I have a 69 Chevy el Camino with a SBC 350 with an HEI out of a 75 Blazer 2wd. The car will turn over just fine, it just won't catch and start. I pulled the air cleaner off, so I know it is getting air. I looked in the carb, hit the throttle and saw fuel going in the carb. So I know it is getting fuel. I have 2 fuel filters, and they are both clean, and about 3k miles old. I pulled a plug wire, and put an old plug on it to see if it was getting spark. It wasn't so I check the battery voltage, and then checked the wire going to the coil. The voltage was the same, 12.3.

I have since replaced: the coil, the condenser, and plug wires. I had the module tested. The module is good according to Napa. It is only 6k miles, and 6 months old. The Distributor was replaced 9-26-07 as was the coil, cap, module, rotor, and condenser. I replaced the spark plugs two weekends ago. I pulled them yesterday and they are gapped correctly, and are not fouled out. They still look new.

So now I am getting air, fuel and spark, but the car still will not start. I tried jump starting it, as well as charging the battery. It will not start still. I tried playing with the timing by moving the distributor, and it does nothing still.

It is doing a weird thing where it will almost catch. It kind of goes "Piff, Piff", like it is trying to start, but it is not catching all the way. It seems like maybe not all the wires are getting spark for some reason.

I am at my witts end, because this has been going on all weekend. I have tried everything I can think of. I have checked the trouble shooting section of my haynes manual, and done everything in there. The biggest kicker to me is that the car ran fine the night before. I am at a total loss. It makes no sense to me. How can a car run fine one night, and then the next morning it just won't start.

I checked the battery cable connnections, and they are tight. I checked the wiring going to the starter, and it is in good shape. I broke the conections loose at the starter, and reconected them just in case. I did the same with the ground wire from the battery.

I am so confused, and frustrated. ANY HELP!! ANYTHING!! I will try it. I even tried starting it in Drive, neutral, reverse first and second, and still nothing. I am at a loss. I am willing to try just about anything since this is my daily driver and I work about 20 miles away from my house.

THANKS SO MUCH IN ADVANCE!!

Check the voltage regulator, especially if it is separate from the alternator. If they are bad, they can prevent an older generation car from starting, even though it cranks.

It is an internal regulator. How do I check the internal style? The alternator is fairly new still. Maybe a year or so old.

I'd remove the alternator and take it to an auto parts store for testing.

Years ago, I installed an aftermarket HEI on an old Plymouth. Everything worked okay for a while; then, it started dying on the road. It drove me crazy. I finally decided to go back to the OEM ignition and I never had any trouble again.

Well, I've owned this car with the HEI in it since 2003, and had problems with everything else but the ignition. I had problems once when it would not start hot, but I replaced the everything under the cap, and the starter, and starter solenoid. Finally I replaced the distributor, and it solved that problem.
As for the alternater, I will give that a try and post back, when I see what they say about that. Thanks!

. Test all under-hood and under-dash fuses with a test light or multimeter:

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/cars-trucks/faq-how-troubleshoot-repair-maintain-hondas-46563-3.html#post252145

. Check the ignition switch.

. Disconnect tachometer wire (if equipped). A shorted tachometer can prevent vehicles from starting.

Unfortunately, electrical problems frequently appear all of a sudden, without warning. The ECM in my Civic worked fine, when I parked the car in the garage--the next morning it was bad and the engine would not start. Yes, it's very frustrating. It's the nature of solid-state electronics.

Well, I checked all that out. No problems there. I took the coil, cap, module, rotor, and condenser to the store I bought them at. The swaped out the coil, module, and condenser for me. I bought a new cap, and rotor. I am now getting spark and everything, but it still won't start. I have a gear drive, so the timing chain has not strectched. But I put it at TDC, and the rotor is pointing 2 plugs away from number 1.

Before I tried this test, I looseded the distributor, to try and see if the timing had moved. It hadn't, but now my timing is off. Would timing being off, cause it to be off by two plugs? Or could the gear drive have sheared a tooth causing it to change the timing INTERNALLY? I have a new double roller timing chain, but I was going to start building a new motor, and I was going to use that for it, so I don't want to pull it out of the bag, and put it in if that is not the problem. I also don't want to go through the trouble of pulling the water pump, fan, and timing cover if that is not the problem.

Thanks for the advice so far.

If you ever removed the distributor, I'm inclined to suspect the gear is off by a tooth or more. Be sure to check that out, with the engine at TDC.

I haven't pulled it since this problem started. I wanted to, to see if something may be wrong with it, But I have not touched it other than to move it around to move the timing.

If you didn't remove the distributor I would suspect that you may have inadvertently messed up the firing order (put the #1 plug on the wrong terminal and then followed the order with them all off).

When you jump a timing chain you only jump a tooth or two, not the distance you are suggesting. Set your #1 plug as the one the distributor is pointing at TDC and follow your firing order off that. As you only need three things to run a motor - fuel, air, and fire and you have verified all of them things are present, if the firing order is not off, I would do a compression check on the motor.

Well, I pulled the distributor one night because I had a few people telling me that the pin that holds the gear on the bottom of the distributor (which connects to the cam) could have sheared. So I poped the distributor out and found no problems. So I put it right back in. Didn't change a thing. I figured what do I have to lose? It might just start. SO I tried to start it,a and it fired right up. No idea what was wrong. But it works now. It was off by a tooth so the timing was WAY off, so I moved it over by a tooth and it runs great now.

Thanks for all the advice. Still not sure what was wrong, but maybe it was not grouding properly for some reason...