Should be 11:25

https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/61123-240z-cranks-but-won’t-start/#comment-562117

 

Looks about right to me, did you give it 3 pumps of the throttle before cranking?

Are the plugs wet or dry?

Edited September 2, 20231 yr by jonbill

From what I see it’s off from the pics shown in the post you provided. Hopefully it could be that simple 

Chime in Gentlemen 

If you use some starting fluid will it fire over?

If it won't then it's spark or compression

2 hours ago, Yarb said:

Is it 11:35 on the distributor or 12:35 On the oil pump shaft? I need to go back and look.

Oh Lord let it be that easy, 12:35 I just pulled from memory and I should know better. Looking at it again I think you guys are right, I'm one tooth over from where I should be, it will have to wait until the morning now, I'll have to drop the sway bar first.

 

To simply get the engine to run, the absolute positioning of the distributor driveshaft really doesn't matter. All you need to do is assure that the timing is correct.

I would pull the plugs, put a timing light on it, and use the starter to spin the engine over. It should spin fast enough just like that to get a good reading off the timing light. If the ignition timing is correct, it doesn't really matter if the distributor shaft is a tooth off or not. You have accounted for it with the rotation of the distributor body.

Of course, since it's been almost a day since you were looking into this, I assume you've already solved this issue, put new brakes on the rear, and powder coated the front control arms.  

6 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

To simply get the engine to run, the absolute positioning of the distributor driveshaft really doesn't matter. All you need to do is assure that the timing is correct.

I would pull the plugs, put a timing light on it, and use the starter to spin the engine over. It should spin fast enough just like that to get a good reading off the timing light. If the ignition timing is correct, it doesn't really matter if the distributor shaft is a tooth off or not. You have accounted for it with the rotation of the distributor body.

Of course, since it's been almost a day since you were looking into this, I assume you've already solved this issue, put new brakes on the rear, and powder coated the front control arms.  

Well not quite but the engine did start right up after repositioning the oil pump shaft, it moved the rotor to where it is suppose to be in relation to where it was.

So, engine is running, revs are at 1200-1400rpm, the synchrometer is read about 7kg/hr on all horns, the distributor is turned all the way to retard and the timing light is reading 40 degrees! So something still needs tweaking in the timing. All the spark plugs are looking a little lean.

What has me concerned ATM is the stock oil gauge is reading 0, the oil filter is hot though, I opened the oil cap and everything wet with oil but no oil is flinging about. So I turned off the engine and removed the valve cover and the cam is showing signs of minimum lubrication, the black marks on the cams cleans off with a piece of fine Scotch pad. @Patcon and the valve lash had tightened up so re set that.

I took the oil spray bar off and it had oil in it.

So, I'm thinking of lathering the cam and rockers with assembly lube again and start the engine to see if oil is coming out of the cam tower holes, then reattach the oil bar and see if the stream of oil is hitting the cam.  The oil pump is new and is the upgraded one used in the later Z's

Opinions?

 

Edited September 3, 20231 yr by grannyknot

 Are the holes in the spray bar partially blocked with crud? I started poking at mine with a torch tip cleaner and was amazed at how encrusted they had become. There was minimal oil to the cam before, steady streams of oil to the cam after the cleaning. I also soaked the bar in lacquer thinner for 24 hrs to loosen everything up after I saw the build-up in the holes.

If the valve train got hot due to low lubrication, you would probably lose all the lash. Double check it stone cold

2 hours ago, Mark Maras said:

 Are the holes in the spray bar partially blocked with crud? I started poking at mine with a torch tip cleaner and was amazed at how encrusted they had become. There was minimal oil to the cam before, steady streams of oil to the cam after the cleaning. I also soaked the bar in lacquer thinner for 24 hrs to loosen everything up after I saw the build-up in the holes.

I sprayed it out with brake cleaner before reassembly but maybe I should hit it with a butane torch to burn off what might be inside.  I have to resolder one of the joints anyway because it's loose.  Looking at the design of the oil spray bar, the 2  holes that supply all 12 cam holes hardly seem large enough to do the job, wondering a slightly larger supply hole wouldn't up the pressure for the cam holes.

31 minutes ago, Patcon said:

If the valve train got hot due to low lubrication, you would probably lose all the lash. Double check it stone cold

Good point, I might pull the cam just to have a look at the rockers, make sure they weren't damaged, I think I was seconds away from wiping those cam lobes.

3 hours ago, Mark Maras said:

 Are the holes in the spray bar partially blocked with crud? I started poking at mine with a torch tip cleaner and was amazed at how encrusted they had become. There was minimal oil to the cam before, steady streams of oil to the cam after the cleaning. I also soaked the bar in lacquer thinner for 24 hrs to loosen everything up after I saw the build-up in the holes.

I sprayed it out with brake cleaner before reassembly but maybe I should hit it with a butane torch to burn off what might be inside.  I have to resolder one of the joints anyway because it's loose.  Looking at the design of the oil spray bar, the 2  holes that supply all 12 cam holes hardly seem large enough to do the job, wondering a slightly larger supply hole wouldn't up the pressure for the cam holes.  Or maybe a thin gasket, the cam tower is machined flat but the face with the supply hole sure isn't.

58 minutes ago, Patcon said:

If the valve train got hot due to low lubrication, you would probably lose all the lash. Double check it stone cold

Good point, I might pull the cam just to have a look at the rockers, make sure they weren't damaged, I think I was seconds away from wiping those cam lobes.

Edited September 4, 20231 yr by grannyknot