79 HEI installed wrong and it still runs?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 113
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From: Melville, Long Island NY
79 HEI installed wrong and it still runs?
Going crazy trying to narrow down a problem with starting the engine. I suspect I've got too much initial timing, which causes the motor to kick back and in turn has ruined several starters.
Today I retarded the timing by turning the distributor counter clockwise as far as it could go and it helped the kick back issue a little bit.
I saw a pic of the same engine (L-48) on another post and it just seems like the relationship of my distributor cap to the firewall is off by comparison.
If I did install it a bit off after the engine rebuild, would it still run and idle? Just wanted to check before I pull the HEI and try to reinstall it.
BTW, once started, the engine seems to run ok, perhaps a tad rough, and rich for sure.
Thanks in advance for the advice. Tom
Today I retarded the timing by turning the distributor counter clockwise as far as it could go and it helped the kick back issue a little bit.
I saw a pic of the same engine (L-48) on another post and it just seems like the relationship of my distributor cap to the firewall is off by comparison.
If I did install it a bit off after the engine rebuild, would it still run and idle? Just wanted to check before I pull the HEI and try to reinstall it.
BTW, once started, the engine seems to run ok, perhaps a tad rough, and rich for sure.
Thanks in advance for the advice. Tom
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 2,412
Likes: 3
Yes the car will still run and drive with the dist a gear tooth off. Remember the rotor must face the #1 cyl spark plug post on the dist while the #1 piston is at TDC of the compression stroke (balancer will read 0). And the square protrusion on the dist faces the drivers side at a 90 degree angle to the front of the car.
