Engine swap diary

[zieg85]

Have you set the timing?  Vacuum leak?  Firing order correct?

[Irish_Alley]

What happens when you floor it while starting. Or even holding the pedal at a constant level. If I had to guess it would be fuel related which is why I asked to see if you can keep it running on starting fluid. Maybe a problem with how you hooked up the fuel line/s

[fitz]

  Keep in mind problems like this are tough to diagnos over the internet.
  Irish & Zieg  brought up some good points.
  I'd pull the number 1 plug wire and bump the motor to TDC ((finger over the plug hole method). With the timing mark at set at 0 degrees is the rotor pointed to the #1 plug? If so, onto Irish's idea.
  If you can get it to run smooth for a few seconds on started fluid you will know its in the fuel supply system (filter & lines).
  This can all be done quickly, let us know the results.

[Stewart G Griffin]

UPDATE:
Finally running----i put the "junk" reman carb that came with the engine back on.  It starts and keeps running no problems.   Instead of rebuilding the other one, i think i may buy a reman from SMI or JET as i'm very busy.


Thank you everyone for the help.

[Stewart G Griffin]

The only things left are to figure something out with the throttle cable, put in an electric fan and have exhaust work done.


P.S. these 4.3's w/out balance shafts shake pretty bad at idle.

[fitz]

Glad to hear its running.
I've heard great things about SMI. I think that's $500 +/- well spent on a vehicle your going to keep.

[zieg85]

I will get that throttle cable off my 86 and in the mail to you Stewart.  Sorry for the delay, been super busy.  PM me your address again.  It will go out Monday.

[Stewart G Griffin]

i am going to try to use the v-8 throttle cable with the edlebrock throttle cable bracket that i used on the 305.  This is part #8036   The reason why i had to use it on the 305 was that it came from a 78 malibu and they used throttle linkages vs. a cable.   Quadrajet throttle brackets would not fit the 305's 2BBL manifold.



The green spring is the v-8 return spring.  The red is for v-6.   Note how close the carb is to the distributor.

This should work until the stock cable arrives.

[Irish_Alley]

how bad off are your plug wires?

[Stewart G Griffin]

They seem ok, it's the plugs themselves that probably need to be changed.

[Irish_Alley]

why is there medical tape on one?

[Stewart G Griffin]

Oh i was just numbering the wires so as not get them mixed up.   Med tape was the only thing i could find handy at that moment.  It's not taped up because it was broken or anything.   

[zieg85]

V-6 throttle cable will arrive Wednesday according to USPS estimate

[Irish_Alley]

lol ok

[Stewart G Griffin]

Well, we're moving at least.   i did not want to take it out on the street because i'm low on trans fluid, but it does move under it's own power again.

The transmission's shift linkage seems out of whack----P is R,  R is neutral, N is drive as so forth.  Also, i can't manually shift into 1.   Hopefully the pump is not jacked.  The only other thing i did was to put in the polyurethane tail mount because the stock one was shot.  i'm not sure if that would have caused mis-alignment.   This whole drivetrain is going to have to come out soon anyways to check the front pump.  Also the strut rod brackets need to come out because they are interfering with the starter front brace.

The battery seems ruined from all that cranking, running down, charging up, running down etc.  i didn't think i did THAT much cranking, but apparently it was enough for the battery.  i had to borrow a good battery from one of my other cars.  The battery charger will not re-charge this battery, i also took it for a fairly long drive in another car and it doesn't seem to recharge although the car never stopped running.   However, the battery would not start the car this morning.  This was after about a 40 mile drive last night.

So, i'll have to get a new battery and some trans fluid.