Well, I turned the engine over by hand and everything seemed ok, even if it seemed a bit stickier at points. I gave it a crank and it immediately backfired. The car had been sitting for about two months, and a little bit of white smoke came out of the intake. Getting a car to jump it the second time, it started right up but assumed a knocking noise in the cylinder closest to the passenger side seat.

I checked the timing on the cam gears, the lined up with maybe half a millimeter off between both. Any tips on what I should go about checking next? Do I get to rip the entire top of the engine off now?

1980 Euro S

 

what was the last thing you fixed??
does the noise come from the top of the engine or the bottom??.
when was the oil changed?
did you spray anything into the cylinders prior to cranking the engine over. if so did you spin the engine with the plugs out clear the cylinders?? could you have a coolant leak in that cylinder? Remove the plug and see if it looks either rusty on the tip or very clean with no deposits.
From the little bit of info you provided i would think it could be a valve lifter that just needs to be driven to let it fill back up.
BUT answering these questions will provide more of a direction to follow

 

Maybe the lifters are just collapsed from sitting. Is it a tapping or a heavy knocking sound?

 

intake backfire is likely from the lubricant sprayed into the cylinders - I wouldn't worry about it unless it happens again.

 

I would guess it's a flat lifter but just to make sure it's not something else I would pull the plugs and have a look at them.

 

Ok, here goes.

Last thing I fixed was clutch hydraulics. Another issue for another day. Last oil change was a long time ago (6 months?), I'm assuming. It was leaking oil pretty badly through the pan gasket before I tightened up the bolts. After periodic refilling and tightening, I went through about 4 quarts or a gallon of oil driving it around. I suspect my oil cooler lines.

I did -not- spray anything into the cylinder before cranking. There doesn't appear to be a coolant leak. I removed the plug and the tip doesn't look rusty, but it is severly blackened. I'm guessing that is carbon deposits? The threads of the plug also had gasoline on them. I forgot to check if the noise was from the top or the bottom before removing the plug.

Does this help?

 

it could be possible that the fuel injector was leaking into the cylinder and may have caused it to Hydro lock .
do a compression test on the cylinder.
Pull the fuel pump relay and disconnect the brain relay so you wont have any spark.
Check some of the other plugs for color and check the rest of the engine for comptression run the compression test with all of the plugs out, pay attention to see if any plugs are spraying fuel out when the engine is turned over.
If you do find fuel then it may indicate that your injectors need to be removed and cleaned

 

Oh, I didn't know it had injectors so much as delivery holes. It's got the CIS system in it, so the injectors dont so much as fire as they just provide a path for the gasoline to go through. Or so I thought. I'm gonna go pull more plugs then. Tomorrow I'll stop by the auto-parts store and get a compression test gauge. Actually, now that you mention it, the "injector" in question had been weeping a little gasoline on the fitting between the hard line and the injector. Would plumbing tape work to seal that up?

Thanks so much for your help. I've got the spider intake and CIS fuel system, so I'm so sure how the injectors work.

 

at this point i would pull the plugs and then remove the fuel pump relay and or the fuel pump fuse and remove the brain relay.
Turn the engine over with the starter, you would be looking for gasoline shooting out of the plug hole have a fire extinguisher handy.
A helper would also be a good thing to turn the key.
It could be possible that the rear injector was leaking and filled up the cylinder and worst case you could have a cracked piston.
Dont do the compression test till you have spun the engine with plugs removed.
If you have a leaking injector it would be a great idea to remove the injectors and send them off for testing/cleaning

 

Any idea on what caused the backfire? Is it poor timing or do old cars just backfire after sitting?

 

if one or more of the injectors are leaking an errant spark could have caused it

 

Well, I pulled the other plugs, disconnected the fuel pump and turned it over. Nothing exciting happened, so as per my dads advice, I put it back together and ran it for a bit, hoping to circulate the oil more. Lo and behold, the tapping faded away! I was so excited I took her out for a spin. Just upon pulling into my driveway, another slightly different tapping started in the clutch area. Thanks for all your advice! I'm gonna go pull the clutch and see whats going on this time =\