Fuel Pump? Truck died... Can't diagnose.

[Spool]

Hey Guys,

I'm out there now labeling and cleaning, but I found something...

My personal disclaimer is I've never had more than 1 plug cable disconnected at any given time, and up until this evening did I begin to address each
plug cable by it's respective cylinder number.

In doing so, I discovered my firing order is nothing like the diagram I shared the other day.
I've attached a photo showing the correct firing order to the left and my current firing order to the right.

How is it my truck ever ran correctly in the first place, where do I go from here?
I currently have it wired as shown and have continued cleaning for now.

[Spool]

I just realized after looking at it longer that it's not necessarily out of order, but the plug connections are shifted counter-clockwise by one terminal connection through-out the distributor cap... Is this terrible?

[Spool]

Furthermore, these two questions:

Per my first attached image.
I found this severed hose w/ bolt near my distributor bolt... Was this a weak attempt to seal off the opening coming from the manifold in the right of the photo?

Per my second image attached.
I've notice in online videos the vacuum hose from the distributor was connected on the left side of the carburetor, not the right as seen in my photo. Is mine connected correctly?

[bd]

^^^^ Your truck has the correct plug wire configuration.




^^^^ Someone simply capped an unused vacuum port.  As long as it has a snug fit on the vacuum nipple, changing it will be little more than cosmetic.




^^^^ There are two encampments regarding vacuum advance configuration - ported vs manifold vacuum.  Leave it for now.  Worry about this after you get the truck running and the base timing set.

[Spool]

Copy that.

I'll leave the Carb/Vacuum hose alone.

I'll plug the open vacuum nipple from the manifold with the severed hose and bolt while reinforcing with a zip tie for now, but eventually a hose clamp.

According to the diagram, the firing order is correct but all connections are shifted one terminal left/counter clockwise from the diagram we agreed was correct.
As it is wired now, if I rotate the engine to TDCC on cylinder 1... I'm looking at 5o'clock aerial wise opposed to 7o'clock as the diagram shows...
Is this bad? Should I rewire it? This may explain why some of my plug cables are so long and short, no?

Also, I took off the plastic guard around the radiator fan for easy access.
I noticed the fan moves very easily and independently of the belt; Was this the scenario you spoke of when you mentioned the belt slipping?
If I acquire an extra pair of hands to hold the belts, will I successfully be able to turn the engine?

[Spool]

Okay. I'll keep the spark plug cables set-up as is.

I'm having trouble turning the engine.
The belts don't move in unison.

If I hold the belt on the fan, the alternator moves but not the flywheel, and hence the water pump.

However, my alternator is maxed out.
The water pump has space to be expanded... But not with any help from my maxed out alternator.

Are my belts too short?
A year or two ago, my alternator would squeak when it was too taught.
Do I need a new one?

1st image: alternator
2nd image: water pump
3rd image: belt of the alternator.

[bd]

^^^^ To check the belt tension, using a rag or glove to protect your hand from sharp edges, hook/grab the alternator fan with your fingers and try to rotate it using all of your hand strength.  If the fan is not held stationary by the belt, the belt is too loose.  If the belt slips at its maximum adjustment, you will need to install a shorter belt.




^^^^ Once the alternator belt is properly adjusted - if it continues to slip - deflect the belt by pushing downward as shown. 

[Henry]

Hi Spool:
Although your distributor rotation position wrt the engine is not typical for a Chevy truck with HEI ignition, it does not matter as long the distributor rotor hits the correct cap contact at the right time of engine rotation. The ability of the distributor to rotate wrt the engine (and the ability to remove the distributor and slip it to another gear tooth position) allows the engine to run properly with different distributor rotational orientations...having said that, the spark plug wire lengths and vacuum line do become an issue if the distributor is rotated too far from oem spec.

So proceed on as BD has said...no worries...as long as #1 cylinder on the distributor cap is fairly close to oriented to the front of the engine AND the spark plug wires go to the appropriate cylinder with the sequence 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 going around the distributor cap clockwise AND the engine ran before smoothly with this orientation, all is well.

