All Small Six Advice greatly appreciated please!

[ukmaverick]

Hi All, I have a 1970 maverick, 200ci with 3 speed floor shift. I recently decided to renew the lifters, push rods, valve stem seals and head gasket. It was a bit noisy and as my car had sat around for about 20 years in storage before I purchasedit, I decided to do the above.
I've replaced the above items, plus new oil pump, cleaned the oil pan( lots of sludge in it!), new gaskets etc.
Not touched the distributor or timing.
Filled her with oil and new filter and went to start the old girl. Turns over and tries to fire up but just won't start! It's sparking ok, fuel ok, can't see why it won't start when it was starting straight up before.
Any help or advice appreciated. I'm in the UK, and my mav is one of only 2 here. Thanks.

 

[vssman]

Did you remove the timing chain or distributor? I’d check compression and verify the distributor rotor is pointed to #1 on top dead center of #1 stroke. Before that, verify there’s fuel being shot by the carb by looking down the carburetor and opening the throttle by hand. As you know, it’s fuel, spark and air to get the engine to run.

 

[DON]

I am assuming you had it running just before you did the work….I would do a compression test- just to make sure the valve train is working properly. You changed some valve train things so that is the first place to double check.
Let us know what it is and we can go from there.

 

[B RON CO]

Hi, I am wondering if there is just not enough gas in the carbs bowl. When my classics sit for a while, I have to crank a long time to get enough gas flowing to run it. Have you added a small amount of gas into the carb? Have you tried to crank the engine with the valve cover off to see how the valve train looks? Did you soak the lifters in oil before you dropped them in? If the lifters are dry, they are possibly not opening the valves enough. Good luck

 

[awasson]

@ukmaverick I’m just curious… When you replaced the oil pump, how did you line up or maintain the placement of the oil pump drive shaft on the distributor? I would suspect it came out with the oil pump but were you able to reinstall it without needing to jog the distributor at all?

Aside from that curiosity, I would double check that you’ve got the spark plug firing order correct. I did mine in reverse order once but fortunately it was still on the engine stand at the time and I saw that it wasn’t right.

Even though you mention that the distributor wasn’t moved, I would double check the timing to make sure that you are indeed firing correctly. If you have air/fuel, compression and spark, it will run. Does it backfire? Are the plugs wet with fuel after an attempt to start?

@B RON CO has a good point about the lifters not opening the valves if they aren’t pumped up. That is a possibility.

 

[Invectivus]

Yeah, my 73 Bronco is the same way. Carb bowl empties and i have to start it with starter fluid to get it going, and that's like 6 or 7 times before it gets enough gas in the bowl. Planning on converting to an in tank pump, regulator, and return line in prep for the explorer EFI and serpentine conversion in the future.

 

[ActionYobbo]

Check that the valves are closing and rockers are free to move on each cylinder TDC firing stroke. Not all pushrods and lifters are equal. When you change them out you sometimes need to shim the rocker posts

 

[Frank]

@B RON CO has a good point about the lifters not opening the valves if they aren’t pumped up. That is a possibility.

Especially a dry system with a new oil pump.
did you oil the gears in the pump before installing?

 

[awasson]

Especially a dry system with a new oil pump.
did you oil the gears in the pump before installing?

Good point. The pump should be primed with an extension on a cordless drill before firing up the engine.