Jackfit

Firing order of a GM 327 V8 . 18436572 Easy yes . New spark plugs/ wires / rotor, rotor cap, put in car last night. What could I do wrong after 43 years ?

Does the rotor turn clockwise or counter clockwise? You may ask why the question? Terrible things can happen with the wrong answer.

Please be kind to me, JohnZ !

Jack

MrTrim

To the best of my feeble mind...I seem to remember that clockwise is the correct answer...

Kerrmudgeon

.....clockwise Jack! Early onset Alzheimer's ?

Jackfit

So, what did I do wrong, and what happened ?

Jack

RestoMike

You haven't stated what if anything went wrong.

midyearvette

don't listen to us,.....crank the mill and see fer yerself!....

Jackfit

Look, I was cursing and bleeding from the shielding that had to come off,

(reason why I threw out the original stuff 43 years ago) (very bad for maintenance , you put it off because of the shinny stuff hurting you).

Oh..back to story, so the car needed a tune up. Took everything off, put in new stuff and now comes the part about the wires.

I know where number one is right ? No problem, right next to the window, one to the left, the same one I hook the timer light on , set rotor to when I take out mill , etc.

I run all the wires through clips, up and down, around and through all the hoops. I got them all labeled , 1 - 8 .

I put 1 in 1 hole. All seems good, now this is where things go funky. I remember the engine crank goes counterclockwise, or so I think , or don't think, the rotor must go that way also..right.

Now you get it. Nice labeled wires , 1 into 1 . 8 into 7 4 into etc etc ect. I put them all in order backwards. Counterclockwise.

I am feeling very good about the job being done.

I get in car and turn key. It starts ! runs really bad for a few seconds and I turn it off. Hummmmm... I turn key once more, not good good, feels like engine wants to go the other way.

I stop before anything bad can happen.

I get out the books, I look at the intake , it says the order , the book tells me it is right.

I keep looking at the diagram, and then I look and see that number 8 going in the cap to the right of number 1 not the left (CC).

The light goes on ! I thought the rotor went CC and wired it that way.

I did it the right way and turned the Key. Purrrrrrrrrrrr......

Life is good, and once my hands stop bleeding, I will put back the shielding.

Just one more exciting day in the life of the Corvette Vagabond.

Jack

Pilot Dan

Steady Jack...........too much driving in foreign countries........

If you pull the distributor cap off and turn the motor it will all make sense. The rotor turns clockwise, short answer, 18436572 wires go clockwise on the cap from #1, which if you have correct, then that's your answer. Pilot Dan

Jackfit

Hi Dan,

It was one of those, I done this a million times, with my eyes closed, yet , in that moment of putting in the wires, I just could not remember the direction, and did not feel like cranking the motor, as I was alone, and you know......

So , once the light came on, quick fix, and now off and running.

Not happy with timing. I think a have one of the distrib. shafts, that had the football welded on upside down. Frank tried to fix it, I have have it pretty set, but it is not smooth. Need a new set of weights, 300,000 miles have made the holes so big, they slop around. Springs shot also.

Does anyone know if the problem with the SHP shafts has been corrected by the vendors (Paragon, Zip) etc.

Jack

66jack

When you go to Aussie land...then you will have it correct...

Jackfit

After a few Aussie beers, who will care ? Right Mate !

00fxd

Have a quick look at the advance dia and you should be able to figure it out ....

plaidside

The easiest way to tell which way any distributor turns is to grab the rotor and try to move it in either direction.
One way you will not be able to move it but the other way you will be able to.
The direction the rotor moves against the advance springs is the direction of rotation.
Joe

hedgehead

At least you didn't get confused on which directon clockwise is. All's well.