struggling to start after body off restoration
Discussion
Hi All
I have almost completed a body off restoration of my 1997 Chimaera 450 which was necessary to repair rotten outriggers. I took the opportunity to clean, repair and renew the suspension and drive chain and to clean the engine and replace the water pump and all gaskets and seals apart from the cylinder head gasket. The cylinder head was not removed but the distributor was. I thought I had marked its position but marks were rubbed off in general clean up.
Today I was ready to start the engine and put oil, water and fuel in with no apparent leaks. However, when I tied to start the engine it fired but ran roughly for a few seconds and then died. I have tried adjusting the position of the distributor, cleaned the plugs and checked for fuel but still can't get it to run smoothly and for more than a few seconds.
If I had got the ignition timing 180 degrees out I would not expect it to fire at all.
The distributor cap and leads have been sitting in my garage for almost a year while I have been doing the restoration so not sure if they have got damp, but they look OK.
Any suggestions to get the engine to fire and run smoothly would be welcomed.
Thanks
Paul
I have almost completed a body off restoration of my 1997 Chimaera 450 which was necessary to repair rotten outriggers. I took the opportunity to clean, repair and renew the suspension and drive chain and to clean the engine and replace the water pump and all gaskets and seals apart from the cylinder head gasket. The cylinder head was not removed but the distributor was. I thought I had marked its position but marks were rubbed off in general clean up.
Today I was ready to start the engine and put oil, water and fuel in with no apparent leaks. However, when I tied to start the engine it fired but ran roughly for a few seconds and then died. I have tried adjusting the position of the distributor, cleaned the plugs and checked for fuel but still can't get it to run smoothly and for more than a few seconds.
If I had got the ignition timing 180 degrees out I would not expect it to fire at all.
The distributor cap and leads have been sitting in my garage for almost a year while I have been doing the restoration so not sure if they have got damp, but they look OK.
Any suggestions to get the engine to fire and run smoothly would be welcomed.
Thanks
Paul
You possibly now have fouled plugs so best to remove and clean before going on.
If after doing some electrical checks including whether you have a spark or not must be the place to start as would be to confirm you have fuel under pressure at the fuel rail.
If you have got dizzy in roughly the correct position and it does start, quickly turn dizzy until running improves
Anti clockwise is advancing the ign if my memory serves me( check this) so be careful.
You need to set timing with a strobe once it’s running.
You have little choice but do some base checks again and narrow down the options.
Check your earths on the passenger side chassis/body mounting bolt in the car.
If after doing some electrical checks including whether you have a spark or not must be the place to start as would be to confirm you have fuel under pressure at the fuel rail.
If you have got dizzy in roughly the correct position and it does start, quickly turn dizzy until running improves
Anti clockwise is advancing the ign if my memory serves me( check this) so be careful.
You need to set timing with a strobe once it’s running.
You have little choice but do some base checks again and narrow down the options.
Check your earths on the passenger side chassis/body mounting bolt in the car.
The fact it runs at all it good news!
Might be worth checking:
• You are getting a spark across each plug (could be trying to run on less than 8 cylinders)
• Fuel pressure is being maintained after the ignition key moves back after starting
• Wedge the throttle open a little and see if that gives you more time to adjust the dizzy
Might be worth checking:
• You are getting a spark across each plug (could be trying to run on less than 8 cylinders)
• Fuel pressure is being maintained after the ignition key moves back after starting
• Wedge the throttle open a little and see if that gives you more time to adjust the dizzy
It sounds like either the position of the distributor is out or the leads have been refitted incorrectly.
I too had problems starting my car after a full body off rebuild. All kinds of scenarios play on your mind as to what can be wrong.
My engine would not run as such, it just popped and banged that much, it eventually blew the valley gasket inside out and deposited oil on the floor.
The reason i eventually worked out was i had incorrectly refitted the plug leads. They were all just one rotational position out !check your plug leads
especially in relation to which is number 1 and start from there.
The picture in the Chimaera bible is not very good. I have posted a better one, good luck and tell us your findings.
I too had problems starting my car after a full body off rebuild. All kinds of scenarios play on your mind as to what can be wrong.
My engine would not run as such, it just popped and banged that much, it eventually blew the valley gasket inside out and deposited oil on the floor.
The reason i eventually worked out was i had incorrectly refitted the plug leads. They were all just one rotational position out !check your plug leads
especially in relation to which is number 1 and start from there.
The picture in the Chimaera bible is not very good. I have posted a better one, good luck and tell us your findings.
Thanks for all your suggestions. I will test them out tomorrow morning and let you know. The idea that the plug leads were one rotation out is a possibility as, although I labelled the leads carefully and did not remove them from the distributor cap, there was a tippex mark suggesting they should be one position forward. We shall see. Thanks again.
Popping the passenger side rocker cover off makes it easier to find tdc if your lost, you can see when both valves are closed on No 1 when your approaching the pointer on the crank pulley.
Distributor rotor should be pointing at roughly 5 o clock position if everything is as standard.
Distributor rotor should be pointing at roughly 5 o clock position if everything is as standard.
It goes!!
Thanks for all your suggestions. I tried most of them - rocker cover off to check TDC, plugs out and cleaned, leads removed from distributor cap and refitted and dizzy turned to advance ignition a bit. To be honest, I am not sure which the problem was but have a feeling I may have put two plug leads in the wrong order (despite removing and checking at least twice) and the dizzy was not turned to quite the right position - more like 4 o'clock on mine rather than 5.
Anyway, she is running fairly smoothly, so many thanks to you all and now to see about bleeding the clutch and brakes. Then it's refit carpets with heat/sound proofing, seats, bonnet and boot...and hope for fine weather.
Thanks for all your suggestions. I tried most of them - rocker cover off to check TDC, plugs out and cleaned, leads removed from distributor cap and refitted and dizzy turned to advance ignition a bit. To be honest, I am not sure which the problem was but have a feeling I may have put two plug leads in the wrong order (despite removing and checking at least twice) and the dizzy was not turned to quite the right position - more like 4 o'clock on mine rather than 5.
Anyway, she is running fairly smoothly, so many thanks to you all and now to see about bleeding the clutch and brakes. Then it's refit carpets with heat/sound proofing, seats, bonnet and boot...and hope for fine weather.
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