Do you have the crank pulley one the balancer? If not you can put longer bolts in the balancer and then use a long pry bar and rotate the crank. If you have the pulley on and don't want to remove it your best bet is to bump it with the starter. Unless you want to use a pry bar and move the flywheel.

Remove the #1 plug and use a stiff piece of wire until you feel the top of the piston. Then install the dizzy in the proper location. While someone hits the key rotate the dizzy slightly by hand until the engine try's and starts. Take it slow and double check everything. And walk away when frustrated If you don't you will make it worse.

 

Yeah, I'm already uber frustrated. The pulley is on along with every bit of hardware in front of it. I'm working alone so no other set of hands. I can bump till I feel the #1 piston close to the hole but how do I know it's as far as it can go? How far away from the plug igniter should the top of the piston be? And if it's not all the way up, how do you get it there? Assume I do get it all the way up, where do I start with the dizzy and rotor location? I'm guessing the rotor should be looking at #1 position on the cap. What is this 180 everyone mentions? The dizzy body only goes in one way. Is it the rotor that can be in the same spot twice and only fire one of those times? This is where I get lost.

 

On the timing tab you want the line on the balancer to align with 0. That's TDC if #1 piston is on top. With the 0 on the tab you have a 50 50 chance of being right. When you drop the dizzy down you want to rotor pointing towards the #1 on the cap. That will get you in the ball park where the engine should try to start. I can't see you rotating the dizzy while you crank it to start it. You really should have a helper to hit the key while you rotate it.

 

Also have you varified you have spark. Because if you keep trying to crank it and dumping fuel down you can do a lot of damage.

 

Best way to do that solo?

 

I have no clue unless you buy and use a remote starter button

 

SPIKE,
You can not forget about the smoke due to your situation. Since you have no way to turn the engine except with the starter and when you do you get smoke. This is is priority #1.

- Verify your starter connections. Post a picture of them if you can.
- Verify your distributer connections. Post a picture of this also if you can.

 

The camshaft (which drives the distributor) turns 1/2 of a revolution for every one revolution of the crankshaft. The piston goes to TDC twice during the combustion cycle. If you install the distributor on #1 when the piston is on TDC of the exhaust stroke instead of the power stroke (camshaft has exhaust valve open) that is considered 180 degrees out and engine will not start. Also, you can verify spark by laying the plug on the intake (metal part of spark plug must be grounded) and cranking the engine while reaching thru the window, but I would determine the source of smoke first. If you'd prefer to verbally discuss setting the distributor (I was able to talk my dad thru it over the phone) my number is 908-917-4349, you can call me anytime tomorrow during the day. If you have an iPhone we could even set up a time to use FaceTime for a visual, but I work during the day & won't be around tomorrow night. Good luck.

 

You're right; I can't forget about the smoke. But I've been skunked with that solution so I wanted to move on to the distributor to see if I can at least get that in correctly. The smoke is my biggest concern but I've got to make progress where I can to keep this moving forward.
It doesn't smell and I can't find anything hot to the touch. Attached is a view of my starter connections. The Neg cable, not shown, is attached to the outboard bolt on the starter. The Coil+ has the dbl red wire lead from the harness and the Crane blk/red lead. The radio capacitor is on that + side as well. The Coil- has the blk/yellow Crane lead. Picture of that tomorrow.

 

Thanks for the explanation of 180 out; I understand the geometry now. I did install the distributor with the rotor looking at the #1 cylinder on the cap (or close) while the #1 piston was at the top of the cylinder (or close). I did this by pulling the spark plug and bumping the engine until I could feel the top of the piston thru the plug hole with a 3/8" socket extension (carefully). It was at or near. The line on the balancer was well below the timing cover pointer.
I feared this would happen when I removed the distributor to install the engine and trans assembly. Yes it made it easier but given this hassle, maybe it wasn't a good idea. I did rotate the engine prior to installing it to do a bellhousing alignment test but the distributor was still in. When I removed the distributor, the balancer line was at 0 TDC but the rotor was pointing at or near #7 on the cap. I marked the rotor location as well as the distributor body index mark and put it all back in the same way with the 0TDC mark at the balancer. I thought I nailed it. Guess not. That's a very generous offer to call you. Thank you.

 

The wiring at the starter solenoid appears to be correct from what i can tell.
Purple wire to S terminal, ignition wire to I terminal, amp gauge, fuse box, and positive battery cable to power distribution terminal.

