Jim,
By all means, be critical
! This is exactly why I'm posting here asking for advice. Thanks for your input. The engine is not new. It was in the car when we bought it several years ago. After speaking with a few local friends, their opinions were that it sounded like a timing problem. I set the static timing by bringing the engine up on 10 BTDC on the compression stoke for #1, grounding the spark plug and turning the distributor in small (2 degree) increments until I the plug fired. This should put the base timing within 2 degrees of my target 10 degrees. I have no way of knowing if the timing chain was installed correctly by the guy who built the motor and suspected that the chain might have been installed with the camshaft 180 degrees out. That's why we rotated the distributor rotor 180 degrees so it would fire #6 when #1 was at actually at TDC on its compression stroke. I hope this explanation is clearer than my last one
. Aside from watching the valves (which I did), I don't know of any easier way to determine if the timing chain may have been installed 180 degrees out.
The carb has no choke. It will NOT run. It only sputters and fires but won't actually run. So it has not been brought up to operating temperature.
I am very comfortable making these checks and adjustments, I just wanted to check if I might be overlooking something obvious. I just went down and unhooked the MSD completely and wired up the distributor and coil old school
. Turned on the ignition switch and hit the starter...vroom. She started with no problem
. So, the problem is in the MSD 6AL unit. I checked the box using their method of holding the coil wire 1/2" from a ground while shorting the mag. pickup wires and I get nothing. But when I turn the engine over and check the spark by grounding a plug, I get nice bright blue spark. Apparently this second method of testing is meaningless for an MSD system
. I'm happy I found my problem, but a bit uneasy that this new MSD box is bad. I'll send it back tomorrow and run it like this in the meantime. Thanks again for everyone's help. You guys have all been very helpful and I hope I can return the favor in the future. Have a wonderful evening!
Mike