timing problem

[purestock45]

sbc 383,flat top piston vacuum rule motor,hyd.cam with rhoads v-max lifters..36deg.total timing,no vac.adv...motor is fresh 225#comp,fresh heads,all new...broke motor in by driving car around our 37 acre lot.motor was duing great no issues.went to load up on saturday morning and car wouldnt start just crank over normal..eventually adjusted timing and got it started.now the only way it will start and run is with so much timing that it kicks back even when cold.initially you could adjust the timing 20 or so degrees by moving the distributor (when motor was first built)now theres only like a 7 or 8 degree window it will run in,moving the distributor has little effect.I have pulled the timing cover off and nothing has moved or jumped,3 different distributors(even check the phasing),modules,adjusted lifters different ways,checked wires ,new cap and rotor,wires have 2 races on them,2 different ets of plugs.im running the blue 110 fuel straight...Anyone have any ideas,im stumped.....I appreciate any help...jc

[dirtplay18]

Do you have 12volts going to your dist?? Do you have proper eng grounds? Did you try unplugging the tach wire?

[purestock45]

voltage and grounds are good,i will try unplugging tach next..thanks...jc

[purestock45]

DIRTPLAY18,..thanks a bunch;tach was the problem i would never have thought to check it being its only 2 races old.its a quickcar tach and the dealer i bought it from says im probably sol since its an electronic item...bummer...thanks again...

[Krooser]

I have seen several of those 'economy' tachs give guys fits in hot rods…

[dirtplay18]

Glad u got it figured out!

[purestock45]

i didnt know the quickcar was considered an economy tach..

[purestock45]

dirtplay did you go to skyline yesterday for test tune?

[Krooser]

I didn't mean that your tach was an 'economy' model (never heard of a QuickCar myself)… just sayin' that I have seen 'economy' models go bad pretty often. My buddy chased a 'no spark' deal for two weeks trying to get his fresh hot rod to run… they did the same as you… replaced everything.

Finally one of the 'older' generation rodders visited the shop. Listening to everyone go thru the descriptions of what they had done to get the car running (dizzy, coils, ballast resistor, etc.), the old guy said "I'd disconnect that tachometer… never did like them (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word) electronic doo-hickeys".

One wire removed and the engine fired and ran perfect… lesson learned.

[DCM_Doc]

Recently a friend asked me to look at a similar problem for a friend. He had gone through everything. The coils got hot & burned in a few minutes. It took me a while but finally I disconnected the tach & the problem went away. I don't know why I didn't eliminate it from the beginning.