Learned another rule the hard way...

[BB69]

I am trying to get my Camaro put together after a couple of years of being apart, and I learned another lesson the hard way. The good news is the only thing ruined or wasted are some cheap gaskets and my time. I got the engine to the point of firing it yesterday with two of buddies helping. We went to fire it, and nothing happened. We spent the next couple hours checking and rechecking the timing. We tried everything timing related and couldn't get even a decent backfire. My buddies finally gave up, and I tried for another hour or so. Tonight, I went out and decided to use my compression guage to make sure I knew when #1 was on the compression stroke. The guage read exactly.....NOTHING. I tried this a couple times on multiple cylinders because I didn't believe the guage. Well, to end this story, I finally tore apart the timing cover and realized I had installed the timing set wrong. It's a Cloyes set with multiple keyways on the crank gear, and I had used the wrong one. A quick check of one of my engine books, and I confirmed the correct way to put it. I put the cam gear and chain on, adjusted the #1 valves, and checked the compression. 180 PSI. What a relief.

The moral of the story, double check this stuff when the engine is on the stand. If I had simply degreed the cam, I would have found this problem and saved a lot of time. Time I need as I'm trying to get the car together for an upcoming track day this Friday. There are some late nights in my near future. Just thought I would share so I could save someone else the hassle and embarassment of telling his buddies why they wasted an afternoon.

Ken