Initial Start-up
 

Fired up the rebuild, sort of. It finally kicked over with pressure on the accelerator. Huge horrible backfires, lots'o'smoke for a little while. I kicked it up to 2000 RPM...CAT went red hot in about five minutes. Shut her down. I understand this is due to unburned fuel burning in the CAT due to timing being off and/or air/mixture. I won't let it run long enough to set the timing because of the CAT thing and fire hazard. I understand the CAT is toast(?)

Obviously the (distributor) timing and mixture are way off.

What is the correct step by step method to get the engine running long enough to set the timing and fuel/mixture close enough so I can get it to the wrench to do the final adjustments?

Is this a motronic car? I'm guessing it is. I had this same problem about a year ago on the RSR motor. The basic problem is that your distributor rotor is not pointing to the #1 TDC mark when the car is at #1 TDC.

What to do:

Turn the crank until you are at #1 TDC.
Take the distributor cap off. Check to see if the rotor is pointing to the mark for #1 TDC.
If it isn't, remove the distributor from the motor, turn the shaft so that the rotor is pointed to the mark and re-install. Re-check that the rotor is pointed to the mark. The shaft will turn slightly when you re-install the distributor.

...as I was typing this, another thing struck me as a possibility. Is the ground strap connected?

GLenn,

It's an '83 SC 3.0 w/CIS, stock cams, new plugs, wires, rotor, cap, most hoses, pop-off, rings, rebuilt heads, seals, etc. All grounds were cleaned/tightened. Rotor is pointing to #1 at TDC.

Assuming that you have taken off the CIS intake as a complete unit I wouldn't worry too much on the mixture for now. If you have not changed anything here your concern is obviously valve train timing and distributor timing.

Dizzy timing: Have you seen the picture in Waynes book where it is the trailing edge or the leading edge (can't remember which) of the rotor that has to point to the mark on the dizzy. It is NOT the center.

Go back and re check your valve train timing: with the valve clearance set to 0.1mm on #1 and #4 intake make sure the lift is set correctly on both cams. That's all I can think off right now,
Good luck,

Ingo