The Corvette Lives Again!

Finally, after days of frustration, fiddling and tuning the carb and distributor I got the motor running again! I began by installing the intake manifold and valve covers. The valve cover gaskets were also pretty perished so I installed new, better ones.

I heard that these should last a long time and allow me to remove the valve covers and reuse the gaskets. Next I bolted the carburetor on the engine and connected all the vacuum hoses and cables. Final piece was the distributor. I tried installing it the same way as when I removed it and after a few tries everything seemed to be in the correct place and looking nice.

After double checking that I got everything right, it was time to try starting the engine. It cranked fine but would not run. The engine just shuddered and died after a while. I checked the carb and something was wrong. When pulling the throttle, the accelerator pump did not squirt gas. Only a few drops fell out of the nozzles. But this wasn't the only problem. I had some gas in a canister and poured a little straight in the barrels. This should allow the engine to run for a little while but it did not. Most likely the ignition was off too.

I decided to start from the distributor. I took it off and needed to get the number 1 piston to TDC. Unfortunately more troubles followed when I started turning the engine by hand from the balancer bolt. Pretty soon the ratchet was turning but the bolt wasn't. I couldn't see it but by feeling it, I noticed that the bolt was almost completely round. Only good thing was that the socket still hooked enough to open it. I went and bought something better to replace it.

Old bolt. I'm glad I got it out without too much fighting.

Now turning the engine by hand wasn't a problem any more. Finally I got the crank to the right position and installed the distributor again. And the engine still did not run. Just shuddered and died. Next I investigated the carburetor. After some googling I found that the plastic accelerator pump cam can be installed in two ways. I wasn't sure I had got it right so took it out. It was, in fact, correct so I just screwed it back in. But this made a huge difference! The accelerator pump worked perfectly after this! Perhaps it just did not fill with fuel while under the throttle lever pressure all the time?

Now that the gas issue seemed to be solved, it was time to go back to the ignition again. The engine still did not run so I got the distributor out one more time. It was time to turn to Google again and I found this excellent video from YouTube:

I watched through all three parts and went back to work. It did seem that the ignition was about right so I set the distributor back in and fiddled with the carb a bit. I tuned the idle screw, mixture screws and accelerator pump and tried starting after each change. And behold! After a few tries the engine actually ran! Pretty poorly but still ran enough for me to get out of the car and turn the distributor. Pretty soon I got the ignition timing correct and idle speed to normal.

After all the work, it at least felt that the engine ran smoother and revved better than before. Naturally I would have to take the car for a test drive to see the final situation. Unfortunately this would have to wait for a month or two until the snows melt... The engine bay looked better though.