Time to build the 455 ive always wanted

I don't know wtf is wrong with this thing. I put it back together. Confirmed I was at TDC on the compression stroke. Went to start and it backfires through the carb loudly as well as has a weezing/sucking sound from the back of the intake area despite the new intake manifold gasket. It will not start at all. Suggestions? Because I'm about ready to make a bonfire with this thing...

 

Pull no 1 plug stick some wadded up paper or tape in the hole bump it over till it pops out then put groove on balancer on 12 on the tab, then pull distributor cap, if rotor isnt on or a little b4 no 1 terminal its not in time.

 

Spray some ether around the intake ,carb etc. Is the large vac port on the back of carb hooked up or plugged

 

The large vacuum port on the back of the carburetor is hooked up to the PCV valve. The brake booster is connected to a vacuum port on the back side of the sp1 intake. I pulled the number one spark plug then stuck my finger in the hole while my wife attempted to crank the engine. Once my finger was blown out of the hole I had her stop, when I looked at the harmonic balancer the mark that I had drawn which is 180 degrees from the original timing mark on the harmonic balancer was at the 0 mark on the timing tab. I then turn the engine by hand clockwise until the groove on the harmonic balancer with the 0 mark on the timing tab. When I pulled the distributor cap the rotor was pointing at the number one cylinder. If there is a significant vacuum leak somewhere on the engine, would this cause a backfire through the carburetor?

 

Thanks for this! I was definitely cranking the engine and not bumping it. I will reevaluate and report back shortly. Question, once I confirm that I am on the compression stroke and the number 1 piston is at top dead center, should I line the groove of the harmonic balancer up on any number on the timing tab other than zero? That is, confirm top dead center on the compression stroke with the harmonic balancer line on the 0 of the timing tab, then turn the engine say 708 degrees and drop the distributor in with the rotor pointing at the number one piston. My understanding is this would induce a 12 degree advanced condition in the engine prior to attempting to start. I think I read somewhere that this is a technique that some guys use. What I have been doing is setting the timing with the harmonic balancer groove lined up on the zero mark and then slowly moving the distributor cap while my wife turn the engine over in order to get the engine to fire

 

you wouldn't spin it all the way around to line up #1. It will either be at #1 or #6.
If at the wrong one, than pull the dist. and re-clock with the rotor 180* without disturbing the engine.
If you simply went past TDC you can back it up a ways and wrench it up to 12* (or ?).

 

also ive never understood when guys say its pointing at no 1 cyl, you can put no 1 at any location you choose but typically the rotor will be pointing at the radiator then you run the wires from there this makes for the cleanest routing of wires

 

Thank you all for taking the time to help me here. I was in fact 180 out after using Larry's guidance on how to confirm TDC on the compression stroke. Once I reset the distributor, the car fired right up. I broke in the cam per the procedure posted here and shut it down. When it cooled a bit, I restarted and it fired right up. I tried to set the idle but my carb would not idle down past 1500 or so. When I put pressure on the throttle arm towards the radiator, it would idle down a bit. I bent the arm that actuates the pump shot lever a bit and it idles a bit lower on its own. I confirmed the blades were closed when I removed the carb and adjusted that linkage. Good news is, it starts right up and runs fine. No valve train noise like before. Atleast not yet anyway. Tomorrow I will change the oil and continue to work the carb tuning as well as powertime the engine in accordance with the thread Larry stickied. Again, thanks for all the suggestions. Oh, forgot to mention that the gurgling was from a failed baseplate gasket. I put a new one in and that issue was resolved. I'd imagine that was a catalyst to the backfiring I encountered in addition to the out of time condition. Cheers!

 

I've got the powertime process complete and the car starts when hot everytime. No valve train noise like before so that's a good thing
I am having a hard time getting the idle to be consistent though. I read once that if you remove the air cleaner and place your hand over the air horn, if the idle rises then you have a lean condition. Is there any validity to that? I turned the idle air adjustment screws out to achieve max vacuum (14-15hg) and it seems like it's an awful lot of turns. Like 5.5 turns out each side. Even with that set up, the car will occasionally die when setting at idle for a while even though the choke is off and the car is at running temp. Also, even with this large amount of turns out on those screws, if I put my hand over the air horn, the idle will jump up a couple hundred. I made sure to not accidently apply choke with my hand. I currently have 72 jets and DA secondary rods with a P coded hanger. Not that the secondary side is in question. When I goose the throttle, there is instant response up to about 4600rpm or so when it goes flat. But about this primary side, should I step up a jet size or two? This is a 76 800cfm carb built by carmantx for my 350 before the engine swap. That motor was 9.0:1CR, home ported heads, headers, ta284-8th cam. This 455 is 9.8:1CR, headers, sp1, ta284-8th cam also. Any suggestions?

 

I will say that this cam seems a lot more mild in the 455 than it did in my 350. The bottom end torque is ludicrous though! :3gears:

 

Running into some issues yet again. Seems like there is a miss fire or the timing is off or something. I researched the numbers on the distributor (1110770) and it came back as a pontiac 231 distributor. Seems wierd to me. I put a new cap and rotor on it when I was going through my initial timing set up. The vacuum canister is rusted bad and I couldnt make out any numbers on it. There is an Accel HEI coil on it. Is this an acceptable unit? What kind of distributor do you guys recommend. I'm considering replacing the whole thing.

 

So I've got everything powertimed and running right after finding and fixing several gremlins. The motor has gobs of low end grunt which I like. I still think I need more fuel though. On another note, I have a whine sound at partial throttle. It goestrogen away when I let off the gas for coasting down hill, so I don't think it's the rear end. At light throttle is where it's loudest. I replaced my transmission mount which was bad. I fished it out in multiple pieces. Any ideas?

 

If its only there when in gear, id be thinking tranny pump. Make sure the tranny is grounded to the body, I ALWAYS use the factory copper strap to the firewall.

 

How far into the output shaft should the yoke slip in? Mine is just about all the way in and that doesn't seem right. Seems there should be more play there to absorb suspension / rear end play from road irregularities

 

You want at least 1in clearance from bottoming out in the trans, how much you see on the outside of the trans will vary as there are lots of different yoke lengths floating around. But if its almost jammed into to case or the internals then you can destroy the trans AND the thrust bearing in the engine.

 

You only need 2 to 2.5 in of engagement on the output and the shaft sticks out about .5 out so if it slides past the seal 2in you have 2.5 in engagement. I would consider 1.74 engagement to be the absolute minimum but would feel much better 2.5