Well I goofed and tore out the distributer without making any mental/ scribe notes of rotor position. Yep I know after 8 years of Vettes I should know better. Well tried to turn it over by hand and cannot get a breaker bar in there due to the radiator shroud and flex fan. I guess the only thing I can do is put the compression guage in #1 and bump it over till it spikes and try to muscle it over with the altenator belt to 0 degrees then reinstall the dist. I do not want to pull the driver's valve cover to verify both valves are closed becuase i just got don't changing gaskets and it doesn't leak.

P.S. I gave away my Chilton's manual to John who bought Cali 1. Please can anyone scan and post for me the picture of the top of a points dist wire orientation so I can make sure they are in proper firing sequence order. Maybe Bubba put the wires all backwards, 180 out etc.

:withstupid:

 

Cal, the first time I did it I had trouble and in the tech section Lars has a paper on it that walked me throught it.

 

This shows HEI, but the firing order and installation of the distributor is still the same.

2 ways to find the compression stroke.
1. Pull the #1 spark plug and put your finger / thumb over the hole. Have someone bump the motor over and when you feel pressure, you are coming up on the firing of #1. From there, bump the motor to TDC on the balancer and you are set.

2. Pull the valve cover. Watch the intake and exhast rockers as someone bumps the motor over. When both valves close, the compression stroke is starting. From there, bump the motor to TDC on the balancer and you are set.

-----------------------



just look at my picture above. That is a view of the distributor from above. The front of the car is labeled, and you can see the orientation of the wire pack on the HEI distributor.
so, find your number one tower, then go down to where the cap meets the body of the distributor. Draw a line on the distributor body right under the terminal of the #1 terminal. Then when you have the cap off and are installing the distributor you want the rotor to point to that line when you have the distributor fully seated in the engine and the engine is set to top dead center. Know that when you are installing the distributor the rotor will turn as it goes into the engine, so you need to set the rotor ahead a little. If you did it right, the rotor will line up with #1 when installed.


HEI distributor correctly installed in car, front of car on left, viewed from drivers side. Note #1 terminal.



Under the #1 terminal make a mark on the distributor body. See black mark on distributor body, under the #1 terminal.
Now remove the cap.


Start installing distributor body in engine. Note that rotor is not pointing at the mark for number 1 on the body, but is turned pointing more at the fender. That is because as the distributor drops into the engine and the gear engages the cam gear, the rotor will turn. The objective is to have the rotor point to the mark for #1 when the distributor is FULLY SEATED.

As such.



If the distributor will not full seat in the engine it is most likely because the oil pump shaft slot is not lining up with the notch at the end of the distributor shaft gear. You will have to take the distributor back out and with a very long flat screwdriver turn the oil pump shaft. You need to turn it so when the distributor drops in the engine fully it lines up with the inside of the distributor shaft gear. This takes some practice.

If all is seated well the rotor should be pointing very close to the #1 mark when fully seated. If you have the crank set at 0 degrees timing it should point right at it. If you want to set your static timing, turn the crank to about 8 degrees before top dead center and then turn the distributor body so the mark lines up with the rotor. You will then be able to secure the distributor, install the cap, wires and fire it up. Time with a timing light after that.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks so much!!

:thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

 

Hi Cali, sorry to hear you've been having some bad luck with your P2 install. (Been away for a couple of days)

You probably have it all worked out by now, but if not, hope you get zeroed in on it soon.

The #1 plug wire orientation on the distributor, in my service manual, appears to be quite different than the orientation on the HEI setup as photoed by BSeery. I checked both of my '74's, and both are the same.

# 1 on both of my distributors aims at about 2 oclock looking down on the distributor, with 12 oclock being towards the front (towards at carb). HEI may be similar, but appears quite a bit different from what I can see. (A former Bubba could have set the distributor 180 degrees off, but then all the plug wires would have to have been moved 180 degrees also, or it never would have run. But you never know where these cars have been!)

BTW, it's difficult to get the starter motor to "stop" the mark right at the zero timing mark line, so , since you already have the #1 plug out, it only takes a few more minutes to get the other 7 out, and then the engine will probably turn over fairly easy by tugging on the fan while putting tension on one of the belts. Hopefully, that will make it easier to get the timing mark lined up.

I think the P2 works great. I agree with Lars comments that it will not find any new horsepower, but, in my humble opinion, a points system starts degrading from day one, maybe very gradually, but it does until finally it just doesn't run right. Time to adjust or replace points! Hopefully, over time, the P2 system will do what it supposed to, and provide relatively low maintenance as compared to a points system.

