TDC/distributor install
Thread Starter
4th Gear
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
TDC/distributor install
After reading thru the various posted questions and seeing how much EXCELLENT help is available, I decided to ask for some of it myself!
Long story, short...installed rebuilt Q-jet & Edelbrock Performer intake on my '74 L48 w/ auto. trans.
Have tried NUMEROUS times to reinstall the points-type distributor by locating TDC by feeling for #1 cylinder pressure, timing mark on balancer, pointing rotor towards #1 cylinder, etc.
Everytime I have ended up getting it to start and run (albeit VERY poorly) only after rotating the distributor counter-clockwise to the point that the vaccum advance can is pointing approximately 120 degrees from where it should be.
My wife is getting tired of carpooling. Help, please!
Long story, short...installed rebuilt Q-jet & Edelbrock Performer intake on my '74 L48 w/ auto. trans.
Have tried NUMEROUS times to reinstall the points-type distributor by locating TDC by feeling for #1 cylinder pressure, timing mark on balancer, pointing rotor towards #1 cylinder, etc.
Everytime I have ended up getting it to start and run (albeit VERY poorly) only after rotating the distributor counter-clockwise to the point that the vaccum advance can is pointing approximately 120 degrees from where it should be.
My wife is getting tired of carpooling. Help, please!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,330
Likes: 6
From: Long Island NY
Try this it works for me... get an old dist. cap and cut out the top, but leave the terminals on. Now drop it in and you can see where the rotor points without any guess work... 
I use this method to adjust valves also, no need to take off the intake... As long as you know that when your on TDC your firing #1 or #6... If your NOT sure on that, then you use the finger in the hole trick, now you know you are looking at #1...
I use this method to adjust valves also, no need to take off the intake... As long as you know that when your on TDC your firing #1 or #6... If your NOT sure on that, then you use the finger in the hole trick, now you know you are looking at #1...
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 11,322
Likes: 1
From: Living in the Hartland
Just pull the dist up far enough to disengage the teeth, move it one tooth clockwise and let er drop back down, the oil pump prolly wont engage to allow the dist to fully seat but just crank the eng with the coil unhooked and it will drop, reset timing and see where you are.
Thread Starter
4th Gear
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
After reading the responses I got (thank you, by the way), I just realized I think I've been making a beginner's mistake.
I've been pointing the rotor towards #1 cylinder. Literally.
From what I'm now gathering, the rotor gets pointed at the location of the #1 plug wire on the distributor cap. Is that right?
I've been pointing the rotor towards #1 cylinder. Literally.
From what I'm now gathering, the rotor gets pointed at the location of the #1 plug wire on the distributor cap. Is that right?
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 14,380
Likes: 6,390
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
If you drop me an e-mail, I can send you a tech article with photos on the correct installed orientation and method:
lars.grimsrud@lmco.com
lars.grimsrud@lmco.com
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 2,161
Likes: 0
From: pr, frederick md.
sounds like you simply need to rotate the oil pump shaft to engage. im not a big fan of the turning your engine over thing to get to drop. i have re-built engines since i was 14 and have dirt car raced off and on for 11 yrs. this forum is the ONLY place i have heard of using this method. no offense. 
Thread Starter
4th Gear
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
I've just used a long screwdriver to orient the oil pump slot. It turns almost effortlessly like that.
I have, in fact, had the rotor at a 4 -5 o'clock position in an effort to point it towards the #1 cylinder/spark plug location.
I have, in fact, had the rotor at a 4 -5 o'clock position in an effort to point it towards the #1 cylinder/spark plug location.
Thread Starter
4th Gear
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Thanks again to everyone who responded! Lars, if any of the 4 or 5 books I looked at had had the photograph that you just sent me showing the view of the properly installed distributor, rotor, etc., I wouldn't have had nearly this much difficulty.....