Timing question??
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2001
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From: Was New Orleans but swam to Baton Rouge LA
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Timing question??
Ok, I got the MSD and all the stuff installed. I think I put the distrubutor in off though. I can get the car started, but it backfires through the carb pretty bad. Right now I am trying to figure out which way I am off. Do yall think it is too advanced, retarded, a tooth off, or 180 out???
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From: Living in the Hartland
Re: Timing question?? (Sigforty)
My bet is 180 off if it is backfiring through the carb. I like to pull the driver side valve cover off and hand crank the eng till I see the 2nd rocker (#1 intake) go up and start coming down then watch for the notch to come around on the balancer for tdc. Stab the dist so the rotor points right at the #1 cyl.
EDIT If the car is starting then it might just be a tooth off, when I had mine 180 off it just let out a giant backfire and did not start. One more reason to keep you head away from the carb when starting the eng. :)
OK one more thing, check you plug wire routing, might have a couple out of order, done that too. :)
[Modified by Fevre, 2:20 PM 1/2/2004]
EDIT If the car is starting then it might just be a tooth off, when I had mine 180 off it just let out a giant backfire and did not start. One more reason to keep you head away from the carb when starting the eng. :)
OK one more thing, check you plug wire routing, might have a couple out of order, done that too. :)
[Modified by Fevre, 2:20 PM 1/2/2004]
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 5,941
Likes: 281
From: Was New Orleans but swam to Baton Rouge LA
Cruise-In IX Veteran
Re: Timing question?? (Fevre)
Thanks for the advice. I took another look at the distributor and it had bounced out since I forgot to bolt it in. I now have it in and its 30 degrees advanced at idle. So that should be about a tooth or so off I think, or possiblie I need to more the wires on the car over.
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From: Living in the Hartland
Re: Timing question?? (Sigforty)
If the dist is a tooth off you can't correct it by moving the wires (assuming they are in the correct postions to start with) because it throws the tach and vacuum adv can out of whack, again I speak from experience :), you have to re-stab the dist to get it aligned correctly.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 5,941
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From: Was New Orleans but swam to Baton Rouge LA
Cruise-In IX Veteran
Re: Timing question?? (Fevre)
I just started to look at Lars's paper on intalling a distributor, and my distributor is in the correct orientation. The only problem is my plugs wires are off two terminals backward. Going by the figure Lars has here http://www.corvettefaq.com/c3/DistributorInstall.doc My #1 wire is in the #7 location. Would that be about 30 degrees off there?
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From: Living in the Hartland
Re: Timing question?? (Sigforty)
Hmmmm let me go back to geometry and see:
360 degrees in a circle and 8 plugs for a V8 so if you are 2 terminals off then you are (360/8)*2= 90 degrees off .
I am a little :confused: by Lars' photo and plug numbering, my #1 is right about where his #2 is and my vac adv can points more directly towards the fender. I tried to move my set up around a bit and either the vac adv can would hit the fire wall or the tach cable would hit the coil. I also can't see how that set up would work if you where to use the 'point the rotor at #1' method of placing the dist, which is a common method of doing it. :confused:
360 degrees in a circle and 8 plugs for a V8 so if you are 2 terminals off then you are (360/8)*2= 90 degrees off .
I am a little :confused: by Lars' photo and plug numbering, my #1 is right about where his #2 is and my vac adv can points more directly towards the fender. I tried to move my set up around a bit and either the vac adv can would hit the fire wall or the tach cable would hit the coil. I also can't see how that set up would work if you where to use the 'point the rotor at #1' method of placing the dist, which is a common method of doing it. :confused:
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2001
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From: Was New Orleans but swam to Baton Rouge LA
Cruise-In IX Veteran
Re: Timing question?? (Fevre)
I just swapped everything up two terminals, and now it will not start. I am going to go back one and see what happens next.
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From: Living in the Hartland
Re: Timing question?? (Sigforty)
I forgot to mention I have a MSD Dist so it may be a little diff than a stock dist but I used the 'point the rotor at #1' method when I had the stock dist on with no problems. Try getting the timing stopped at tdc and see where the rotor is pointing then you can see about where the #1 term needs to be.
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Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 5,941
Likes: 281
From: Was New Orleans but swam to Baton Rouge LA
Cruise-In IX Veteran
Re: Timing question?? (Fevre)
I got it to were the rotor is pointing at number one, but the timing light is reading about 40 degrees advanced. So I am still fiddling with it right now to try and get it closer.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2001
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From: Was New Orleans but swam to Baton Rouge LA
Cruise-In IX Veteran
Re: Timing question?? (Sigforty)
Finally got it. I was one tooth off, so I retarded it a that one tooth. Now I got it advanced 10 degrees right where I wanted it. Thanks for all the help!!!
:thumbs: :cheers: to ya Fevre.
:thumbs: :cheers: to ya Fevre.