Pm me your cell number and I will take photos of how to drop the distributor in and text them to you.
Chris

 

When the mark on the balancer is lined up with the '0' on the timing cover, this is TDC (top dead center). There is no need to put anything in the spark plug hole as that will not tell you anything. You need to cover the hole with your finger as you rotate the engine (either manually or with a helper "bumping" the ignition key). As the engine turns, you will get a strong blast of air EVERY OTHER time the balancer approaches the TDC marks. The #1 cylinder (drivers side front cylinder) doesen't just need to be at TDC when setting the distributor, it needs to be at TDC on the compression stroke (identified by the blast of air). This is why sticking something in the hole won't work - it tells you the piston is coming up but it won't tell you its at TDC, and it doesen't tell you if its on the compression or exhaust stroke. Once you rotate the engine and set it to TDC on the compression stroke, your distributor rotor should be very close to the #1 terminal. If not, then you found the problem. If the line on the balancer was well below the timing marks as you say, then you were not at TDC when you installed the distributor. I don't think you could even achieve TDC with a 3/8 extension in the spark plug hole because the piston would hit the extension and likely damage something.

 

Remember that when cyl #1 piston is up, its either firing #1 or #6 cylinder.
You could be 180 degrees out of phase.

Why not pull the valve cover off the driver side and rotate the engine until you see both intake and exhaust valve rockers for the #1 cylinder both up (Valves closed) on firing stroke TDC. Your balancer should indicate TDC as well.

After this you go look at the dizzy and see where the rotor is in relation to the cap to determine if the rotor is pointing to #1 or #6.

If its pointing to #6 your dizzy is 180 degrees out and that's you issue.
At this point simply pull up the dizzy so that you can rotate the rotor back to #1 on the cap. Then push it back down.

Then you should be in the ball park.

 

I dropped out for a while as the OP was receiving lots of advice already...some of it even helpful.

The above will get you to TDC with #1 on compression stroke. You rotate the engine quite easily by taking the parking brake off on a level surface, putting the car in 4th gear with engine off and rocking the car by pulling backwards or forwards (as needed) on any tire. You have to put a little 'hind end' into the pushing but it works quite nicely.
When at TDC engage the parking brake and put the car back in neutral.

I prefer the left front tire so I can watch the timing marks. It works, I do it twice a year to adjust my solid lifters on my '61.

 

He mentioned earlier he has no driveshaft.

 

Since Sunday, I've spent time reading up on the basics and the information provided here has been really helpful, more so than anywhere else. I'm pretty sure I understand the problem and how to resolve it. Tomorrow I'm getting a remote starter and will get this dizzy in the right place if it takes all my remaining good vertebrae. I want to say thanks to all who were willing to walk me thru what to them I'm sure was grade school engine mechanics. I'm gonna get this. A tip of the hat to all of you.

But this white smoke keeps showing up and honestly, when this engine does fire up, I don't know what to expect. I've got to run the engine to check all the plumbing connections etc. I can't trace this out at all.

SIDE BAR:

When I filled up with antifreeze, I noticed a leak; even prior to turning it over. A small drip that hung on the bottom of the timing cover. With everything else going on with smoke and no ignition, I figured I'd dope that out in good time. While drinking lots of beer after getting nowhere with smoke and ignition, I found the leak. It's coming from the rear cover on the water pump, at the bottom of course where you can't access the 7/16" bolts that secure it. It looks like I've got to take it off the block to either tighten these bolts or send it back to the rebuilder. My back hurts already. It's beer-thirty again.

 

Thanks for the explanation. I get what's going on now. And to clarify: I didn't leave the extension in the cylinder when bumping the engine. I used it as a feeler when I could see the timing mark.

 

It runs!
It sounds terrific!
I thank everybody who offered their knowledge and time. I had to learn a more about ignition but it seems so obvious now. Good teachers make smarter students.
The distributor was 180 out and I feel really stupid that it took 70 some posts to get it thru my thick skull. But man I learned a lot.

On the smoke: it's coming from the wiper motor. I watched it closely and disconnected the 3 leads that power the unit. No smoke. I dont know why the wiper motor is wired hot without the activating the switch. It looks like I've got to pull the wiper motor later but for now the leads are taped up and I'm buying Rainex. Anyone know more about this?

 

 

Congrats, glad to hear you got it figured out. Don't beat yourself up too bad-I know a lot of guys who are handy and have been around cars for a long time but still struggle with the concept of ignition timing!