Freshly built motor won't turn over

[73charger440]

So I have the 440 in my car it's been setting after being rebuilt for roughly a year, sprayed WD40 down the cylinders per the engine builder before turning over, I primed the oil pump before cranking, the ignition is not on the distributer is not in the motor. Just trying to turn over. Battery new, DB starter off amazon https://www.amazon.com/Electrical-Snd0088-Plymouth-Starter-Torque/dp/B008TW83FU, everything is wired directly to relay, nothing through the dash or the column. I bypassed the neutral safety by hooking it to the ground. New starter relay, new battery cables. I have one ground to block. Sanded the ground site. Everything is good and tight. Any ideas? Tried bypassing the relay but going to the solinoid it's self

[c00nhunterjoe]

Start with the super basics. Not to sou d mean, but will it spin over by hand?

[73charger440]

It will turn over with a breaker bar pretty rough though. The block has been zero decked and as 10-1 compression ratio so not sure if this is normal for this engine or not

[c00nhunterjoe]

If the spark plugs are in then it will require some effort. But it moves so thats a start. 12 volts at the starter verified? 12 volts at the relay verified?

[73charger440]

No spark plugs in all 8 cylinders, verified voltage at battery but not at the relay. But did bypass the relay going straight from battery

[Bronzedodge]

So you're saying the spark plugs have been removed, so there's no compression resistance?  Maybe a bit worrisome but there's other problems.

Get an alligator clip on the starter terminal and check for power there first.  I just had a starter turn over on the bench but not installed. 

[Ryan.C]

It will turn over with a breaker bar pretty rough though. The block has been zero decked and as 10-1 compression ratio so not sure if this is normal for this engine or not

I had the same problem with a 440 I rebuilt just a couple months ago. It ended up being a bad battery 

I agree with the check the basics comment earlier. Good luck, I hope its nothing serious.

[73charger440]

I think I may have figured it out. There's two very small bolts that hold the starter together, when putting the motor/ and royal pain in the butt headers in I took one out and never put it back, it cranks very slow but cranks now. I was at my whitts end. I done a voltage drop test, a load test and all came back good

[HPP]

It will turn over with a breaker bar pretty rough though.

This could go all the way back to bearing clearances, bolt torque, or even cam/crank alignment. There should be a fair amount of drag from the rings, but with all the plugs removed it shouldn't be a bear to turn over. If you were checking at each stage of completion, you  could have eliminated these as you went through the process, so it is likely something else.

As you discovered, starter alignment/engagement is a factor. So too is transmission alignment and the resulting clutch/convertor engagement.