   An engine with compression, fuel and spark , with everything timed right WILL run - so something is not quite right here.  There are a bunch of possibilities, especially if people have been fiddling with things on the engine.  For instance, if the spark plug wires were mixed up, or the distributor was removed and re-installed, I could understand it, but just knowing what you've told me so far, what he is telling you doesn't make sense.  I'm going to sort of ignore what you have told me so far and start from the beginning here - the only way I know to troubleshoot something like this - don't get insulted!

Let me ask you a series of questions and maybe we can track down what has gone wrong:

1. When you crank the engine, does it sound normal to you, or does it spin extra fast?   If it seems to be spinning extra fast skip to step number 3.       If it sounds normal to you, then:

2. Put some gas in the top of the carburetor (about 1 ounce).  Does it start briefly? If it does, your problem is lack of fuel, which could be any of various causes, but the engine is probably going to run when we get it some gas.   If it does not start, even briefly, then:

3. Take the distributor cap off and watch the rotor when you crank the engine, does it spin around?  If it does NOT, you have a serious problem. It could be either a broken camshaft, or a problem with the distributor or oil pump drive -- in either case, the engine will have to have someone who knows what he is doing investigate it further.  Just tell him the rotor doesn't turn, and he'll take it from there - at best you need a new distributor drive, at worst it can get really expensive because the engine has to come apart to fix it.  If the rotor DOES turn OK:

4. Remove the front spark plug (#1) and put a little bit of Kleenex tissue part way into the hole - so that it will be blown out by the puff of air when you come up on the compression stroke.  Now, put a wrench on the crankshaft nut (the big nut in the center of the crank pulley) and slowly turn the engine clockwise by hand (viewed from the front).  As you get to the right place, the tissue will blow out of the hole. You may have to go around two complete turns before this happens.  Now, watch what you are doing with the wrench and see if you can find the timing mark on the pulley or harmonic balancer - slowly bring the mark up to the TDC or "0" degree point.  Now, look at the distributor rotor, and identify which spark plug wire it is pointed at. If it is #1, your camshaft, distributor and valve timing is all correct. If it is some other plug wire, the distributor is out of time, or the plug wires have gotten mixed up. How it got that way I can't imagine but it needs to be put back right again before the car will run.  If you take the #1 plug wire and plug it into the hole that the rotor is pointing at, and then plug the other cylinder's plug wires in firing order around the cap (your firing order is 1-5-3-6-2-4) in the direction that the rotor turns when the engine is turned clockwise.  Even if #1 was the one the rotor was pointing at above, verify that the rest of the plug wires are in the correct (firing) order around the cap.

Now you can re-install the #1 plug and try to start it again, with a little bit of gas in the top of the carburetor.  If it starts, we're closing in on the situation.  If it still doesn't, go to step 5:

5. If everything is OK so far, lay the spark plug wire for one of the spark plugs on the engine somewhere so that the metal tip of the plug wire is within 1/8 inch of a grounded piece of metal that is attached to the engine block.  Now have someone crank the engine while you watch the end of the wire.  If you see a spark once in a while (every other engine revolution), your coil, points and condensor and ballast resistor and all ignition wiring are OK.  If you see no spark, your ignition system needs to be investigated - so let's see how far you get with this advise, I'll rest my fingers for a while and wait to hear back from you.  Let's get this puppy going again!

At this point, we should know a lot more about things - if it has spark but is still not able to start, I have one more question:

6. Is there any chance something has plugged up your exhaust pipe?

I'd like to hear back from you - let me know what happens.

Dick