First off I can find no ball on the flywheel looking from underneath with the cover pan removed, and turning it with the flywheel teeth & a screwdriver.... Then I looked four different times through the little window at the pointer, with a flashlight as I lightly bumped the starter, rotating it about 1" each bump... never saw a ball or a bump at the end of the pointer. I looked with bright light at the entire front surface of the flywheel, from underneath.. while rotating it with screwdriver, can not see any ball...
So, I have tried doing a static timing, by bumping the starter, while watching the #6 valves springs/rockers.... rotating until the #6 exhaust valve is just closing, (rocker all the way up) and at that moment the intake valve is just Opening (rocker just starting to go down)..... Then I look at the #1 rockers/valves and the are both closed (rockers loose from valve stem)....
Now I have noticed that the #6 & #1 valves/rockers seem to always line up, as mentioned above... SEVERAL times in this configuration in ONE full Revolution of the flywheel...... Question; How do I know which alignment of this configuration do I set the distributor rotor to # 1 post/wire.....????
Here Is what I have done thus far..... Rebuilt carb (tested by Dean Echols to run as set), rebuilt fuel pump with modern diaphragm), New plugs AC Delco R45 ....set at .32 (are these plugs correct??) New solid core plug wires, new Dis cap and rotor and I have tried 3 new condensers...... Cranking with the choke pulled all the way out... Nothing .... cranking with the choke open, and short spay of starting fluid.... nothing... cranking with gas pedal 1/4 depressed... Nothing..... cranking and choking with hand on carb,,, Nothing.... all these were tried at different times on different days after sitting all night Before I cranked each time I checked for good spark at the plugs... got good spark also good spark at points & end of big coil wire... Why won't it Fire...??? Why won't it Run for me...???? any help would be appreciated.
Good news... It started right up after a few revolutions.... attached video of it running for the first time in over 50 years..... Here is what I did this morning.... pulled all the plugs so it would turn over easier by hand.... pulled off the starter so I could access the flywheel teeth better... and see the outer, front, edge of the flywheel better.... then I used a small wire brush and some lacquer thinner to clean the edge of the flywheel... looking for the ball, while rotating the flywheel a few teeth at a time.... And I FOUND IT..... It is actually a ball bearing, recessed into the lip on the flywheel.... and there are two engraved marks before ( |0 ), and after (0| ) the ball.... (see photo) so I put a dab of white paint before and after these marks.. to make it easier to find & see through the little timing window.... So, I used the screwdriver to line it up with the pointer... (see 2nd photo).... then, looked at the valves/rockers on #1 cylinder... and they were both closed... so I looked at the rotor in the distributor and it was pointing way before #1 post/wire... almost pointing at the previous post... (see third photo,#1 marked white ) So I pulled the distributor out again, rotated it to align properly, and aligned the dist. shaft with the oil pump shaft and reinserted.... hooked it all back up... and she fired right up with the choke pulled out...
I ran it for about ten minutes.. waiting for it to heat up and the thermostat to open..... I do not have it plumbed to the radiator yet. I have Evaporust soaking in the head for the past 3 months and a piece of clear plastic tubing (1 1/4" dia ) hooked up to the lower & upper hose inlet & outlet on the engine, with a section of panty hose inserted inside the upper tubing..... so I wanted the stat to open and circulate that rust remover through the panty hose filter.... The gauge moved on up to 160 and the thermostat opened and it did circulate.. BUT there was a strong leak on my lower hose connection.. so I shut the engine down..... one very happy man here..... I did discover that my amp gauge did not move... and my fuel gauge is always on full and my oil pressure was at 15 lbs at a high idle... when I went to turn the ignition switch off .. it wouldn't turn the engine off.... so I turned the big disconnect switch of on my ground wire from the battery.... I must have my new wiring harness wired up wrong under the dash... or my fuel gauge and Amp gauges are shot.... I know the ignition switch is the wrong one from a jeep.. and it could be either wired wrong or shot as well.... There is a wire that goes from the ignition switch (on position) to the ammeter... I could have those wrong (thus it kept running when I turned the key off... Anyway... moving forward now... many other things to get right...
