all i know is i had a certain firing order. and my car started fine,, then i put on headers and and lost where my wires went. so i went online and set it to this order - http://www.boxwrench.net/specs/chevy_sb.htmthen it still dident start. so i looked more and found the old firing order that a mechanic said was right, so i switched it back to that. and now it still wont start. so im trying all this stuff camaro 69 told me. hes a great help

 

Ah, o.k. Did you check to see if you have spark at the spark plugs? An easy way to check this is to pull the wire and if you have a spare spark plug laying around just plug that into the end of the wire. Ground the body of the spark plug with a clamp to the body or frame and this will make a circuit. Turn the car over and you should see a bright blue arch of electricity on the end of the plug. If not then you're not getting fire.

 

the engine turns over fine, but im not sure if i have spaark. i put all new iginiton in. - rotor, dist. cap, plugs and wires. so there should be spark.

 

I edited my last post while you were posting and reread the thread so reread my last post really quick for the update.

Well, when you redid your entire ignition system was it a completely new distributor with parts or a rebuild kit? If it was a rebuild kit did it come with a magnetic pickup that goes on the shaft right under the rotor? You would know because you have to remove the shaft of the distributor from the housing to remove the old one and install the new one. This involves removing the pin at the base of the distributor by the gear on the end of the shaft, then removing the gear and sliding the shaft out.

Did you remove the distributor from the engine? If so then Camaro69 and Z28Pete are leading you in the right direction to get your timing back on track.

I'm also assuming that this distributor is an HEI distributor btw.

 

ok, i removed the plugs, wires plastic distributer cap, plastic rotor under the cap. and two little metal peices held on by springs under the rotor. no big metal part or anything.

 

ok ill check for fire. but incase u dont know, the car started after all the distuter stuff was replaced. it just hasent started after i installed my headers and changed the firing order from the online 1 i saw and then back to the one i had from the start.

 

Changing the headers wouldn't do that unless you pulled the wire from the solenoid on the starter during install but then the car wouldn't turn over.

The parts you described as replacing are the cap, rotor and advance weights and advance springs. Do you know if you're running an HEI distributor (coil in the cap) or a distributor with an external coil?

 

Kyphur, hang on a second before you get him taking off his intake manifold next!
Let me try to bring you up to speed...
He first changed his spark plug wires, one at a time, and the engine ran fine.
Then he put on new headers, and in the process he removedthe wires from the spark plugs all at once. Then put them back on where he thought they belonged. He obviously has his wires crossed, and I've been trying to help him find TDC #1 so he can find thewires proper #1 starting point on the distributor cap. No need to dismantle the distributor at this point.

 

Camaro69> Ha ha, how did you know that I was going after his lifters and pushrods next??? And I wasn't telling him to dismantle his distributor JUUUUUUST yet. I just wanted to make sure he was getting fire since that was a lot more simpler right off the bat. He could have the wires 100% correct but without fire it could be hell to troubleshoot for a beginner.

Ah, o.k. I understand now. I thought you guys were trying to get him to redo his timing from scratch because you guys thought he removed his distributor or something. I was like there's no way he lost timing without removing the distributor or pulling the timing chain/sprocket. I totally see where you guys are going now though. I followed that he got his wires crossed but I thought he wasn't getting it to fire anymore once he CORRECTED the setup. I didn't follow that he had not put it back 100% yet. Then yes, you crazy bastards are correct in the direction you're leading him.

 

A crazy bastard? Hey, I resemble that remark!!!