Unless the firewall was full of holes sure seems a unlikely possibility, what's the chance of angle being just right?? Yes I've seen warning indicators have a slight glow if socket were missing, but from what I got gathered poster seemed to think it was brightly lit... Gee I was hoping you were gonna say Tesla was right, electricity can be transmitted through the air...
Well we're straying here but I have a long history of light bulbs... Yours truly at 17 months old... Was yet to learn uncle Fester's bulb trick... This isn't only pict mom took, there are three or four others with me hanging on to a bulb...
Absolutely no doubt here... A engine that's timed correctly with proper fuel, ignition and compression has no other choice... Of course other issues beyond the engine, such as plugged exhaust(catalytic converter) can keep one from running and pop back into intake, Bryant no doubt knows how to deal with all these items... I once ran a 5.0 T-Bird that passenger side head gasket was blown between #1, 2 & 3, plus had a thumb size hole in #6 piston... (was a unknown, bought it as parts car)... Yeah it ran bad, real bad but would start without any problem...
set the distributor like everyone says check to see if the fuel pump is pumping fuel to the carb you have fire any spark will set off gasoline vapors
be really careful when there is gas vapors in the air like fooling with fuel lines gas tanks etc.. a guy down the road from me got killed when he was draining a gas tank the vapors from it went to a hot water tank pilot light and caused an explosion
Yea, gotta be careful draining a gas tank in an enclosed garage that has a working hot water heater in it.
we installed the motor in navyfc117's other car this week and it started right up. so to summarize, the timing chain had jumped some teeth on the sprocket because the plastic coating on the cam gear had deteriorated and come off. the original owner had pulled the distributor and ended up pulling the oil pump shaft out of the oil pump the shaft then became stuck at an angle not allowing the distributor to be able to go all the way in. the oil pan was very sludged up and the oil pick up was nearly plugged up with sludge. i dont know why the the explosion happened but it did because the oil pan is bulged from the inside out. sense we swapped the motor into the other car we did not look into the oil light mystery. a new timing chain, oil pan gasket, oil pump pick up, and the motor started right up and runs really well. it drives nicely. Navy117fc is selling this car. its a 73, we did a front disk brake conversion and put subframe connectors on it. its a great driving car.
I was getting on to post on this thread. I'd like to thank Bryant and all the guys at his shop (current auto performance). They do great work and are great at keeping me updated on what is going on with the car.