I suspect I may have installed the HEI distributor off by a gear tooth or so. Engine still runs but seem to have an initial timing/hard starting issue.

Before I pull it and reinstall, I suppose I need to get the engine to TDC on the compression stroke. I wanted to know the best way to do this or if any special devices/tools are avail to assist?

Also, can the engine be turned manually with a socket wrench on the center bolt in the harmonic balancer?

Thanks in advance for the advice. Tom

 

Do you have a timing light? If you set initial timing to where it should be, it won't matter if the distributor was reinstalled off a gear or two. You just rotate the distributor more one way or the other to compensate.

 

To find the #1 cyl TDC Compression stroke, place your finger over the spark plug hole, have a buddy tap the starter until it blows your finger off. Then use a socket to turn the engine and if your accessories are in place grab the alt belt and pull it towards you to help the turning, the line on the balancer should be at 0 on the timing tab. (Make sure the car is in neutral )

Then the rotor should face the #1 cyl post on the dist. (Not the #1 cyl of the engine, common mistake) The square protrusion of the dist faces the drivers side and is at a 90 degree angle to the front of the car.

Also, you might need to take the fan off the turn the engine with a socket, can't remember. And if you don't want to do that, you can tap the starter a million times until you get lucky and the line on the balancer is close to 0 on the timing tab.

You posted something about this last night too, if what I wrote doesn't make sense to you let me know.

 

Don't use the center bolt on the pulley, or you'll break it off. If you pull the plugs, you can turn the engine by hand on one of the pulleys, or else, use a big screwdriver levering it against the flywheel teeth. A timing light should get you where you want to be.

 

Say what? I have never heard of anyone twisting the head off of a balancer bolt whe trying to turn an engine over, unless it was replaced with a weak bolt at some point. Most times they are grade 8.

As for the screwdriver I suppose that would work, but why would you want to do it that way? That seems a little inconvient to me.

 

Why not just pull the dist and move it a tooth. .

 

Thanks for the advice. I will probably end up pulling the distributor since I want to re-build it anyway.

 

Have a look at GM part 12364087 in the GM Performance Parts catalog. It's a "Piston Stop" tool used to find top dead center. It's for 14 mm spark plug holes, it's made of brass with a rounded end so it won't damage the piston, it also has a center drilled hole to relieve pressure build up in the combustion chamber. Also, search on "Lars," he had a really good write-up of all the ins and outs of determining TDC.

Take out all of your spark plugs to make turning the engine easy. If you can't conveniently get to them all, take out the ones you can. With all the plugs out, you can turn the engine over by hand.

 

Distributor one tooth off will have no effect on timing - put a timing light on it and time the engine. The engine can be correctly timed with the distributor in any orientation. The installed orientation is cosmetic only. If the timing light says you're in time, the timing is right, and "one tooth off" is irrelevant to a hard starting issue.

 

 

really ,,,first time's don't have a feel ,,SO it happens,,,,,it can be fixed

 

here is a link to Lars paper on finding TDC
http://www.corvettefaq.com/c3/TDCPaper.doc

 

And if you're so inclined to pull the distributor to change the orientation(whether you need to do this or not), you'll have to reposition the oil pump shaft otherwise the distributor will only go in the same position from where you pulled it(or 180 out). A flashlight to peer down the distributor hole and a long shaft screwdriver will allow you to turn the pump shaft to suit where you want the distributor to sit.

And those screw-in the plug hole piston stops are for use with a degree wheel. If you're checking your cam against a cam card, then that's the way to go but it's extraordinarily excessive and difficult for locating TDC for the purpose of the ignition.

If your car runs now but you need to reposition the distributor to gain some movement due to obstructions not allowing the distributor to rotate, then all you have to do is pop the distributor cap and observe where the rotor is pointing. If the plug wires haven't been re-clocked, the rotor will be in the zone to where the #1 plug would fire. Depending on what distributor, point or HEI, the exact position varies but it's toward the front of the engine. But that's not critical. Once you know you're approaching TDC for #1, you just go to the balancer mark and rotate the engine slowly until the mark on the balancer lines up with 0 on the timing tab.