I resantly bought a rebuilt high performance 350 w/ th350 trany for my 1966 chevelle. I bought it from the same guy i got the chevelle from. Well my problem is it wont start now. I got it in there and made sure everything was connected correctly, although it took me a couple times to connect the right wires from the starter to the coil. I replaced the coil with a high performace one. Anyway, we went to start it and nothing. so I went and bought a new starter(which they tested and was the problem) and went to start it and it ran but very very rough. so we made sure the timing and gaps and everything was on. I am getting spark but it very faint. We went to start it again heard it back fire, tried again and nothing. So i look under the car and that nose on the starter broke off. What the heck?! so i went and bought another starter and put it on, now the crazy thing wont even start but it will turn over. I hope you guys can give me some ideas of what to look for. THANK YOU!! :confused:

It sounds like valve timing to me. The distributer my have been removed and not installed correctly. Check and see where the rotor button is pointing at TDC.

Originally posted by Bad Rat 408:
It sounds like valve timing to me. The distributer my have been removed and not installed correctly. Check and see where the rotor button is pointing at TDC. Also the timing chain may have jumped.

I'd go with valve/ign timing also. Pull the driver's side valve cover, dist cap and #1 plug, bring the crank around to TDC on #1 and watch the Intake valve on #1. It should close as you are coming up to TDC and the rotor should be pointing at #1. I'm also guessing from your description that you are using a stock distributor? If so, you can set the point gap to .019 for starting prior to setting dwell. An incorrect point gap can cause a weak spark.