Ignition Troubleshooting Help: 1967 C20 w/283

[Saclandman]

Alright, I need some help from some of our board experts. M 67 C20 has a 283 with a 2bbl carb and 4 speed manual. This truck sat in a field for many years before I picked it up. I had this truck running a couple of months ago but had to shut it down to repair some coolant leaks in the block expansion plugs. I've replaced the cap, rotor, points, condensor, coil, wires and plugs. I have also rebuilt the carb.

Now, I cannot get this engine to fire back up. I have spark at the coil, and gas in the carb. I've double and triple checked my wiring based on the diagram in the shop manual. I played with the timing today (turning the distributor), but no luck.

I had it at top-dead-center today to check the position of the ignition rotor. It was siting between the 5 and 6 position. I took a look at a newly rebuilt 327 out of a 70's era vette that my FIL has sitting in the shop to compare. At TDC, the rotor on the 327 sits between the 1 and 8 position, 180 degrees different than what I'm seeing on my distributor.

So, my question is at TDC on my 283, what position should the rotor be in?

Any suggestions on my next step to figure out the problem would be appreciated. Thanks.

[hjewell2]

yep it should be in the 1 to 8 cyl position when at TDC . just to get you started.

[Ol Blue K20]

When the mark is lined up you can at tdc of 1 or 6 only way to tell is to pop the valve covers off. The one with both valves closed is the one that will be TDC. Ihope this helps

[TBONE1964]

Pull the number 1 plug out and roll then engine clockwise by hand until compression blows out of the spark plug hole. This is how you know it is on number 1 and not number 6 firing position. The mark on the balancer comes up twice, once for number 1 and once for number 6. This is because the cam turns once for every time the crank turns twice, so one revolution of the crank is only 1/2 revolution of the cam.

When the compression blows out of number one hole, line the mark on the balancer up with the timing indicator at zero.

The ign rotor should be near the number 1 spark plug wire. If the ign rotor is pointing near number 6, then your distributor is 180* off. It is possible to run the firing order based of of where the rotor is pointing and not where it should be pointing.

The distributor on any small block and big block Chevy should be oriented so that # 6 and # 5 are parallel with the firewall.

The firing order is 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 in a clockwise order.

Hope this helps.

[Saclandman]

Thanks, guys. That gives me something to chew on.