'75 in my garage!

[MTMike]

There's a sweet little '75 sitting in my garage, now I just have to get her running again!

From the drive where the truck dropped it off to my house, it quickly developed a whonkity-whonkity noise and then died. A pully on the alternator's belt had almost fallen off: just one very loose bolt remained. Also the battery was completely dead.

What does this pulley do? It's not the alternator and it's not the crank. It's the "other one".
Should I be able to start with a charged battery but this belt off?
Next time I break down, what is the correct protocol for hitting on any babes the car may attract before the tow truck arrives?

Newbie mechanic here, so expect plenty more dumb questions

[dmwhiteoak]

The other pulley would be your water pump. mine has 3 bolts holding it on. Take the remaining bolt down to the auto parts store or hardware store and get a couple or however many you needand bolt it back on. Then start the car and your coolant will flow through the motor and you won't overheat it, hopefully.

[MTMike]

Well, we bolted the pulley back on and it now refuses to start.
Turns over well, there's fuel flow and all four plugs have a strong spark.
The best I've been able to get is some backfire through the carb- timing issue?

It ran pretty well yesterday until the pulley came off. Is it possible the timing was messed up at that time?

[dmwhiteoak]

What is the history of this car? Been sitting up awhile or what? You say you have good fuel flow, can you see it spray inside the carb? Get #4 piston at tdc on the compression stroke and check your timing marks on both of your cams. Make sure they line up and check the mark on the crank pully to be lined up with the marks on the timing belt cover. Did the pully coming off somehow interfere with the timing belt? If you dont know when it was last changed i would put that on top of the to do list If all checks out well, turn the distributor counter clockwise a hair and try it again. You can do a search on this forum for setting the timing and get some really good illustrations on how the timing is to be set. Good luck and welcome to the forum. Post some pics.

[MTMike]

Thanks for all the ready advice! I'm starting to hope I might actually get this thing running

What is the history of this car? Been sitting up awhile or what?

It's a ground-up restoration project that didn't quite make it to completion. It was running before I bought it, and for a short time after as well. In fact, it started perfectly just before the water pump pulley tried to come off.

You say you have good fuel flow, can you see it spray inside the carb?

I disconnected the hose into the carb and had good flow there- I could see spray into one side of the carb (the side with that top flap (choke flap?)) but not the open side. I'm not too familiar with the correct terminology...

Get #4 piston at tdc on the compression stroke and check your timing marks on both of your cams. Make sure they line up and check the mark on the crank pully to be lined up with the marks on the timing belt cover.

Any hints for getting top dead center on #4? blip starter, roll car in top gear? I'm not sure how to tell when I've got in the right spot either.

Post some pics.

On it!

[gfztech]

Mike,

The timing is fine. The alternator belt has nothing to do with the timing. Don't touch the timing! Its probably just flooded. Pull the plugs and see if they are wet. Or just call/email me and I will walk you through it.

[FiatBen]

... Get #4 piston at tdc on the compression stroke and check your timing marks on both of your cams. Make sure they line up and check the mark on the crank pully to be lined up with the marks on the timing belt cover. ....

How do you determine that it is on the compression stroke versus the exhaust stroke???

I've got to do this with my '69 in the garage within the next couple of days.