Hello, I have a 1963 dodge 440 with a 225 slant six. I was in the process of buying and putting in all the missing parts that were stripped off of it to get it to run again. Its acting like it wants to crank, with *putt* sounds and smoke from the exaust, but not quite cranking yet. Right now we think the engine isnt getting enough gas.

After inspecting the manifold, we saw something under it with a spring and looked like it would move, but it is stuck solid. What is this? Does anyone know?

That is the heat riser flap, when it is cold out it rotates a flap or plate of metal that is attached to the shaft so it diverts exhaust to the floor of the manifold to help warm it up faster, once it's up to operating temp it them rotates the flap to divert the exhaust out the pipe and away from the intake manifold.

If it's stuck you'll need to unstick it especially if the flap is diverting hot exhaust to the intake manifold floor on a summer day..

That being said it will not keep your engine from running, so I would suggest checking these items:

1) pull a spark plug wire and with a heavy gloved hand keep the end of he wire 1/2" away from a ground or near the block and crank the engine, if you see a spark you are good, if not, you have an ignition issue.
1a) if your have spark you may need to make sure that your distributor is set correctly (it may be off, your damper may have slipped, or the timing chain has slack and is not in synch)....we can cover that later once you have done #1, and #2/2a...
2) Not enough fuel? Pull the fuel line from the carb, put a can or bottle under the end of the line and crank the engine over...if you get some good spurts of gas fuel pump is good, time to check the carb...
2a) reattach fuel line and crank a couple of times, look down the throat of the carb and pull the throttle to wide open...if you don't see a good squirt of gas coming from the side of the carb then either a) the carb's needle and seat are jammed shut not allowing the fuel to fill the carb bowl, or the accelerator pump is not doing it's job (carb rebuild will be needed).

You almost got it...

-D.Idiot

Okay, thank you! we will try the spark thing monday or so. Busy weekend coming up. The car has been sitting up for years, with no top radiator hose or cap, leaving a squirels nest inside, and I have found dirt dobblers nests in the hoses. It was sitting in the dirt for years so the undercarriage looks dirty from years of road grime and that. The gas tank has a hole in it so it isnt usable. We have been bypassing that by putting gas directly in the carb and starting fluid. One of our theories is that the intake manifold may be blocked with something.

Pull the spark plugs and see if any are wet after dumping some gas down the carb throat. Hopefully you have changed the oil and filter as your engine may last a few minutes at start up then put a window in the block as #5 or 6 lets go after 7 minutes of reving...

Oh I did, new oil and filter, new spark plug wires new spark plugs, new ignition coil, new starter, new alternator, new hoses.

Pull the valve cover and run a "cold" valve lash check.
Be sure the lash is on the loose side... like .011 intake & .022 exhaust.
You may need to do a little "shop vac." clean-up work... then pour some fresh oil over all the rocker arms before trying to start.
DD

The spark plugs are sparking great, and there is the smell of gas on them. We tried again today, and the car almost cranked this time, it jolted like it almost did crank once. We are thinking it needs more gas flowing to it, so we are gonna rig up a tank going through the fuel filter side to get her started,so we have a continuous flow of gas.

what compression do you think it has? 7:1 is close to what they had when new, so if its lower, you may not get the squeeze needed to light off the cylinder. I had a scooter that was getting spark, gas and just not enough compression, wore that electric starter almost out before I checked the rings, or lack of them.

That is something I can't answer at the moment, Don't have the proper tools.

Put some diesel in the cylinders and let sit overnight, like maybe 2 tbl spoons or so per cylinder, that may free up the rings enought to get compression back. Not enought to dilutw oil though aa that is where its going to end up. Seafoam is great once you get it started. Half in the intake and quarter in a good tank and the Rest in the oil. Follow directions and take a video of the smoke show!

Thanks for the response guys! I'm waiting on a family member with a compression tester to give me answers.

Please try to use the correct terminoligy. Cranking is when the engine will turn over when using the starter. What you are experiancing is "crank, but no start". This is a fairly common mistake, and can lead to problems when tyring to diagnose a problem, long distance.

_________________
Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Update, It was the timing chain, having too much slack in it and off time, I replaced it, thanks to the guide on the site, and Had to retime it with the distributor. Took a bit but got her running today!!!