Pulled and restabbed distributor, wont start.

86 454. Drove home from work nothing wrong. Pulled the distributor to advance a couple degrees of initial. Restabbed and now won't start. Have done this probably 8 times over last couple days. Pull number one puff of air marks lined up. Coat hanger in hole and felt piston. Have pulled valve cover and both valves are closed. Cleat cap can see rotor pointing at no. 1. Nothing. Spits sputters even had a couple fireballs. Won't start.
 

watch the video on the sbc, its the same deal on the bbc, yeah Im sure you think its correct, but obviously somethings not indexed correctly

I wish I was local, and could drop by, but this is not nearly as difficult as it seems, and yeah almost all of us have had similar issues at one time or another.
related threads
 
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I am curious let's assume that I've done everything as per the video. That my factory balancer hasn't spun and there are no obvious problems. Is there something else I may be missing? Also I don't know the exact condition of the timing chain, but I do know the rotor spins while cranking. Also keep in mind the truck was driven immediately prior with no Indications of a problem. Also just trying to make sure I haven't overlooked something simple.
 
I doubt your doing anything wrong, but Id suggest you use the timing light to verify your getting ignition spark on the number 1 cylinder and set timing to about 10 deg btdc,then verify the distrib rotor points where it should whith the cap off and the damper TDC set correctly
if you still experience coughing and backfires, Id suggest you rotate the engine 360,and re-instal the distrib
and re- verify the distributor rotor pointer, is then pointing at cylinder number 1 not number 6...where it might have actually been previously
so its in theory 180 degrees out of sequence and try starting, yeah it makes zero sense,
but occasionally you were wrong and it works
again if I was local Im sure this could be worked out very rapidly, verify the timing./ firing order is in clockwise rotation


chevyengine.jpg


where exactly (city are you located)
 
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Did you drop the cap and coil? Break a terminal post?
Wires plugged in properly? Tight?
Stop- look- think of what could be wrong, you will find the problem.
 
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