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Hi all
I have a 1951 chevy with 216 6volt I have rebuilt the engine and now I go to start it and it cranks but does not start/fire it had ran before I rebuilt it with no problems. I have a new fully charged battery good cables I believe 0 gauge, I have cleaned all the grounds and positive cable goin to the starter. It is getting fuel the bowl is full when cranking. spark plugs are new coil and points/rotor are fairly new.
I appreciate your advice thanks

Out of time, bad condenser, points out of adjustment, plug wires on wrong, carb not squirting fuel into intake. Just a few suggestions. Take a plug wire off the plug and insert a phillips screwdriver into the wire and hold the metal shaft near a bolt head or other ground and have someone crank it for you. No spark it's electrical. A spark and it's probably a timing issue or fuel issue. I'm sure you will receive more ideas soon. Good luck.

forgot to mention it doesn't sound like it cranking fast enough, I know its a 6v and doesn't crank all that fast, don't know maybe the starter is on its way out or needs new brushes springs?

I have adj the points and I need to check the condenser/ coil (forgot amp meter at work) plugs and wires are right triple checked them and so did someone else. carb was rebuilt last year and fuel is getting to the carb.

I will also test the spark plugs tomorrow I did test them before the rebuild and they were working fine but I will test them again and let you know

An internal combustion engine requires 3 things to run.

#1) Atomized fuel/air mixture. ("Fuel in the bowl" does not guarantee this.)

#2) Compression.

#3) Spark at the spark plugs at the right time.

I realize that that all of this is a "No Duh" statement, but starting out with the simplest of factors helps keep the mind clear, and allows us to methodically test each of these three component groups. I was enlightened to this approach by an old timer many years ago. It was instrumental in giving me the ability to troubleshoot without getting so frustrated. So I guess that makes me the old timer passing it on today, but I am not all that excited about admitting the 'old' aspect of it. Be sure to keep us posted on what you find. Us old guys die a little inside every time someone doesn't come back to share.
Carl

put the pointer on the ball, (you do have it on compression right?) loosen distributor clamp just enough to let it turn, but tight enough it won't be all sloppy. rotate it clockwise till the points open and then close again, turn on the ignition and rotate it SLOWLY counter clockwise till you just see an arc at the points. "IMPORTANT STEP" turn off ignition. Timing should be nearly dead on. But make sure spark is making it all the way to the plugs. I had an experience where there is a tall, and a short cap/rotor combination with the short rotor in the tall cap which let me have spark a the points but it wasn't making it all the way to the plugs. Other than that just do what Carl has suggested, each category of trouble shooting has several facets, such as spark, would entail any and all activities necessary to achieve the desired result, I.E. replace coil, points, reset timing etc. would be three facets pertaining to obtaining "spark". Although you probably know this, I don't know you or your experience/knowledge, so please don't be offended. Also Carl getting old isn't all that bad, soon you can get away with all kinds of behavioral malfunctions, and people will attribute it to you being old. Plus there is the AARP card.

You could have the cylinder walls washed clean, might want to pull the plugs and squirt some oil in the cylinders and turn it over a couple times.

I did oil the cylinder walls before I put the head back on. the coil has power across the + & - ohms is about 1.5 across the same two. i took out the wire for #5 and put a spare plug i have for it on it and put it to ground and it sparked. the engine is still turning over very slow and after the cranking i checked the battery and it is at 6.3 volts. also when i did the valve adjustment on the engine i had check to make sure that it was one #1 on the flywheel (the ball) and on the distributer cap. i am stil thinking this is a compression issue and I'm not cranking fast enough to build enough compression??

Take the air filter off and pour a couple tablespoons of gas down the carb. If it starts and dies it's a carb problem . If it starts and keeps running, new, big, battery cables should get it cranking up to speed.

If it doesn't start, fix the cranking and look for a timing problem.

I have a newly rebuilt 216. I am pretty sure my truck will crank about 2 min and not slow down. Point gap should be .018in. Does your truck have the reversing switch? This changes the way the distributor is isolated. What is firing order you have?

well guys thanks for the help! turns out nothing was wrong. i also went ahead and checked the compression and every cyl was good. me n my friend just cranked the hell out of it and did the usual pouring of fuel down the carb and after about 10 - 15 mins of cranking she started. we ran through the whole what it could be scenarios and we were both found nothing wrong so decide to just keep cranking. shes running now and i took the liberty to adj the valves hot, shes backfiring through the carb a bit when you rev it up, but after it warmed up it stopped, so I'm gonna go ahead and time it, but its running great.

Isn't that great feeling and You and your friend "Did it yourself"


an

it is also very nice to have the resolution posted, rather than leaving us hanging, thank you mister fit.