I've read the post on timing. I have aligned the hole on the bottom of the distributor with the white line. When I go to place the rotor on there are two little nibs on the bottom of the rotor. They do not go into the holes. It looks just like the diagram. The rotor is pointing at the screw hole but the nibs don't go into the holes. I have two distributors and I broke the nibs off one rotor and screwed it down per the diagram. I have followed all the procedures for the rest of the timing and I am getting a big backfire out the tailpipe.

 

What are the 'nibs' you are talking about??

 

I do appreciate all your help in the past. I got the timing set correctly now. I'm being kind of a knuckle-head.

This 4.3L needs a lower intake for sure. It had water in the oil. I changed the oil & filter. Replaced the fuel filter. I've drained the coolant and am trying to get it to fire over. It would start before with water in the cooling system. But with no water it only fires off once, occasionally and then only turns over. It had a slight knock when it was running before. I was just wanting to listen to the motor knocking sound without coolant and with fresh plugs in to determine if it needed to come out to be rebuilt or whether I could just replace the lower intake gasket.
I've taken the upper intake off and checked the spider and it appears to be functioning properly. Checked the injector pulse and I do have pulse.
I was working at a shop with all the testing tools but don't have them at my disposal now. I'm soon to go get the loaner tools from the parts store and test the compression and fuel pressure.

 

Air flows through holes faster than water. If your LIM gasket was bad between an intake port & coolant port, it could be sucking in air, throwing things off. Try disconnecting the MAF sensor and see if it starts.

 

I tried that but still no start. I've decided to take it down to replace the lower intake gasket. Pictures of the gaskets: White1999 pictures by Chevy33pics - Photobucket

With all that out of the way I cleaned things up and was checking the play in the balance shaft. Way to much play,as to be able to hear a tick or click when moving the shaft from end to end and side to side.
On my last rebuild I needed to replace the balance shaft bearings. I found the rear at rockauto and had to get the front from the dealer. Do you know if I can get the shaft out with the motor in place?

 

That gasket was trashed!

You may have to remove the radiator & A/C condenser to get enough room to pull the balance shaft out. Replacing the rear bearing may not be fun though. Typically, you remove the plug in the back of the motor and pull it out the back. I'm not sure what room you'll have between the bearing & plug to get a puller in there and if you damage the plug, you'll have to pull the motor to replace it.

 

I have a motor from a 2000 torn down now. The main bearings spun in the rear. Looks pretty bad, no bearing left.

I'll start to pull this one out if you know of no other way to put in new rear bearing for the balance shaft.

 

Chevy33,, thats a nasty main bearing!! I have done a boat load of motors,, my first rear main spin,, fixable it the main caps are still tight in the saddle,, i am interested in the balance shaft problemm, keep us posted,, Matty man

 

I looked at the rear bearing in my spare motor. In order for the oil hole to line up, there must be some space on the back side of this bearing. The gap behind the bearing looks to be roughly 1/8 inch from the plug. I think I can get this out with a blind hole bearing puller, provided I can find the length adapter needed to get through the block. I'll post some pictures when I do this.

 

Chevy33, just a reminder on the LIM gasket replacement to use the Fel-Pro MS98002T, they have the metal frame. Rockauto has them for the lowest price I could find.