I did use the search forum but didn't find anything I could use after an hour of reading.
I have a 56 Chevy truck 3200 w/235 and 3 speed column shift. About a year and a half ago I had a knock that came on suddenly and I pulled over and towed the truck home. After pulling the pan the #3 rod bearing was toast. I priced a crank kit/rebuild kit and decided it was more cost effective to just build a small block V8 for the truck and install it. I located a small block and started working on it but missed driving the truck in the meantime. I saw an ad for a 235 engine on Craigslist and bought it. I swapped it in this weekend but I'm having a little trouble with it. I dropped in the dist. assembly (eyeballed it) and it started and ran on starter fluid only. The fuel was bad so I drained the tank and refilled it with fresh fuel. Then it started and would run on the gas but only if you gave it throttle. I figured since the gas was bad the carb. may have a clogged jet or something. I removed the carb. and cleaned out the jets and float bowl. They weren't real dirty or anything that I could see. I reassembled the carb. and installed it and the engine would start and only run above idle. I'm wondering now if the accel. pump is the problem?
I also messed with the wired thinking I had one crossed or something and really screwed it up (not running at all now). I followed another thread's instructions and pulled the front cylinder (1) spark plug and then set the engine to TDC. Both valve lash clearances had play so I'm thinking that they are on the compression stroke (valves closed)
I pulled the dist. cap off and the rotor was a little off so I moved the dist. assembly a little so the rotor was on the next contact under the cap. Then I made sure that wire went to the #1 spark plug. I then went to the next wire in a clockwise rotation on the cap following the firing order and re-routed the plug wires. It trys to start but no go. I'm getting a little frustrated over here... Any ideas?
Thanks, Kyle