New cam shaft and Ti I"m worried about starting

[george culolias]

I've got new pistons, a new stock cam shaft, lifters and a rebuilt TI distributor. The car had a TI initially and I threw it away about 25 years ago when the car had a higher speed miss. I'm worried that the ignition system won't work right now as the TI hasn't been hooked up in so long and the last thing I want to do with an unbroken in cam shaft is crank on it without the motor starting. Any suggestions on how to test the ignition before I crank the motor. Can I just plug in the distributor wires and plugs and spin the gear by hand and look for sparks on the plugs.
Any guesses on the higher speed miss years ago? You think the amp could cause it? Or having a new rebuild distributor should solve that...I hope.

Another question, this time about the tri power. I also bought new carbs as the tri power was tossed years ago too and I'm wondering if these are bolt on and go or do they need some major adjustments. Thanks for any help.

[William O.]

Re: New cam shaft and Ti I"m worried about startin

Question:

Have you installed the distributor correctly? TDC?
Have you set the valves? before you start the engine?
Yes the Carb's will need adjustment.

[george culolias]

Re: New cam shaft and Ti I"m worried about startin

I haven't installed the distributor yet. Or even adjusted the valves yet. I could but I'd like to check the ignition out first, since I don't want to wear a new cam cranking it.

[Myron sleeva]

Re: New cam shaft and Ti I"m worried about startin

Personally, I would get the engine oiled up first and foremost. Get a distributor from the junkyard, drive out the bottom dowel pin and remove the lower gear. Remove the shaft from the housing and modify the top so that you have a shaft that will fit into a 1/2" electric drill. Reinstall the shaft into the housing and drop it into the car, engaging the shaft into the oil pump. Use the electric drill to turn the shaft. You will see oil coming up to the rockers. Let the drill spin for a few minutes assuring the motor has oil through all the passages. You will see the oil pressure build on the gauge too. Now you can move to setting the valves by turning the engine over either by hand or with the starter, safe in the knowledge all the moving parts are lubed.

On one occasion, priming the motor like this saved an engine. Oil started to pour out the front of the engine. Apparently when the block was hot tanked before rebuilding, a pipe plug was removed from the front of the block and was never reinstalled. If the engine had been started, oil starvation would certainly have occured, wiping out something or other.

You may also want to check but if memory serves, there is a caution about cranking a TI car without having the ignition wires connected to spark plugs.

[Duke W.]

Re: New cam shaft and Ti I"m worried about startin

I bench tested a TI years ago. Set it up on the bench with everything connected including a 12V battery to the power lead (look at the schematic in the service manual to see how to make the connections). Make sure all components are connected with test leads for grounding. Connect a spark plug to a connected to coil and ground the electode to your ground plane with a test lead.

With power applied, turn the dist. with an electric drill. If you see a spark, the TI works.

Prior to this test, I suggest you take the back cover off the amp for a visual inspection. Moisture gets in and causes corrosion. Also carefully inspect the amp connector. Even though it is a 'weatherproof" type, moisture can get in and cause corrosion.

That's the only problem I ever had with a TI. It either worked perfectly or didn't work at all. The first failure was inside the amp. A main power transistor lead (which is mounted in the heat sink) busted at the circuit board. I resoldered it back on.

The second problem was moisture in the amp connector that caused a little corrosion. That's when I pulled it off, did the bench test, found the problem, fixed it, and put it in a box.

Twelve years later I sold it to David Burroughs to reinstall on the L-88 from whence it had come.

Duke

[Clem Z.]

Re: New cam shaft and Ti I"m worried about startin

you can spin it by hand and you should see sparks at the plugs. the spark should be bright blue not orange. no problem as long as the plug wires are in the cap. make sure you ground the distributor housing when doing this