I wasn't sure where to put this so I figured I'd just go here. I recently dropped a '63 383 in a my ram project truck. The motor ran when I purchased it (I watched it run). I put it in my truck yesterday and put all the wires back in place according to the marker on the distributor cap and the firing order and even quadruple checked the placement. The problem is it will not start now. I know for a fact that it has to do with the firing but cant figuge out why. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

are you getting spark? the firing order should be written on the intake manifold but it is 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2.

 

Yea I have the firing order correct. Not sure if I'm getting a spark though. I'm gonna try new plugs and wires tomorrow and go from there

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmess

I wasn't sure where to put this so I figured I'd just go here. I recently dropped a '63 383 in a my ram project truck. The motor ran when I purchased it (I watched it run). I put it in my truck yesterday and put all the wires back in place according to the marker on the distributor cap and the firing order and even quadruple checked the placement. The problem is it will not start now. I know for a fact that it has to do with the firing but cant figuge out why. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmess

Yea I have the firing order correct. Not sure if I'm getting a spark though. I'm gonna try new plugs and wires tomorrow and go from there

Back in 1963 the ignition system was very simple. If the engine ran with the current plugs and wires it will run again. Replacing them isn't going to help anything to get it running.

Do you have voltage to the + side of the coil? If you don't....you could even "hot wire" it by running a wire from the + side of the battery to the + side of the coil. Don't leave it hooked up very long without turning the engine over....if the points are closed they'll burn up!

Another thing to check ......is the ballast resister and the starter solenoid.....Starter solenoid supplies 12 volts to the coil during starting (the second small wire on the cap).....and the ballast resister reduces the voltage during running to extend point life…. If there isn't any voltage to the ballast resister the engine will run as long as the key is in the start position but will die as soon as the key is realeased.

Did you pull the distributor? If so….is it in correctly?

 

Hey JMess,
I've read it over and over again and I myself did the same thing, making sure to carefully mark the distributor but in the end it was 180* off. Just one of those mysterious things I guess. It's an easy check. I kept telling myself that it couldn't be and finally gave in and waalaa... it started like nothing. Of course, I kicked my own azz for not doing sooner. LOL !!

Anyways, I was wondering what kinda of sounds or what exactly was happening when you would crank the motor. IE: whooshing, back firing, nearly starting, clacking etc.

 

Really helpful. Thanks. I'll try hotwiring it tomorrow and see what happens. i hope is something as simple as the coil.


Thanks for the help but im more than positive that i have the wires in the correct place. As for sounds, there aren't any. The best way i can describe it is like a dead battery, or maybe even as if it wasn't in park or neutral. Neither of which are possible because i thought it was the battery at first and tried jumping and even charging it and still had no luck. i also have the neutral safety switch bypassed so it can start in any gear.

 

Is the engine turning over? Is the starter working? From the sounds of this post.....it sounds like you're fishing for reasons why the starter isn't working..... Kinda a little different slant if that's the case..... Hotwiring isn't going to solve this.

 

its been a while but i have a few updates n whats been going on. the reason it wasnt working before was because a mouse managed to eat through an ignition wire. fixed it and now it just wont start. i have a vedio to show whats happening that ill post soon. i replaced the plugs and wires as well as the coil because it was sending out a very poor spark.

heres the video

 

have you tried pump the gas while trying to start it? did you ever adjust the timing? if so that may be your problem.

 

yup. tried pumping the gas. yu can see it in that video too. i also tried priming it too. thought maybe it wasnt getting gas. still didnt work. i havnt touched the timing becouse it ran perfectly fine when i bought it. i pulled it and the tranny out of this guys car and dropped it in my truck. he started it wight in front of me and everything