u/DistanceIcy4800

thank you guys for all your suggestions. ended up taking out a spark plug - completely dry - and connecting the coil to it. there were sparks which told me my plug, coil, and distributor were all good.

had fuel in the carb and no gas smell in my oil. i opened my choke a little bit more for more air. with fuel, air, and sparks all good all that it could’ve been was the timing.

turns out, somehow my distributor was mounted 180 degrees the wrong way, meaning it was firing 3rd cylinder when it should’ve been firing 1st and same with 2nd and 4th.

funny enough, once i spun my distributor around and adjusted my valves, the car is starting quicker than ever with the choke opened a bit more than before (will adjust a bit more). i have to redo my timing for sure just to get everything going smoother

my question is, how is it possible that i was running my car for TWO DAYS with the distributor wrong?? it was driving perfectly fine until this morning and i have no idea what could’ve happened.

i just posted about my car not starting after running perfectly the day before. i took the air filter off, the carb is squirting gas and everything has power to it.

when i crank it, the carb shoots out smoke like this. i have no idea what the hell is happening

2 days ago, i dropped the engine out of my 72 SB to do a generator to alternator conversion. i took apart the carb (34-pict3), changed the fuel pump, and put new gaskets on everything including a new o-ring seal on my electric distributor and new seals on my oil cooler.

put everything back in and she was running like a dream, maybe a bit hotter than before but still would start up right away. had some rough idling at first but a few adjustments to the carb got it sounding good. drove it around a lot when everything was done

i woke up this morning and now for whatever reason, the car cranks but just won’t start at all. even worse, it’s making a popping noise after a few seconds of cranking and it’s never done that before.

i tested my spark wires and there’s a spark at the distributor when cranking. i tried pushing the pedal to the floor to see if the carb was just flooded, nothing. everything is getting power to the coil. i tested it with a volt meter. i’m frustrated because this has never happened ever with this car and i don’t know what it could be. it’s either fuel or electric related.