Can you help a new guy?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 101
Likes: 0
From: New Orleans Louisiana
Can you help a new guy?
Hi all, I just joined the forum and really appreciate all the help and suggestions I've been reading so far.
I've got a 71, 350 with a turbo400 tranny and after a couple of years of minor tinkering on it it's now time to get serious. Here's the problem - the car has never run right. Backfires, misses, stalls, gas shoots out the carb when it kills. The guy who had the car before me was a complete idiot (even more than I!) and I figured he put the distributor in wrong. So I pulled the 1st plug and did the old starter bump until the combustion stroke thing and I found that the rotor was pointing towards the 2 and 4 plugs on the block at TDC. Then I readjusted the wiring so that the number one plug wire was on that spot on the cap and guess what - the car wouldn't start at all. Turn over but no run. So now what? A friend of mine said that all the 350's he's worked on should have the TDC stroke for number one pointing at the number 1 plug on the block. Is that correct? I figure I'm going to pull the distributor anyway and check the gears for good measure. When I put it back in should I align it so that the rotor at TDC will point towards number one on the block or somewhere else? Thanks a lot! Looking forward to getting it up and running.
I've got a 71, 350 with a turbo400 tranny and after a couple of years of minor tinkering on it it's now time to get serious. Here's the problem - the car has never run right. Backfires, misses, stalls, gas shoots out the carb when it kills. The guy who had the car before me was a complete idiot (even more than I!) and I figured he put the distributor in wrong. So I pulled the 1st plug and did the old starter bump until the combustion stroke thing and I found that the rotor was pointing towards the 2 and 4 plugs on the block at TDC. Then I readjusted the wiring so that the number one plug wire was on that spot on the cap and guess what - the car wouldn't start at all. Turn over but no run. So now what? A friend of mine said that all the 350's he's worked on should have the TDC stroke for number one pointing at the number 1 plug on the block. Is that correct? I figure I'm going to pull the distributor anyway and check the gears for good measure. When I put it back in should I align it so that the rotor at TDC will point towards number one on the block or somewhere else? Thanks a lot! Looking forward to getting it up and running.
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,325
Likes: 6
From: FRANKLIN GA
Re: Can you help a new guy? (71forKen)
Welcome to the forum. Are you running points or HEI. on my hei I just point it to the tower right past the connector block on the cap. On a points type just make sure you have it centered on a tower. front towards no1 should be ok
Drifting
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,634
Likes: 2
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, the World
Re: Can you help a new guy? (71forKen)
Welcome Ken!
It really doesn't matter where the rotor is pointing, as long as the #1 plug wire is where the rotor points when the #1 piston is at TDC on the combustion stroke.
Most of the guys set it up like it came from the factory cos that's the way it was designed.
If you do pull the dissy make sure it is in good condition by checking the vertical slop. This can be removed by shimming at the gear end.
Check the bushes for play by wiggling the shaft. They might need replacing as well.
And when reassembling it make sure the dimple on the gear aligns with the rotor button. If it is 180 degrees out it can cause some interesting tuning problems.
:cheers:
It really doesn't matter where the rotor is pointing, as long as the #1 plug wire is where the rotor points when the #1 piston is at TDC on the combustion stroke.
Most of the guys set it up like it came from the factory cos that's the way it was designed.
If you do pull the dissy make sure it is in good condition by checking the vertical slop. This can be removed by shimming at the gear end.
Check the bushes for play by wiggling the shaft. They might need replacing as well.
And when reassembling it make sure the dimple on the gear aligns with the rotor button. If it is 180 degrees out it can cause some interesting tuning problems.
:cheers:
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,685
Likes: 202
From: Waterford Mi
Re: Can you help a new guy? (RHD '68 L89)
Check it again and make sure it was TDC on the compression stroke and NOT the exhuast stroke. If it was running before it had to be close so you might just have to turn it one way or the other to set it correctly. Two things to watch for when moving the dist is the tach cable and the vacuum advance line. If the tach cable is push to far it will break the inner cable or gear and you don't want to pinch off the vacuum line. Make sure you disconnect the vacuum line and plug it when you set the timming if you are using a timming light.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 101
Likes: 0
From: New Orleans Louisiana
Re: Can you help a new guy? (71forKen)
Thanks for the info everyone! I'm going to mess with it some more this weekend. I think since it was running before that the rotor was ahead of where I had the plug wire. But now that I moved the wires up, the rotor is probably behind the number 1 wire and trying to catch up. I'll get it fixed. By the way, the previous owner messed up all the engine and dash wiring too so be prepared to see some wiring questions from me! :boxing Thanks!
