I bought an automatic 84 Brat with the intake manifold left off due to a broken bolt. Knowing nothing about its history, I rebuilt it and put a new Weber on it. It has new pistons, rings, and gaskets. Timing mark at 0 with cylinder 1 on TDC, distributor installed with rotor at spark plug 1. Plugs spark. I sprayed starter fluid down the carb and on another occassion into cylinder 1. Engine tries to crank but wont turn over.

 

Spacer between the heads and y pipe is gone so I cannot hook up the exhaust, but because of this I did see a couple brief pops of fire. Sounded like a mild backfire but without it going it is kind of hard to adjust timing :s

 

Fuel pump was on a toggle, jumped it to fill up my fuel filter but it only filled half way and kept trying to pump with no avail. Tank 1/2 - 3/4 full of fresh gas. Fuel problem, not enough pressure?

 

 

Any thoughts?

Usually the 2 main reasons for a rebuilt engine not to start is the cam being out of time or the disty. Double check.

I forgot I previously figured it was 180 deg off and turned the disty. Put it back to where it should be and adjusted it a little more to where I thought was exactly on plug 1.. hit the cylinder with some starter fluid and it tried to start.. put a bit more down the carb and it idled until the fluid went out.. now to hook throttle cable back up and figure how I want to wire in the fuel pump.

 

Perhaps working on the car until 3am wasnt a good idea Thanks for the help!

make sure your fuel lines arent hooked up backwards. kinda hard to run like that. hth

make sure your fuel lines arent hooked up backwards. kinda hard to run like that. hth

 

 

What he said. At 3am you can make silly mistakes.

Hi there, I wouldn't run a fresh rebuild without the exhaust hooked up. You need the back pressure to seat the valves. I was told I needed at least a y pipe to do this.

just reread your post, it sounds like you didn't rebuild the heads, so maybe my advice doesn't apply. I would still hook up the exhaust though.

What he said. At 3am you can make silly mistakes.

Ditto. I was stumped for a month as to why my brat ran like crap until I finally realized that I had wired the dizzy 1432 like a VW. Too many late nights. And beers.