Since your truck is a 73 model, it did not originally have the HEI distributor so possibly you have a later engine or someone changed out the old points style distributor for the HEI one and put the new distributor in one or two helical gear teeth off. At a later date you can re-install it with the correct orientation (which keeps the vac hose and spark plug wires at shorter lengths) which is the vac advance can port pointing to the passenger side front corner of the truck and the outlet of the two wire pigtail from the distributor directly behind the carburetor facing the front. We can also talk about the two port vacuum connection on the back of your intake manifold...your plugged connection is probably supposed to go to the vacuum accumulator which supplies vacuum power for one of your air conditioning vent doors.

No fear...proceed on with distributor change out!

Regards,
Henry 

[Spool]

Alright... Making some progress!

I abandoned the original idea of turning the engine by the fan with a pry bar as I couldn't get the belts to move while rotating the fan, even while deflecting the belts.
However, I was able to do it by hand from underneath the truck as seen in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ORVanWWuro&feature=youtu.be
I missed my mark on cylinder 1 the first time, but after rotating around again I was able to land it spot on as seen in the 1st photo attached.

Now that I have TDCC on Cylinder 1, I'll refer to Henry's instructions posted earlier.

1. Timing Pointer and Wheel are clean. I only have 1 recessed groove in my wheel and will mark it with white out in a moment.

2. Engine will not start, so I'll be skipping this step of seeing how it is currently timed.

3. All my plug cables are correctly labeled.

4 & 5. I left all plug cables on my cap and currently have it sitting on top of my block in front of the carburetor.
I also removed all plug cables and spark plugs from the block to make rotating the engine easier. The cables are currently resting on the engine.

6. I've done a fair amount of cleaning around the distributor but it is hard to get to. (I also noticed the block is actually orange, not black.)
More cleaning needs to be done which I'll be doing in a moment.

7. After more cleaning, I'll be making my marks on the engine block using white-out to notate where the vacuum currently is, and where the rotor is currently pointing at Cylinder 1.

8. I actually had a golf tee lying around to plug the vacuum hose; it worked very nicely. Great idea.

I'll return shortly before proceeding to Step 9. More cleaning and marking for now.

Thank you again for all your help guys.
I really appreciate all your time and patience with my questions. You are greatly appreciated.

[Henry]

Hi Spool:
If you are only just now discovering that your engine is painted orange it must really be dirty...!!! Up until the late 70s all Chevy truck engines were painted orange so you may have the original engine in your truck. Yeah, I would not be surprised if you use up an entire roll of shop towels on this distributor job.

Dont forget to mark the base of the old distributor wrt the engine before you remove it...you may want to take the old distributor out and then re-install it slowly so you get the idea of how the rotor moves while it is being re-installed. If you are well beyond this now, no problem.

When you get it all back together, dont crank it for long periods if it doesnt want to strart...use short 10 second cranks with about 30 seconds in between cranks until it starts. Your fuel bowl in carb is probably dry after sitting for a few weeks and will take some cranking to get the bowl full again.

Regards,
Henry

[Spool]

Thanks Henry.
Yes, my engine is filthy; I'm not sure the orange will ever be revealed again as in cleaning it, I would simultaneously remove the orange paint in spots.

I've proceeded to the other steps while successfully removing the old and replacing the new distributor.
I'll attach pictures and videos to share for others in the future.

Returning to Step 1:
I've learned that it would have been much easier to mark my engraved groove on the flywheel while I was under the truck turning the engine for TDCC.
Because I had already found TDCC and removed the old distributor, It was more challenging to mark the groove on the flywheel than it had to be if I approached it differently.
As shown in my 1st picture attached.

Step 7 & 9 from Henry's post earlier in this thread:
I had marked the rotors position pointing to Cylinder 1 after finding TDCC. I made my mark using a sharpie on the actual distributor.
After removing the Distributor Bolt and Clamp, I was able to remove the old distributor with ease while notating where the "Removed Position" was on my engine with more white-out.
As seen in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGi5NW2D2f0&feature=youtu.be
(I used a long flat head screwdriver to line-up my white-out markings on the engine with the rotor's position.)

