Starting up new engine for first time - front firing thru carb

[murinsky]

Hello everyone,
Let me first say i would not be where I am today without the help of this board. THanks very much to everyone who has helped with this project along the way!

I finally cranked over my new engine today, it is basically a 454 mag, but generic. It has a delco ignition, part number 22752 (high energy ignition kit). Once I got fuel to the carb and cranked it, it front-fired blue smoke through the carb.

My first thought is that the plug wires are connected in the wrong positions on the distributor. The instructions have the #1 plug at about 7:00, if the flywheel (end of the motor, not actual flywheel position) is at 6:00, and the #2 plug right at 6:00. But there are no points of reference in the instruction, so I shifted the wires on the distributor one way in each direction but the same thing happened.

Timing maybe? The guy who built it claimed it was timed (he ran it to test).

THanks in advance for any help!

Mike

 

[murinsky]

Re: Starting up new engine for first time - front firing thru carb

UPDATE

I just found a picture showing to do exactly the opposite of what i was doing. Now it backfires out the exhuast (an improvement i would say!).

http://www.classiccarauto.com/impala/how_to/images/distributor.png

This is the pic if anyone is curious. Is there any harm to just put the wires in the right order and make an attempt trying every distributor post as #1 cylinder until its right?

 

[Don S]

Re: Starting up new engine for first time - front firing thru carb

Forget about where #1 is on the distributor, it may be in the wrong place. Going by that picture isn't going to help.
It's easy to locate where #1 is.
Pull all the spark plugs so you can turn the engine over easily by hand. Now, turn the engine while you have a finger over #1 spark plug hole. Now, turn the engine in the direction of rotation till you feel compression build in #1. Continue turning till the timing mark on the vibration dampner lines up with the 0° mark.
You are now at #1 TDC.
Now, remove the distributor cap. and look at where the rotor is pointing. That is for #1 spark plug.
Put all the plugs back in and hook that plug wire up.
From there install the rest of the wires in the direction of rotation and in the proper firing order.