79 trans am w/ engine problems, confused 19 year old, timing question?

[TurboLaser4G63]

hey guys I have a 79 trans am with the pontiac 400 in it. After spending over a year and 200 hours of bodywork, the final paint sprayed interior done. I started her up and immediately new something was wrong, it was backfiring through the carb and making all kinds of terrible noise. After pulling off the valve covers i noticed staggered rocker arms and a pushrod missing, it had worked its way about half an inch over ont he guide plate destroying that before it snapped. The lifter appreared to be gone, upon removal of the intake manifold etc, the missing lifter and pushrod were in the valley. My neighbor is a pretty big muscle car buff, I know absolutely nothing about these things, learning as I go, he suggested buying new cam and lifters, high energy pushrods, and the new guide plates,
Anyway my question is, should i be okay with just these new parts, I discovered that the reason for the broken pushrod is that the gear had worked forward because the bolt holding on the cam gear threaded itself out a little causing the cam to be able to slide about a half inch toward the back of the motor,which caused the pushrods to bend i guess, so the new cam is in, all tightened up , lines up great and looks like no problems as of yet, top end is still apart

Now, if i get it all back together, what do I have to keep in mind when reassembling, how do I time the motor before i can start it up, firing order?

should I bring it to a mechanic to have these things done, how hard is it, my girlfriends father was generous to let me borrow a timing light, but im sure its much more difficult than just owning a timing light, any help would be appreciated, I worked so hard on this car, and have very very limited funds and would like to get her on the road very soon, thanks in advance and sorry for the long post.

[79Bandit]

if you put it together the first time then i would deff. take it to a machine shop and have them assemble it for you untill your more familiar with the pontiac 400 i have just overhauled mine so if you need any help feel free to pm me i know a lot about the 400 good luck

*edit ps i have all those parts you need if your intrested in buying them from me. (cam, lifters, pushrods)

*double edit - a carburated engine owned by a unexperienced mechanic (not trying to be offensive) is going to see a lot of garage time and under the hood then on the road at first but you will be suprised on how much you learn and how fast.

[kahjdh]

You should be ok with all of the stuff he suggested. You are replacing the whole vavle-train there so unless a rod went through the block or sumthing all of those should make it good again, as long as they stay in place.

[TurboLaser4G63]

ok but when reassembling, should I line up the tick marks on the crank up, with the cam gear tick down, so everything is at TDC , and then how do I time the motor?

[wrightz28]

Originally Posted by TurboLaser4G63

ok but when reassembling, should I line up the tick marks on the crank up, with the cam gear tick down, so everything is at TDC , and then how do I time the motor?

Yes, make sure that #1 is at top dead. By time teh motor, you mean ignition timing?

[TurboLaser4G63]

i mean, does the harmonic balancer ahve to go on a certain way, and I think this was all caused by bad timing, so advancing retarding the distributor?
Doesnt the engine have to be adjusted again since i just put the cam and crank out of sync with eachother? I really do not know much about these cars, and im learning as I go.

[wrightz28]

The key on the crank snout normally dictates which way the balancer would be installed.

[NoRiceHere01]

yeah the damper only goes on one way.everything at tdc and put the wire from the light on the number one plug wire.the book has a diagram of which wire goes where on the distributor.then start out setting the timing where the book says.after that u can advance or retard the timing till it runs best.

[demon9766]

you have most of it done just make to put cam bolt locks on or some red thread lock on it this time.