I just put a new cam in my car and when i went to do the initial start Something made a loud clicking noise. I took a video of it hoping somebody on here can listen to it and tell me what it is? O and it is a new starter and i dont have the alternator hooked up yet. THanks

http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j107/RMZracerx234/?action=view&current=0325071302.flv

sound quality really isnt that good so one could only guess the problem but first realalistic query is did you put the cam in correctly ie not 180 deg outand sammes how i didnt see in flames out the top of the carb id say the dist timinmg might be alright

your starters clicking, could be from being 180 out, could be being way way to far advanced, could be a weak battery. start by checking the battery, then retarding the timing and see if it will crank. if both of those fail, bring the motor to TDC and drop the dist back in.

This probably sounds like a dumb question but how do you retard the timing?

I agree, the starter is clicking. Either low battery or bad connection. Charge the battery and try again. To retard the timing, turn the distributor clockwise a little at a time. But first, pull plug #1 and place your thumb over the hole. Bump the starter until you feel compression blowing out the cylinder. Then turn the engine until the line on the harmonic balancer is set to zero (This is Top Dead Center). Now, pull the distributor cap and see if the rotor is pointing at the #1 plug terminal. If not, then adjust the distributor till it is. If the rotor is pointing towards the firewall, then you have to pull the distributor and rotate the rotor towards the front. Make sure the gear at the bottom lines up in the oil pump below. This should be close enough to start the engine and then use a timing light to set it exactly (around 8* before TDC).

The starter is never engaging. Either you have the wrong starter of the wrong flywheel or the starter isn't aligned with the flywheel. Pull the dust cover off the bell housing (where the flywheel is). Carefully look under and watch the starter. The bendix (the part of the starter with the gear on it) should extend out and into the gear teeth of the flywheel. If they miss completely then you have the wrong starter for the flywheel you have (GM has two basic flywheels with either 153 or 168 teeth). Assuming you have a 153 tooth flywheel with a 168 tooth style starter, it will never engage. Assuming you have a 168 tooth flywheel and a 153 tooth style starter, he bendix gear will hit the front face of the flywheel and never get to engage it.

BUT assuming that you have the correct starter and flywheel, it may need shimming (especially with all the new starters that you get from the Auto Zone, Advance Auto, etc parts stores). There are tons of posts here expounding on how to shim it so I'm not going to go into that part of it.

Then there's the battery cables. You need a good clean tight battery cable from the + post of the battery t the starter. The you need the following cables from the negative - post of the battery: one to the engine, one to the fender, and one to the frame. The car also requires a ground strap from the firewall to the back of the engine. You need all of these or the DC battery powered system of a vehicle won't work.

I worked on it last night and it was the ground cable from the battery to the alternator was not on quite right. So now it will turn over fine but i cant get it to start. I guess i will mess wit the timing tonight when i get home and hopefully get it started.

^^Good! Now just play with the timing (doing what zeke said) ;)