360 -401 swap problems. Help!

[biggs]

I have a 79 J10. Threw a rod in the 360. Bought a 68 j20 that had a 401 from a friend. the 401 had good compression but was missing and intake and distributor. I was very low on funds after buying all the thing I need for the swap so I used the intake and dist from the 360. My question is, does this work. It ran great for a while but now it will not start. I had noticed that the vacuum line to the dist was pinched, so I freed it up. bad move! it has not started since. and yes I tried re pinching it. it will crank over until the batt. dies but will not fire. if I do manage to get it to start(twice) it died as soon as I shifted into gear.
any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.

[ October 02, 2003, 02:20 AM: Message edited by: biggs ]

[RBJ]

Did you take the dizzy gear off the cam from the 360 with the dizzy. It sounds like you might of chewed a dizzy gear. The gear on the dizzy and the gear on the cam wear with eachother that is why they need to be replaced with eachother. I sugjest you replace them at the same time. Call MSD up and get their dizzy gear as I think it is the best one out there. The crown one sucks IMO. Pull the dizzy and check the gears. When you set the engine up at TDC at number one you can align the dizzy so it won't pinch the vacume lines.

With the 401 missing the intake I hope you tore the 401 down to inspect it all. With the intake off it leaves the elements to do thier work on the cam etc. I asume you know this 401 was not original in the J20. Not that it really matters.

[Crazy_Jeepman]

I think you mean a 78 that the 401 came out of. Recheck the dizzy to be pointing at #1 on TDC. Then I would suspect a big Vac leak next. Loosen #1 plug roll engine over till you can hear the compression blow by the loose plug, watch the balancer to align TDC to the cover. Pull the cap off and see where the rotor is pointing, it has to be pointing to the # plug wire, check the firing order if it is in the right position, if not, reposition the dizzy. Vac leak could be the next problem. I have never had a problem dropping dizzy's from one engine to another Possible that it chewed it up, but I doubt that the reason is mis-matched gears. Cam problem maybe, since that is the main cause for wiping out the dizzy drive gear on a broke in motor.

[The Anti-Chrysler]

Agreed with C_J. Before any of that however, you may want to check and see if you're even getting spark.

[biggs]

thanx guys I will have to check thoses things out. and yes I went throught the entire block before I put it in. had to replace all the seals and gasgets. I know there is spark.(found out the hard way, ouch). I will pull the dist and check that gear.

[mdill]

Before you pull the dizzy, bump the engine over to TDC compresion cycle on #1
and pull the dizzy cap, where is the rotor pointing ?? If it looks darn close to where
it should be (i.e. #1 plug wire) the gear is not the problem, are you getting fuel ?
It sould really stink of fuel out the exhast if you cranked untill the bat died.
(BTW I would avoid after market gears unless absoulty necessary, use Jeep gears !)
Mike D.

[RBJ]

All the above is good advise. The fact that it ran (I asume that it did after the swap) would lead me to beleave that he had the dizzy set up correctly. But double check for sure. The reason I said to use the MSD one is, they make it themselves. Every one I have seen from a Jeep dealer has been a crown aftermarket. Although I am limited that I have only gone to two different dealers. I have seen a few people say they have gotton actual made in the USA mopar ones from the dealer and have worked find. Just my experience that is all. Hope it all works out ok.

[ArtsiFrtsi]

You need to talk to Biggs in more technical terms... he works with me @ Dell! tongue.gif
JK These guys all have you on the correct path. Oh, and welcome to the forum!

[Oracle]

Hmm well since it ran "fine" for awhile and progressively got worse, diz gear sounds like an option, but with the vacuum advance pinched off and assuming you have fuel, sounds to me like the timing is way off. Re index the timing and see what you got. If timing looks good is there any chance anything got into the fuel line to clog the filter? What do the plugs look like? soaking wet?if so either the choke has gone south, or you've sprung a leak in the carb. I mean there's only spark, gas, and air , gotta be one of the three smile.gif g'luck.

Oh, one last thought and a longshot since I'm not clear on how long it started before it stopped but I did see a case where the starter circuit was fine, but when the key was released, a defect in the ignition switch wouldn't let the thing run.

[Rande]

That ignition switch problem happened to me in an old Chevy van I used to own. You start it and it would fire and start but as soon as you let off the key, it would die. It was the ignition switch.

[will e]

I learned something after I replaced my timing cover and had problems getting it started.

With the ignition off if you use a remote stater (or a screw driver) on the solinoid, you will get a spark through the ignition system. THis is because the solidnoid sends 12 v to the coil.

DOens't help much here but it sure suprised me when I saw the spark jump!