But, anyway, hopefully you have it worked out by now.

Let us know if you need any additional help.

 

Well as far as I can tell as long as the plug wires are arranged in clockwise firing order of 18436572 and #1 cylinder is at TDC compression with rotor pointing to #1 plug the rotor plug combination could be anywhere on the 360 degree circle as opposed to specifically 2 oclock position.

In other words if you put the rotor facing completely backwards towards the windshield and then followed up by placing the wires 18436572 clockwise then it would fire the same as at the 2 oclock position.

Bill, BTW I never got to work on the car today. hopefully tommorow night I can get the engine to #1 comp. TDC and at least get the dist in and aligned, tuesday maybe just maybe fire her up. car's been off the street for 2 weeks and I'm getting a little frustrated about now. For $200 I could have paid someone to do this and it would be running great.

:rolleyes:


[Modified by Cali,68,L-79, 9:28 PM 11/30/2003]

 

It really doesn't matter what the orientation is...you can have the rotor point any which old way, as long as you're on the #1 firing order, and the #1 plug corresponds to the rotor.

The use of the compression gague is good, and the best way I found to bump the motor over....if you have a manual tranny, put the tranny in reverse and bump the car forward, it will move, little at a time. Watch the rotation of the damper, and the compression gague. If you went past the mark, just bump the car backward....it works.

 

Probably the easiest way to get the firing order back, without having to bump the engine, just move the plug wires, from one terminal to the next, till the car starts....course you have to move the wires in firing order sequence.

 

Kinda/sorta :). If the distributor has a vacuum advance canister, the distributor has to be installed in the correct position. If not, the vacuum canister will contact something (intake manifold, coil, etc.) and prevent the distributor from turning enough to properly set timing.

 

Vetterodder I don't think you know what I mean. I'm not saying moving the distributer body any other position than normal. What I mean is that the rotor can be in any position cooresponding to #1 TDC within it's 360 degree turn as long as you route the wires to match 18436572 in clockwise order.

 

What vetteroder is saying, the vacuum advance mechanism will interfere with the coil, or any other object if the distributor is not installed in the factory's position, and for that matter, the I the same thing can be said of the tack cable. Now, if you have a distributor without a tach drive and vacuum advance, then what you said is valid, and come to think of it, I said the same.

 

You are CORRECT sir !!

Where #1 is on the cap does not matter. As long as that is where the rotor is pointing when #1 piston is at TDC for compression. The diagram is just the stock HEI wiring for a 1980 Corvette.

 

I am using a compression guage to check for #1 TDC as per http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=701268 and just realized this. The guage has a needle check valve to allow reading the compression whether the piston has already gone past TDC it will still stay at 115lbs so you can get your reading without having to have your face stuck to the guage or getting the widely fluctuating (hard to read) needle. That's great for getting compression readings but sucks for finding #1 TDC Compression as I found last night. I bumped the car over and it read 115 however by looking at the timing mark on the dampner it was damn near on the other side. The guage's check valve opens upon pressure but shuts and maintains 115 lb reading when the piston goes down. Well that defeats the whole purpose of using it to find #1 TDC. By the time I looked up and saw 115lbs. the dampner was probably on the # 8 or #4 compression stroke not #1 which is what I'm trying to find!! Is there a way to temporarily remove the guage's check valve without ruining the guage to actually sense cylinder presssure so it will spike at # 1 TDC compression and go back to vacuum on downstroke so I can tell where the hell I'm at?!!!!

 

Never mind, just reread the orig post and caught the last sentence. :)


[Modified by Fevre, 9:46 AM 12/1/2003]

 

Cali, just remove the valve cover and watch the rocker arms as you approach TDC on the balancer. If both valves are closed and not moving as you approach TDC, you're on the compression stroke. If the exhaust is closing as you approach TDC (and the intake opens as you pass TDC), you're on the exhaust stroke.

I'm another failed Pertronix owner. Never again, points run as well or better, and they won't leave you stranded on the side of the road.

 

I have a bad feeling.

 

I know I am coming in a little late, but if you don't want to remove the valve cover take the #1 plug out and replace it with a tissue. When the timing mark lines up it will either blow it out and be in the right place, or you will be 180 out. Turn it over again and it should blow out the tissue when the mark lines up. It helps to have an assistant to bump it over.

 

Good idea, but make sure the tissue is big enough to not get sucked in on the intake stroke! :eek:

 

True, I should have made that clear.

 

:skep: