Hey guys, I picked up a 65 Mustang with the 200ci I6 last weekend. The previous owner told me that "it cranks, but won't start" and suggested a likely timing issue. He said the guy he bought it from had rebuilt the shortblock and sold it to him in its current condition. He apparently lacked anything beyond very basic mechanical knowledge, and stated that he had a friend who had promised to help him get it running, but got a new job and could no longer help him out, and that his wife was sick of it sitting in the garage now.
Now, I'm not new to building/working on cars, but most of my experience in doing so is in early 90's import fuel injected DOHC turbo engines, so a lot of what I am experiencing here is new to me.
Tonight was really the first chance I had to really try to get it going. Aside from some very obvious issues that I started taking car of right away (trashed carb, plugs gapped out of spec, etc...), I wanted to check for fuel and spark. It's not getting any fuel (an issue I have to investigate farther, as I didn't get beyond the "well shit" phase). Before I went to check for spark though, I wanted to make sure that the ignition timing hadn't accidentally been set 180 out, which speaking to the previous owner and his son, seemed likely. When I went to turn the engine over by hand, I noticed that the engine seemed to turn over VERY EASILY despite the fact that I still had plugs in every cylinder except #1. How easily should this turn over? If I had encountered that feeling in something like a 4G63, I would immediately begun swearing and conducting a leak down test to see where it was leaking. Seeing as to how this setup is so new to me though, I figured I would ask if maybe it was possible that maybe the pushrods were the incorrect length or something else that could be causing the issue, or even if that is just normal for this engine. Prior to this, I had been holding out hope that the timing issue the previous owner mentioned was going to ignition related, and not mechanical, as the "previous previous owner" who had done the shortblock rebuild had timed it, and seemed to understand what he was doing.
Basically, I guess that I am just looking for someone who has a better understanding of this motor to guide me on where to go from here. My original plan had always been to swap the 200 for a 289 or 302 later down the road, but over the last week, the idea of keeping the 200 had really begun to grow on me, so it would be a bummer to hear that there is something wrong with it that is going to necessitate tearing it down.
Now, I'm not new to building/working on cars, but most of my experience in doing so is in early 90's import fuel injected DOHC turbo engines, so a lot of what I am experiencing here is new to me.
Tonight was really the first chance I had to really try to get it going. Aside from some very obvious issues that I started taking car of right away (trashed carb, plugs gapped out of spec, etc...), I wanted to check for fuel and spark. It's not getting any fuel (an issue I have to investigate farther, as I didn't get beyond the "well shit" phase). Before I went to check for spark though, I wanted to make sure that the ignition timing hadn't accidentally been set 180 out, which speaking to the previous owner and his son, seemed likely. When I went to turn the engine over by hand, I noticed that the engine seemed to turn over VERY EASILY despite the fact that I still had plugs in every cylinder except #1. How easily should this turn over? If I had encountered that feeling in something like a 4G63, I would immediately begun swearing and conducting a leak down test to see where it was leaking. Seeing as to how this setup is so new to me though, I figured I would ask if maybe it was possible that maybe the pushrods were the incorrect length or something else that could be causing the issue, or even if that is just normal for this engine. Prior to this, I had been holding out hope that the timing issue the previous owner mentioned was going to ignition related, and not mechanical, as the "previous previous owner" who had done the shortblock rebuild had timed it, and seemed to understand what he was doing.
Basically, I guess that I am just looking for someone who has a better understanding of this motor to guide me on where to go from here. My original plan had always been to swap the 200 for a 289 or 302 later down the road, but over the last week, the idea of keeping the 200 had really begun to grow on me, so it would be a bummer to hear that there is something wrong with it that is going to necessitate tearing it down.
