Engine help

"My bird IS the word" (mybirdistheword) 07/20/2019 at 17:08 • Filed to: None

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Fuel air,spark. Fuel-yes, filled cab via the float tube. Air? Choke is closed properly. Spark?.... Yes? My spark is very weak oppo. I mean my wiring harness is original, and its a gm hei distributor. I cleaned up most of the terminals... Im not sure what to do. Any suggestions?

Edit: im gonna amend this post, I made it while I was working.

All the ignition components are new: plugs, rotor, cap, coil. My poor dead battery seems to have enough juice to turn the car over- we are jumping it with the family minivan to get it good. The engine was (supposedly) run on the dyno so it should be good: this leaves me with two possibilities:

My car wiring is bad

My battery is eating voltage or amperage that the spark plugs need.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > My bird IS the word 07/20/2019 at 17:19

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The coil is integrated with the distributor in that setup, isn’t it? Is it a new distributor cap? If it’s the original, it may be that the coil in it is on it’s way out?

I don’t really know much about American stuff...my tastes are weird Euro stuff, so that is about the only thing I can suggest that I know :P

My bird IS the word > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 07/20/2019 at 17:22

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New cap, rotor, and coil

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > My bird IS the word 07/20/2019 at 17:22

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Cap, Rotor, Wires, and plugs in that order would be my route, is it a points system? if so look at the points if you bought new points make sure they are actually made right. then I’m out of ideas. maybe the coil.

MM54 > My bird IS the word 07/20/2019 at 17:48

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Was it originally an HEI car? If not it probably has a ballast resistor for the p o ints which would need bypassed.

My bird IS the word > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 07/20/2019 at 17:48

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Its all new, and presumably worked good enough for them to break my engine in.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > My bird IS the word 07/20/2019 at 17:53

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Degradation in the leads...? Are they new?

Bad ground to the coil somehow?

My bird IS the word > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 07/20/2019 at 18:00

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Seems like grounds are ok, i cleaned up all the ends.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > My bird IS the word 07/20/2019 at 18:04

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New spark plug leads as well? Do you have a multimeter to test actual voltages with to ensure the right voltage is getting where it needs to go?

My bird IS the word > MM54 07/20/2019 at 18:05

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Factory hei. The car ran fine when the engine came out so IDK what it could be.

My bird IS the word > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 07/20/2019 at 18:06

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Yeah my dad was checking ground points all over the car.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > My bird IS the word 07/20/2019 at 18:06

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Condensor? Maybe the new distributor is faulty?

punkgoose17 > My bird IS the word 07/20/2019 at 18:48

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The battery could be that dead. If the van battery will fit you van try and swap it to start the firebird.

Also what condition is your starter. If you have an automatic and a tired starter there will be more resistance than starting the engine on just a stand.

lone_liberal > My bird IS the word 07/20/2019 at 19:22

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It could be the ignition module inside the distributor. Or, since the wiring is old the hot wire to the distributor  could be causing it. Either the wire itself or the connector.

MM54 > My bird IS the word 07/20/2019 at 20:41

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I see you’ve added some detail. When are you seeing the weak spark - during cranking or does it start and run, just poorly? If it’s during cranking, it’s probably your weak battery not able to supply enough current to crank and fire the ignition properly.

My bird IS the word > MM54 07/20/2019 at 22:28

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Cranking. It seems to turn over just fine while being jumped, still turns over more weakly but the battery tested bad. I think a new battery is on the list anyway so I might just replace it to limit my problems. It just seems odd it will turn over fine but not spark.

My bird IS the word > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 07/20/2019 at 22:30

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Its the original distributor but most of the major components are new.

My bird IS the word > punkgoose17 07/20/2019 at 22:31

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Starter is original and functional. Terminal threads are real chewed up but it seems to be cranking just fine and healthy. I cant get the battery out of the van since the tie down is stripped. I did disconnect the battery from,the van and run jumper cables to the wires but it didnt really like that as much.

My bird IS the word > lone_liberal 07/20/2019 at 22:34

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Im going to try jumping straight from the battery to the distributor and see if that helps

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > My bird IS the word 07/20/2019 at 22:58

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Could be the distributor then somehow maybe?

My bird IS the word > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 07/21/2019 at 06:44

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I doubt it since the car just worked on the dyno.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > My bird IS the word 07/21/2019 at 07:19

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Not sure friend, it’s got to be something relatively simple though if it’s just a weak spark...?

Old-Busted-Hotness > My bird IS the word 07/21/2019 at 07:44

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A bad battery can crank but not spark. HEI needs some voltage to work , but a starter is just an electric motor. All it needs is amps. If the battery has a dead cell, you could be cranking on a 10V battery, drawing down to 6 or 8 under load. Not enough to run the HEI.

The good news is your machine shop broke in the cam, so you’re not wrecking it with all this slow cranking.

Go buy a battery, you’ll be glad you did.

My bird IS the word > Old-Busted-Hotness 07/21/2019 at 07:52

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I think im just going to do it for sanity’s sake. Just surprised a jump wouldnt fix it. At the very least i know I need one anyway.

MM54 > My bird IS the word 07/21/2019 at 12:34

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I have had literally that problem in the Chevelle where the engine w ould crank over fine but not start because the battery was weak. Fresh battery solved that.