[78w72]

Originally Posted by 66sprint6

Yep, it was the timing alright. I guess that I wasn't good at trying to line up the #6 on the distributor. Then it was running like crap, so I tried to advance the distributor, only making things worse. I pulled it and restabbed it more carefully this time (still #6) and the engine fired right up and I could hear that it was running well. That being said, I told my son to shut it down and I ordered another cam. I'm thinking that this one I just installed, hard started 5 or 6 times, and ran at 500RPM for a bit is not worth chancing to run it. 100 bucks or so, but not the end of the world. I actually feel much better knowing that we will get it running nice and being quite familiar with the process now. So thanks for everyone's help. I don't want to do this again for a while!

$100 for a new cam? what brand of cam is this? if youre changing the cam its probably a good idea to get new lifters too. cam/lifters, new gaskets will be a lot more than $100, plus quite a bit of work...

if the cam was coated with break in lube & you only hard started 5 or 6 times & ran at 500rpm for a few minutes, i dont think the cam/lifters are damaged, you should be able to fire it up & instantly go to the 2000-2500 rpm for 20-30 minutes & break it in properly.