What could be the cause for a 1972 Chevy 350 CI engine to not run when it has HEI ignition and EDEL carb hooker headers?

Answer 1

All engines require three things to run: Compression fuel(air and gas) and igntion (spark) First you need to figure out which one is causing the problem. 1) An easy check is to look down your carb while pumping the throttle. You should see some gas shoot into the engine. If not it could be a cloged filter or fuel pump or a stuck float inside your carb. 2) Check for spark. Be careful a standard HEI puts out 80,000 volts. The safest way is to use an inductive tester it clamps around a plug wire and either has a series of lights or a ditital readout to tell you how many volts are jumping the gap of your spark plug while you crank the engine. If you dont have one you can disconnect a plug wire and connect it to a spark plug and lay it on an exposed metal surface say your exhaust manifold. Then crank the engine and look for the a bright blue spark. Dont get near it it hurts. 3) Compression is the last of the three bsic needs. unplug the electircal connector to your distributor. This will keep that mean ol spark from biting your hand. Then pull a spark plug out and stick your finger in the hole while some one cranks the engine. The compressin should pop your finger out of the plug hole. If it barely puffs or nothing happens at all you have internal engine problems such as bad valves or rings or timing chain. If you have all of three of the basics fuel spark and compression and she still does not run the question becomes which one is happening at the wrong rate or time. Too much gas from a float stuck open could flood the engine. Are the plugs soaked? Are the plugs fiirng at the correct time. Disconnect the ditributor again Pull number 1 plug, stick your finger in the hole and lightly tap the key several times in rapid succesion until your finger puffs out of the hole. Pull the ditributor cap and check to make sure your rotor is pointing at the # 1 plug wire. If not your ditributor needs to be turned to the correct timing. Also check firing order Your truck fires in this order 18436572 so your plug wires should be connected the distributor cap in this order. If this truck is still not running not check to make sure your gas is good. Good luck