gday guys

im sure you have seen this whinge topic almost 11000 times, but its really frustrating me..

ENGINE NOT STARTING!!!!

this is my first rebuild and im really wanting it to go well but its not

ok. i have a great spark to all plugs, i have it timed to 7.5deg btdc, new plugs, new leads, twin 40idfs, getting fuel, NOT STARTING!!!!

it turns over great but not even a tidder from the exhaust..

PLEASE TELL ME WHATS WRONG!!

even if it happens once in every billion engines its probly happened to me so give us a list of things to quadruple check

cheers
luke

are the plugs going to the right cylinder?

Have you tried the good old fuel down the throat of the carbi? to ensure fuel is actually getting to them?

thats good advice a small amount of petrol down the carby than push the go pedal to the floor and turn the key,and you can cross over 2 spark leads and try to get a back fire
good

Yeah, check plug leads and also that rotor points to #1 when at TDC - I've seen brand new dizzy's come assembled with the drive key at the bottom put round the wrong way.

make sure the points gap is set right too

So there is no pop, fart, wheeze, cough from the motor???

Nothing??

Failing to get even a little cough does seem a little unusual! Luckily it probably is something really simple that's wrong.

I'm assuming that you've had the plugs out (and earthed) and seen the spark while the engine is being turned over. And I'm also assuming that the plugs are wet when you have taken them out.

My guess is that this can only be a matter of the timing being out (as in Sides' post), or that the leads are going to the wrong plugs. Check that your firing order is 1-4-3-2.

If leads were wrong surley you would be getting coughing and popping etc etc

You SURE your are getting spark??

Hiya baja,

It's really pretty easy to get the wiring all screwed up. Most of us have gone down this road before, I know I'm a veteran. It's been suggested that you check the plug wires - it is a common mistake to get them 180* out. That MIGHT be the problem although, as others have mentioned, I'd think you'd get a cough or a hiccup at the least if this were the case.

Another wiring foul-up can result in nothing but the engine turning over endlessly until the battery wears out. That is wiring up the coil in reverse. In other words, check to make sure that your condenser is hooked up to the negative pole on the coil - and the hot pole is hooked up properly.

yer i have set the points gap to 16 thou (i think. this number rings a bell but im sure i set correctly)

im PRETTY sure that the leads are all set up properly. ive had the 1 and 2 plugs out and earthed and both give a good spark. both were wet when taken out.

there is definitely no popping, farting, wheezing whatsoever. just the starter motor goin to town on it.

i'll give it some fuel down the carbies this arvo, see how it goes.

keep the ideas comin though

cheers
Luke

PM sent or call me on 0423775037

You've checked the spark to the plugs but did you pull out a plug and check it was sparking? Again if you've got a sticky needle valve in your carb you could be flooding the engine and soaking the plugs.

if the plugs were wet and sparked when u earthed them id bet a left nut its the leads in wrong order
if not u would atleast get a whimper or nice bang from it occasionally

we have popping and farting!!!

i went down the sarvy and squirted some carby cleaner down the throats (most flammable stuff i could squirt) and it just seemed as though it was firing off the carby cleaner only and no fuel was getting to it...

leads were in correct order... i'll take postage on the nut joel. haha

so i believe there may be some blockage in the fuel delivery somewhere...

sounded so good to hear her first words!!!

Do you have any pics of how you have them set up? Are they the carbies you bought from me? Did you fix the airleak?

Mick.

g'day mick.
they are the ones i got from you... i have looked into putting photos on here and fail at it. was hoping to get the thing started to diagnose the airleak and fix it from there. you rekkon this is my problem??

are the bowls filling with fuel?
if there dry try filling them up and cranking it see if it kicks

I had my engine sitting in the carport for a few months while I had the car re-sprayed. The fuel pipes to the Kadrons were removed and sitting with it. When I re-fitted it all, I couldn't get fuel through to either carb. After MUCH frustration, I found out it was mud wasps nests in the fuel pipes. What a bugger.

have u got fuel in the fuel bowls? with dry carbys i usually either take the top off the bowl and fill them up and then reassemble or take out the oil power wire and crank the engine for a while to get the bowls full of fuel from the mechanical pump and then reconnect and try to start.

I don't think the airleak will be your problem. I was just wondering how you have them set up thats all.... Are you running fuel line from the pump, into right carby then from right carby into left? i never had any starting issues with those carbies so i don't know what it could be... i don't think i ever had a blocked jet either. I did have my fair share of jetting issues but no major problems. keep me updated on how you go and if you don't have it sorted by next weekend i might be able to shoot up there and have a look. I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out.

Mick.

yer ive got the line coming out of the pump to the right carb then out of right into back of left...

Im getting fuel into the right carb but dont know how far it goes after that. i didnt get to it today so i'll check bowls tomoro arvo.

geez its hard to prioritise school over volksies!!

Yeah thats how it should be, keep us updated.

I'll pop around tomorrow arvo.
Give me a call on 0423775037 when you get home.

ITS GOING!!!! turns out all was fine except for a small fuel problem...

dad put kero in the fuel drum when he ran out of room and APPARENTLY vws dont run on kero.
so we ran it off a coke bottle fuel tank and she purred very nicely!!

thanks to everyone for your help especially stanley for your help!

cheers
luke

Well he's a very bad dad

HA! kero! Thats a good one... so when are you gonna chuck some pics on here??

yer i drained out the tank and lines the sarvy and had it running half decent. still backfiring like a dog though! does a muffler stop it with the added back pressure??

i'll try again some time soon with the piccies but as i said i failed last time so dont hold ya breath

Are you running with no exhaust at the moment? As i said when i sold you the carbies they will more than likely need to be re-jetted to suit your engine. I was running them on a 1916 with stock valves and a mild cam, what are you running them on? they could be running mega rich as they were when i first put them on my engine .It did the same thing back firing and carrying on. you will need to get that air leak looked at too if you want them to run properly.

i have extractors on it atm but no muffler.. ive got a baja 4-1 with hotdog waiting to go on when i finish painting them.

the engine is a stocko 1600 except for the carbies and zorst, so i'll have to get em jetted down... can anyone recommend a good size for my setup?? carbs are 40idf

found an oil leak yesterday aswell... it was flowing out of the base of the cooler

so shroud came off today and its gettin done tonight.

The best thing you could possibly do is get the air leak sorted out and then take the car with the engine in it to leons motors and get them to dyno tune it. That way you will know exactly how it is running, It will all be on a computer screen in front of you. I put my car on the dyno when i put the kads on and have never looked back. It might cost a few hundred but in the long run its worth it. In total i spent around 2 grand getting those carbs set up on my engine simply because i took it to the wrong people in the first place and got screwed around. If you get it done right the first time you will be a very happy man!