About 8 months ago a buddy and I stripped my '89 Convertible down to replace the intake manifold gasket. (Turned out to have a stripped thread - so helicoil etc...)

Finally we got around to putting her back together, but the distributor marks all had faded away. We tried it once, but the timing is way off, then ran out of time.

We have cylinder 1 to TDC, any hints for locating the distributor properly?

Thanks,
Sam

 

Are you positive cylinder 1 is on the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke? Did it start at all? Did it backfire, or just not start?

Turn the engine over by hand with the plug removed and your finger in the hole until you feel air coming out of the plug opening. Alternately, pull the valve cover and move it to TDC and note when both valves are closed. This will ensure that you're not 180 degrees off.

With cylinder 1 on TDC of compression stroke, install the distributor with the rotor pointing to plug wire tower #1. You may have to turn the oil pump with a long screwdriver to get the shaft to line up correctly. Drop the distributor in, ensuring that the rotor remains pointing at number 1 and that you don't go one tooth off.

Put you timing light on, and point it at the balancer as your helper cranks the car, and note how far advanced/retarded the base timing is.

This will get you close enough for the engine to fire and idle. Set it to 6 degrees BTDC with the wire that controls advance disconnected (I think it's brown,....been a while...someone will chime in and confirm). When you're done, snug the distributor down, disconnect the battery for a minute or two to clear the codes, reconnect the distributor wire, and you're set.

As a sidebar, before I remove a distributor, I first set the car to TDC on the #1 compression stroke and scribe a notch in the distributor body relative to the intake ( a small chisel or punch will do the trick) instead of using a marker. I then make another mark with correction fluid on the distributor shaft relative to the body. A thin piece of masking tape also works well. This makes retiming the car very simple.

Good luck with it.