Motor start up

[1guydude]

Tryed to crank my motor today after a top end rebuild and a bunch of new parts. All i could get it to.do was back fire.
Also i tightened up a starter cable i noticed was loose on the solenoid and than i tryed to start. Starter wouldnt stop when i turned the ignition key to the off. I had to jump out and run up front and un hook thr ground and battery cable...
Ughhhh

D

[basketcase0302]

Tryed to crank my motor today after a top end rebuild and a bunch of new parts. All i could get it to.do was back fire.
Also i tightened up a starter cable i noticed was loose on the solenoid and than i tryed to start. Starter wouldnt stop when i turned the ignition key to the off. I had to jump out and run up front and un hook thr ground and battery cable...
Ughhhh

D

The starter solenoid is easy. The stud / post turned when you tightened the cable. You could try to turn it backwards the same amount but safer to just get a new one. Do yourself a favor and get a decent one, (not made in china or japan) you'll be glad you did.

What engine are you working on and what procedure did you use to adjust the valves if you've done head work?

[1guydude]

390. Guess I need to do a cpl things. I was told to find TDC. Place my rotor in my dist. to #1. Place my #1 spark cable on it and go in fire order from there...which I thought I did. I need to make sure on the rotor is in the right place...and the oil pick up tube?~! is attached...gonna crank it with the dist. unhooked up see If I get oil pressure. No valve job.... :/ Just bolted it together and hoped it would work....o boy. . I guess im supposed to pump the starter with a screwdriver till my distributor fell in place but I just pushed it in. Ppl on FB says its 180' off.

Hope I can get a decent starter solenoid from a parts store locally. Prob the same one though...Can I use a new cheapo one and order a decent one?

[71Fe2O3]

I bought solenoids for my trucks from the local NAPA, don't remember the country of origin, and they have been reliable for several years now. Solenoids are fairly simple devices, and one from a decent parts store should be fine-just make sure you wire it in properly and give it a good ground.

Backfire may mean that your distributor is 180 degrees off, it's an easy mistake to make. You need to find the #1 cylinder at the top of the compression stroke-listen for the puff of air coming from the spark plug hole.

Rather than bumping the starter, I recommend a socket with a breaker bar on the end of the crankshaft to get the distributor gear aligned with the crankshaft. If you insist on using the starter, consider using a remote starter switch designed for that purpose rather than a screwdriver.

[1guydude]

K so i fixed.my rotor
It was 180° off. Bumped my starter and got.the distributor seeded down where it needs.to be. I didnt get TDC though. I will have to do that in the morning and place the distributor back down in... my solenoid seems to work. I hooked the battery up and it didnt go off.
Grounded to the timing marker bolt. Hope thats good.

D

[basketcase0302]

K so i fixed.my rotor
It was 180° off. Bumped my starter and got.the distributor seeded down where it needs.to be. I didnt get TDC though. I will have to do that in the morning and place the distributor back down in... my solenoid seems to work. I hooked the battery up and it didnt go off.
Grounded to the timing marker bolt. Hope thats good.

D

As stated above tdc compression stroke is critical, (you can even damage the engine if you don't do this before trying to start it. Considering it's already backfired once you've probably blown out the accelerator pump diaphram with that incident.

What exactly are you grounding to the "timing marker bolt"?
The main battery ground cable needs to attach to the engine itself, (not the distributor clamp) if that's what your grounding.
There is a threaded hole on all our Ford engines, (under the exhaust) specifically for this. If your trying to get by with using a shorter cable for the ground your probably asking for trouble. That ground point is there for a reason-it is a stationary point with nothing else bolted to it so the cable would not be prone to loosening up.

And yes...country of origin is very important in choosing electrical components for our bump era trucks as india / japan / and china all three use the metric system. Their repop electrical components manufactured for our tucks has always been garbage just due to the quality of their inferior resources and low quality control alone.
Do yourself a favor and buy American-or have me laughing at you broke down on the side of the road when your japan electronic ignition box has heated up breaking down the circuit inside. And how do I know these things...

[71Fe2O3]

The factory ground location for the battery is on the passenger's side of the engine, below the exhaust manifold, behind the alternator. There should be a bolt there. Although it doesn't matter where you ground the battery, as long as you bolt it securely to the engine, the stock location is close to the battery, easy to access, and, as basketcase remarked, not taken up by anything else.

A picture is in this thread.

http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... hp?t=80822

[1guydude]

My carb still sprays fuel as it should. I hope i didnt ruin the accelerator pump.
I set TDC. I was in the middle of my marks on my timer marker.l and harmonic balancer.

Set the rotor to #1 placed the distributor and fire order.
My starter cranks but than slows down. Anyway all i could get was a fireball out the carb and burnt some hair. Getting help tomorrow.
D

[1guydude]

Battery i grounded in front of that bottom block hole because the ground wire hole was to small for that big bolt. I just used the timing marker bolt ...
D

[WarEagle]

A backfire through the carb is most likely a timing issue. If you are running an older style 4 bbl carb, check to make sure the power valve didn't blow out either.

[1guydude]

Got it running thanks. Ya i was on the wrong stroke. We bumped it with the key to blow a finger off #1. You definately know when its time.
D

[basketcase0302]

Awesome!