Mustang won't start

gnx547

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I'm firing up the Mustang for the first time and it won't start. It turns over but nothing. I do have spark and fuel and I did line up the distributor with number 1 cylinder on tdc. I check all my connections and all the connectors are connected. Any ideas or suggestions?
 

ttocs

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did you just park it this afternoon and this happened or what was all done prior to firing it up? start simple and check your fuse boxes under the dash and the hood.
 
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gnx547

gnx547

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The car has been sitting for a few yrs. The original engine had a bad bearing and I replaced the engine with a new short block. I did check the fuses and they are all good.
 

CC'S95GT

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did you swap the distributor from the old engine to the new one? or a new dizzy?
When you first turn the key the FP will prime for a few seconds then shut off. After that the signal to keep the FP on comes from the dizzy.
 
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gnx547

gnx547

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Yes, I did swap the stock distributor from the old engine to the new one and the fuel pump does prime for a few secs with the key on. I checked the distributor again and I was off about 180. I turned it another revolution till I saw the timing marks come up and I lined it up to 0 on the balancer and dropped in the distributor with the rotor facing number 1 plug. I fired it up and it did run for a few secs and it died. It won't stay running that long. Any ideas why it won't stay running?
 

toyman

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You need to advance the timing to 10*. Firing at "0" is too late.
 
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gnx547

gnx547

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I will take out the dist and move the balancer to 10 degrees. Should the spout be in when trying to start the car?
 
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gnx547

gnx547

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I adjusted the balancer to 10 degrees and still the car won't stay running. I'm thinking my distributor is a tooth off? When I stab the distributor in and line up the rotor with number 1 cylinder, I can't get the rotor positioned on the spot. This is how I have it positioned and I marked a dot on the housing for number 1 cylinder from the cap. Does it have to be dead on the spot? Is the rotor off?

2coirk3.jpg
 

CC'S95GT

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the dizzy can't be a tooth off on the 5.0 becaust the dizzy can turn 360* without being removed.
 

RichV

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Did you put new fuel in it? Because if you ran the old varnished fuel through you may have clogged the injectors.

You did a lot of work, so it could be a bunch of stuff. But if it started once, it should start again. Distributor at zero is fine, enough to get it set anyway. Being a tooth off is not that big of deal, being 180* out is. So make sure that #1 is on the compression stroke, not the exhaust.
 
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gnx547

gnx547

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No I did not put new fuel in yet. It is a few yrs old but I did put a few bottles of stabil in the tank before the car sat. I know I'm on the compression stroke and I moved the balancer to the zero mark and I put the distributor in with the rotor facing close to 1 o'clock. And I crank it and it fired up slowly and the car did not die but it is running a little sluggish but I know the timing needs to be adjusted. What should I set the timing to? My set up is stock 302 block, Edlebrock performer heads with 1.7 rockers, crane 2031 cam, cobra intake and a vortech s-trim with power pipe pushing 4-6 lbs of boost
 

CC'S95GT

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Base timing is 10*. So you at least need to set it to that.
And because of the mods, it probally won't run or idle worth a crap till tuned anyway.
 

RichV

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Easiest way is note the cap has a tower with '1' on it, that should be your #1 plug, and it should be where the rotor is pointing with #1cyl at TDC on a compression stroke. Then when it fires, remove the spout and time it with a gun at 10* BTDC. The s/c should be fine in there, but if all else fails, remove the s/c discharge tube from the t/b, and run a independent CAI with MAF and filter to set up the timing without the s/c feeding air. When I procharged my 86 I had a hell of a time with getting it to idle, found the MAF needed clocked until it didn't sound like it wanted to die.
 
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gnx547

gnx547

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The car was tuned before the new engine with a SCT chip and all the mods were the same except it had a Powerdyne supercharger.
 

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