OK - I finally got some time to myself to work on the car in a few 20-minute spurts.

first note - 74 SB coupe, dist has been upgraded with a Crane HEI kit by prev. owner.

Second note - this is definitely uncharted waters for me, and I am relying on your support and expertise.

ok - in a previous thread, we discussed the adapters needed on tach-drive distributors. In every drawing (and lars even answered up in the previous thread) there is a button (thrust washer?) that goes in the housing to keep the adapter from driving itself deeper into the housing. I just can't tell if there is still one in here or not. I took a picture. Thoughts? Does it look like it is missing? I am thinking Do I need an entirely new distributor? Car runs (ran) fine, without a miss....I just want to get my darned tach working.



Next issue - and here is where I am really gonna get in trouble.....I "might" have removed it before I put the engine at TDC. I remember just as I was jiggling it to remove it, and then went back and put the engine at TDC. But to be honest, I am really worried about putting it back in and getting the timing even remotely correct. I know when it goes back in, the rotor has to be facing at (or near) the terminal for the #1 plug, right? Do I just get it close and then use a timing light to check it / and adjust by rotating the dist? Please answer this part....because it has really got me worried. I know what bad timing can do to an engine! (Thanks to long threads here on the forum).

That said, before I started, I checked my timing at idle (vacuum disconnected and plugged) and it was reading more than 12*. But car ran very well. I thought that with the vacuum disconnected, I should be running only about 8* initial timing.

 

Your distributor is not a stock distributor. It looks like it has been modified with a bolt through the thrust washer loctation from the outside. It can be restored to "stock" by fabricating a thrust washer and removing the screw that's currently installed as a thrust surface.

Initial timing is pretty much irrelevant if it's in the 6-24 degree range. You need to set up for 36 total and try to tune the advance curve to get you about 12 - 18 initial, depending on what the engine wants for initial idle timing.

 

Hard to tell from this picture what has actually happened. There may be a bolt stuck in from the other side, as was suggested. Look at the other end of the tach drive cross shaft housing. What do you see in the little hole. A bolt or screw? A plastic tip? A brass tip? Whatever it is, get it out.

 

since no one else has answered your concern about reinstalling the distributor correctly I'll attemp it.

before reinstalling the distributor make sure the motor is at TDC on the #1 cylinder.
drop the distributor in and see where the rotor is pointing. You will probably be off a little at least the first try since you forgot to mark the rotor against the housing.
turn the rotor and reisntall the distrubtor again and do that until the rotor is pointing at the #1 plug on the distributor car.
you will know you are correct when the motor is at TDC, the indix line on the balancer is at the ")" mark on the index plate, and the rotor on the distributor is pointing to the #1 plug on the distibutor cap.

Did that make sense?

Once that is all done that grab your timing light to reset your timing

 

Thanks Barry - that is what I thought the step was. I just gotta trace the Nr 1 spark plug wire back to the cap.

 

geez, I just noticed how many typo's I had in that response - even more than my standard large amount!
I hope you understood it!

 

Barry - or anyone else....

worked on it a little today, still dont have it cranking yet.

I dropped the distributor in and got where I sure enough thought that it would be (within reason) pointing at the terminal for #1. One additional gear mesh clockwise I thought was too far, and one gear mesh CCW I thought was close, but not as good as I had gotten it.

Now, theoretically, if i have it close, the ability to move the distributor housing would allow for any corrections that are off, and set timing after that.

But, I couldnt even get it to start. It backfired through the carb once or twice, and I got gun shy. Thought I would hop back on here and ask some more questions.

looking at my haynes manual, it looks like when the engine is at TDC, my rotor should be pointing at about 1 or 2 o'clock (assuming the fan is at 12 o'clock).

Before I went farther (I don't think I have broken anything yet) wanted to hop on here and try and get some more knowledge.

I am assuming that backfiring through the carb is not a good sign.

 

you probably have the rotor 180 degrees off. since it is a 4-cycle engine the balancer will point to 0 twice everytime the distributer rotates. If it is trying to fire on the intake stroke you'll have gas in the combustion chamber and an open valve to the carb-backfiring. That's how I found out that my #1 plug wire is actually on the firewall side.

 

Chris - thanks for the help. It was that simple. Silly me.

But, to me, a huge accomplishment pulling the distributor, putting it back in, and actually making the car run.

Am having trouble getting the idle vs timing balance set right though. Still gotta play with it some more. I was able to get 8* at 850, and was going to call that good. Went to lock down the disty, and realized that I hadn't done a good job securing the cap to the dist. Darn! :angry:

But - At least I know where to go from here, and should be able to get back on the road this week.

Thanks to everyone.

Now - when lars (or anyone else) does their disty rebuilds, can I get a new tach gear put on the shaft? That is why the tach wasnt working - the tach gear on the distributor is all chewed up. So, no tach for now (the original reason I pulled the tach).