No start after cam changr
back together I cannot get it to start, it barely turns over almost like a timing issue. The battery is new and fully charged and the starter was swapped for a known good one. When it sits for a while and I try to start it it seems like for a split second that it wants to fire up but then struggles to turn over. I pulled the timing cover back off and timing is spot on, I’d love if anyone could try some ideas my way. TIA
DO NOT hallucinate that the neg batt cable can go to the chassis somewhere, ANYWHERE. That will result in negligible starter performance EVERY TIME, unless there's a BATTERY CABLE SIZED piece of wire bolted to THAT PIECE of the chassis and going straight to the block. And even then, it's still INFERIOR to doing it right.
Put the copper where the current is; NOT what "looks" "good", NOT "what's easy", NOT anything else. The single highest current path in the ground system is between the batt and the block, carrying starter motor current. (expect a couple hundred amps) Next highest is alt to block which of course is usually taken care of adequately by merely mounting the alt. EVERYTHING ELSE on the ground side of the electrical system is secondary to those 2 paths.
Once you have the batt cables properly connected, you should of course make sure that the chassis is securely connected to the block; that's what the factory braid straps are for. You can duplicate those, or upgrade them with larger wire, or whatever; butt get the priorities straight FIRST. Batt to block, then everything else afterwards.
So to recap here, you put NON-DOD lifters and camshaft in the engine but you did not replace the DOD valley cover? Has DOD (AFM) been turned off in the tune?











