Flathead 239 still hard to start after much work...

[pistonbroke]

Something about the timing mark bothers me. My brothers 255 had sheared the woodruff key on the crank but that is rare. I'm wondering about the cam timing since it won't run with the timing set closer to normal. Just me thinkin what would I do in your place, I would pull the timing cover and check my marks then my firing order on the plug wires. After that the carb would be my next go to. You talk about compression and although it's important it's not a deal breaker. My old 41 pickup has a couple at 40 psi ,80 psi and 4 at 100 psi. I drove it everywhere until the transmission went south. It started and ran good although a little on the gutless side. there is my two cents, Tim

[rjlester]

Originally Posted by pistonbroke

Something about the timing mark bothers me. My brothers 255 had sheared the woodruff key on the crank but that is rare. I'm wondering about the cam timing since it won't run with the timing set closer to normal. Just me thinkin what would I do in your place, I would pull the timing cover and check my marks then my firing order on the plug wires. After that the carb would be my next go to. You talk about compression and although it's important it's not a deal breaker. My old 41 pickup has a couple at 40 psi ,80 psi and 4 at 100 psi. I drove it everywhere until the transmission went south. It started and ran good although a little on the gutless side. there is my two cents, Tim

Funny you mention cam timing, I was talking to a friend last night, and I was wondering what the repercussions would be if the cam was off one tooth? I will start with the firing order on the plug wires, maybe they are clocked wrong.

[Brendan]

Originally Posted by rjlester

Funny you mention cam timing, I was talking to a friend last night, and I was wondering what the repercussions would be if the cam was off one tooth? I will start with the firing order on the plug wires, maybe they are clocked wrong.

i had put i new cam in a Chebby motor with a double roller timing chain, the cam gear has 3 timing marks , i had put it together wrong. it took me about a hour and a half to get it to run, it had no power from a start. also it would spit fuel out of the air horn of the carb, when you would accelerate. then i suspected valve timing. one saterday i puled the engine and advanced the timing. that took care of the trouble