Setting the distributor

[Dennis Wilkie]

I just finished my head gasket replacement and got everything back together on my 92 K1500 with an '87 C4 motor swap. 2° past is as close to tdc as I can get the engine because there's no crank nut to turn, and i'm not about to attempt to manually turn the engine by the harmonic balancer bolt. I managed to get the distributor dropped all the way in and pointing directly at the #1 cylinder, but i'm still not getting it to fire. All of the plug wires are right, but all i'm getting is a high pitched whine from the starter and I can't figure out where it's going wrong. I tried rotating the cap to several different positions and still got nothing. Any suggestions?

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[evilunclegrimace]

Verify that you are on #1 cylinder tdc and not 180 out of time

 

[Dennis Wilkie]

It's on the compression stroke. I turned it several more times and got it to 1° before tdc and re-ran the plug wires and checked the connections on the ignition coil. Still getting the same results

 

[Erik the Awful]

High pitched whine from the starter? Do you mean that it's not cranking over and there's a whine from the starter? If so, the problem isn't your timing, it's something keeping your engine from turning over. Are you able to turn the engine over by hand? Pull your plugs, grab a socket and a breaker bar, and turn that balancer bolt with an *appropriate* amount of force. If it doesn't turn, something's in the way.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

Check your compression while cranking. I had one where the lifters were too tight which made the starter sound different, kind of like you're describing. If you tighten the lifters without them being pumped up you may crush the springs too far and the valves won't close to give you enough compression to fire up.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

BTW you should be able to turn the engine with the 7/16" harmonic balancer bolt. Or you can set timing while cranking with a timing light.

 

[Dennis Wilkie]

I'll look into it. I was kind of thinking the same thing about the valves. But I adjusted all of them based on this video.

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[Dennis Wilkie]

It also didn't blow the piece of paper towel out when I was searching for tdc, so you may very well be right. I'm going to check on that right now

 

[sntrym]

It also didn't blow the piece of paper towel out when I was searching for tdc, so you may very well be right. I'm going to check on that right now

Here is the method I use, works perfectly every time. Does require turning the engine via the crank but it's a rock solid procedure. https://www.centuryperformance.com/valve-adjustment-procedure.html

 

[Dennis Wilkie]

I can't turn it by the crank. That's a big part of my problem. I've backed off the nuts on the rocker arms, and its somewhat trying to fire. Still getting a loud popping in the exhaust though. If I can get the pushrods and rocker arms right, I could set the distributor timing. I'm actually in the process of trying to find somewhere that has the rocker arms oil deflector clips right now, so I can do it with the valve covers off and not get oil everywhere that I just cleaned up