Im starting up a 440 that was rebuilt, the crank marking was set at 0 and the distributor was set at #1 when I recieved it. I went to start it up and it didnt even pop. I do have spark. now that I have turned it over do you boys have any good tip to recheck if the dist. is in correctly?

Thanks

Take out number one sparkplug and hold finger over hole, very slowly turn the engine over till you feel compression coming out of the spark plug hole then continue slowly to TDC.

Did you try lifting the distributor and turning the rotor 180*. the pistons hit tdc twice in a firing rotation.

To verify TDC,remove valve cover and watch #1 cylinder rockers.When the intake valve closes,continue to rotate engine while watching the rotor in the distributor and timing mark,Stop at TDC on timing mark.The rotor should be pointing at #1 on the cap.That is a good staring point.Put every thing back together,verify spark and fuel squirt.Crank it up,farts out the pipes ,too retarded, Fire out the carb ,too advanced.Keep a large clean rag handy in case of fire in the carb .Sometimes it's too hard to just blow it out. 2 rags if ya got dual carbs.

Just do the finger over the hole thing. Turn the crank until the timing pointer on the balancer is at the 9:00 position. Then put your finger over the #1 spark plug hole and turn the crank with a ratchet and a pipe. If pressure builds on your finger keep rotating until the pointer gets to tdc, then set your distributor. If you don't get pressure building you need to rotate the crank another 360* and try again.

On mine, instead of setting the crank at 0* and pointing the rotor at plug #1 I set the crank at 12*. I figure it's going to start easier at 12 than 0 anyway.

Also make sure you've got fresh gas(not stale) in the carb. I used an electric pump to drag fuel through the mech pump and to fill the carb bowls before bolting it on. No need to start it dry.