Engine starting problems

[Cleve]

I have a 302 Blue Print engine. It has a performance cam, Aluminum heads and a 600 Holley. I started the car several times in my shop and go carted the engine on my street. It ran and started fine. In the process of installing the body and all the other things needed , I haven't started the engine for over a month. I tried to start the engine today, easy on the throttle, not wanting to flood it, the engine wouldn't start. I started hitting the gas pedal a little more vigorously , not wanting to flood it, but all it does is crank. I pulled one of the plugs, it wasn't wet with fuel . It did have a little carbon on it, but the gap was still about .035. With the distributor wire still attached to the removed plug , grounded it to the block, I cranked the engine and I had a real hot spark on that plug. The carburetor is injecting fuel and the damn thing only cranks.

I am thinking maybe the distributor timing has slipped since it isn't firing at all. I don't have a timing light but I was thinking of moving the distributor a few degrees one way or another to see if that made a difference. If that doesn't work I am looking for a better suggestion.

At first when the engine was running it was very responsive and seem to have a lot of power when I was go carting it.
Any suggestions would really be appreciated. We are so close to getting it inspected.
Thanks
Cleve

[F500guy]

Just for a quick check, I think Blueprint puts a mark ath the base of the distributor to get in the ball park for timing, check the engine info. Try some starting fluid into the carb.

[TTimmy]

You need air, fuel and spark. All of which are pretty easy to check. Of course timing and ratios need to correct.

Unless things were loose I doubt the timing changed. I wouldn’t mess with the timing or carb yet as Blueprint gets them pretty well sorted out of the gate.

I would start by spraying a bit of starting fluid down the carb and see if that has any effect. Alternatively you can pour a tiny bit of gas down the intake. If it helps you likely have a fuel delivery issue. It’s common to put in too little gas on your first start. Common for me anyway!

Confirm you have 12v to your coil when cranking. To confirm spark You can also pull a plug and ground it. When cranking you should see a spark every 720 degrees of rotation. Might need to dim the lights. Make sure your not touching the plug and that any fuel vapor has cleared. I always have a fire extinguisher handy on my first starts.

Good luck and please report back!

[FRM]

Mechanical fuel pump? I have a Blueprint 302 as well......standard for what that's worth.........and it took a bit of cranking for the mechanical pump to get fuel to the carburetors. Perhaps that's the issue? I like the idea of spraying a bit of starter fluid just to see if all else is good to go. I've read one shouldn't use that technique a lot, but in this instance to eliminate other problems seems reasonable. Good luck.

[Norm B]

Be very careful with starting fluid. If the timing is off you can get an amazing backfire and flames with too much of the stuff.
Does the accelerator pump squirt fuel when the throttle is opened? If so then your fuel supply is not the problem.
You don’t have your location on your post but, by any chance has the temperature dropped since you last ran the car?
You will be surprised at how much fuel is needed to start a cold engine, especially if your carb doesn’t have a choke.
Try this starting method.
Pump the accelerator until you think have flooded the engine.
Pump it three or four more times.
Press the accelerator to the floor and start cranking the engine. When it fires release the accelerator and feather the throttle to keep it running.
If it is really cold, you may have to repeat the process a couple of times before there’s enough heat in the engine to stay running.


Good luck

Norm

[CraigS]

Does the carb have a choke? If it does, push gas pedal to the floor once so the choke can close. It should fire up then.

[Cleve]

Thank you everyone. We have some great suggestions to try. Will let you all know how it goes.

[Cleve]

Finally found my start engine problem. It was the new fuel pump With only about 5 hours of go carting. We notified Blue Print and they sent me a new pump. The pump is a mechanical pump on a 302 ford. Its working fine and thank you everyone for your replies.
Cleve