Step 10: I learned shortly after that I had made the mistake of marking the "Installed Position" on the actual distributor, but not transferring that marking to the actual distributor cap.
With that, I replaced the cap on the old distributor to transfer the mark from the old distributor to the old cap, so that I may transfer the mark from my old cap to my new distributor.
As seen in my 2nd photo attached.

Step 11:
Another mistake I made was not being aware of how easily the rotor and helical gear would move on their own after removing the distributor.
With that, it made no sense in trying to match the orientation of the new oil pump blade with the orientation of the old oil pump blade, so I proceeded to Step 12 with my marking of Cylinder 1's position of the rotor on my new distributor.
(I also, poured a touch of 10-40 oil over the helical gear and oil pump blade of my new distributor before stabbing the engine.)

Step 12: It took a couple attempts to successfully align my oil pump blade with my oil pump driveshaft, but thanks to everyone's help I was able to do it successfully with ease.
I've attached a video here of the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUEQ2GGChjo&feature=youtu.be

Additionally, I've attached more images of the alignment following the first two attached images.

After confirming the firing order and such, I felt comfortable removing the spark plug cables from the cap and spark plugs.
Currently, I'm returning to the truck now to torque my spark plugs back into place, rewire the cables with hopes a better configuration as some are too long or too short while installing my
boot plug sleeves as well.

I'll return shortly to report as to whether I can get her to fire up before proceeding to the last step of timing.

[Spool]

Just to confirm the orientation of the terminal block, is this picture correct?

[Henry]

Hi Spool:
Looks like you are proceeding along well with the installation. I am not sure what you are referring to as the terminal block...if you mean the projection on the side of the distributor cap with the wires coming out of it, then yes, this is typically on the drivers side of the engine (3 o'clock position if you are above the distributor looking down from the front of the engine).

Dont worry too much about trying to get the routing of the wires neat...it is always a challenge on the old Chevys especially if you dont have the original wire clips. The most  important thing about the wiring is not to lay or tie the wires directly together in parallel as this can cause spark crossover and potential misfiring. Wires crossing each other and touching is OK....running parallel for more than a couple of inches and touching is bad. You dont want the wires touching the exhaust manifolds either. If you dont have any clips, the parts stores should have some....I found some good ones at O'Reillys Autoparts made by Moroso. You can worry about these details after you get it timed and running.

Regards,
Henry

[Spool]

Well, thanks to everyone, I was able to successfully start my truck.
Took it out for a test drive today and everything was smooth. The idling is quieter than was before.

After replacing the distributor and rewiring my plug cables, I had someone rotate the distributor for me as I used the timing light.
When we started it was at 8Degrees AFTER TDC, but it currently sits at 8Degrees BEFORE TDC which was done by turning the distributor ever so slightly counter-clockwise.

I've attached a picture of my Distributor bolt and clamp in place showing the connection on the flange.

As for rewiring my spark plug cables, I took the opportunity to install my spark plug heat sleeves.
They are conveniently 8inchs long which gets me past my headers.
However, 3 of the cables on the drivers side are resting on my valve cover; is this bad?
I was unaware of having spark crossover on parallel plug cables; I'll mix it up a bit.

I want to thank you again for all your help. I was able to learn a lot, fix my truck and enjoy the process thoroughly.
It's a lot of fun, and a lot more fun when it works.

Thank you again.

[bd]

The plug wires laying on the valve cover in the way they are pictured isn't optimum because of the potential for rubbing, but it's not an immediate concern either since the valve cover presents a smooth surface.  On the other hand, the chrome metal loom holding the wires at the right edge of the image is concerning.  The loom should have plastic or rubber inserts that cushion the wires where they pass through the loom.  The potential for wire damage and arcing is problematic.  I would look for a different solution.

The wire pairs most prone to crossfire are 4 & 8 and 5 & 7.  So separate those wires to the outside of any loom.

Congrats on the repair!