Engine requires 20 degrees of initial to idle well...

Thanks for all the replies.

Yes, TDC has been verified using a piston stop... it aligns perfectly with the mark on the balancer

I did pull the timing cover, and the marks on the sprockets lined up perfectly. I put on a Cloyes double roller set JUST IN CASE the marks on my previous one were off.. and they lined up perfectly as well.. I did NOT degree the cam shaft, for every 1 person who told me I should, I had another that told me it was unnecessary on a street engine. I was going to, until I realized how freaking complicated it was going to be.

I will take the suggestion of marking the HB with a silver sharpie at every 5 degrees, and instead of using my dialback light, I'll use my other one, and see what that's telling me.

I'll have to google "rotor phase" ....

No valve adjustment .. I have stock, non-adjustable 360 valvetrain

The car has not been driven.. not more than in and out of my garage to my driveway and back.

I bought the carb used about 8 yrs ago, and it was in great condition.. I did go through it about 2 years ago and cleaned it out... and it's been started a couple times since then.. nothing major though

Ignition system is an MSD 6AL box with a Blaster 2 coil, and Electronic Ignition distributor. I don't THINK the wires are reversed.. if I cut them and reverse them, will it do any damage?


I was able to get the initial timing back to about 15 this morning, it ran pretty rough though.. again, that's using the dialback light as my reference ... so I'll use a regular light instead to check it.. later.

I have not had time to do another compression test.. I usually don't get home from work until 8pm or so... and try not to work on it after 10pm out of respect to my neighbors.