Help finding TDC with mechanical advance distributor
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 765
Likes: 0
From: Canton GA
Help finding TDC with mechanical advance distributor
Hello,
I pulled the intake on my car yesterday, and seem to have gotten the dist in incorrectly. When I went to fire it, it backfired and supttered and ran like crap. So I aligned the Balancer with the Top Dead Center Mark at 0 degrees, and then place the distributor down where the rotor alignied with the number 1 wire. When I tried to start it again, it made a loud backfire.
My questions?
1. Does this sound like I'm just 180 degrees off - meaning I really had TDC on the Exhaust as opposed to the compression stroke (didn't have a helper to try the finger in the #1 cylinder trick)? :confused:
2. Could this be just because my distributor rotation itself is just way off, and my timining is no where close? :confused:
Unfortunatley I ran out of time, before I had to leave to go out of town for Easter to fool with it anymore....any tips are appreciated!
One other bit of info....I have a Mallary Unilite Tach Drive Dist with Mech advance if that makes any difference?
I pulled the intake on my car yesterday, and seem to have gotten the dist in incorrectly. When I went to fire it, it backfired and supttered and ran like crap. So I aligned the Balancer with the Top Dead Center Mark at 0 degrees, and then place the distributor down where the rotor alignied with the number 1 wire. When I tried to start it again, it made a loud backfire.
My questions?
1. Does this sound like I'm just 180 degrees off - meaning I really had TDC on the Exhaust as opposed to the compression stroke (didn't have a helper to try the finger in the #1 cylinder trick)? :confused:
2. Could this be just because my distributor rotation itself is just way off, and my timining is no where close? :confused:
Unfortunatley I ran out of time, before I had to leave to go out of town for Easter to fool with it anymore....any tips are appreciated!
One other bit of info....I have a Mallary Unilite Tach Drive Dist with Mech advance if that makes any difference?
Safety Car
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 3,631
Likes: 14
From: Fountain Hills AZ
Re: Help finding TDC with mechanical advance distributor (ZORA_RULES)
Even if the distributor is installed correctly you're likely to get a backfire if your initial tiiming is set to zero. If the engine is running, use a timing light and set it to a proper advance To prevent this problem in the future, mark the position of the distributor and also the rotor in relation to the distributor before removing it. When you put it back together, your timing should be close to, if not exactly, where it was before.
If it's not running well enough to time it with a light, do as you did before but align the rotor with #1 while the timing mark is at 8º or whatever is appropriate for your engine.
If it's not running well enough to time it with a light, do as you did before but align the rotor with #1 while the timing mark is at 8º or whatever is appropriate for your engine.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 765
Likes: 0
From: Canton GA
Re: Help finding TDC with mechanical advance distributor (Vetterodder)
Thxs VetteRoder that's what I read in Lars paper....start at 8 degrees....I'll try and set it there before I do anything else and see if it starts. I did mark it, but got off going back in :bb....then went with the approach above. Hopefully I'll get it....just ran out of time on Fri.
