Its been over 35 years since I worked on cars

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Pawned

Pawned

N.R.A. Lifetime Member - And damn proud of it
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I can not find the info I need so I turn to you all.
Until a couple days ago the timing marks were covered with dirt, The dirt was then painted over. I cleaned it the best I could and tried to add some white to the markings.

Where is TDC? It is a 71 Plymouth Duster 318 V8

Thanks in advance for your help.

It wasn't until I looked at this picture I see there is writing on the right side of the markings, although I can not read it yet
 

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TDC is the center line and the writing is "before" and "after" TDC
 
Please have patience with an old guy. The top 0 the bottom 0 or the line between them. I think it is the line between them
 
The bottom zero is after TDC and the upper is before,the line between the 2 zero's is TDC
 
Thank you much. I may have got it if I would have seen the AFTER BEFORE. The only reason I saw it was it was in the picture I took.
 
You can now say: "I've forgotten more than you will ever know!" :happy1:

Best way is to take out the #1 spark plug and stick a screw driver when your close to the mark and watch it rise, right when it starts to fall, read the mark. Boom head-shot!
 
Don't feel bad the first time I went back to the track to race in 36 years they announced it over PA and people were applauding, Kevin.
 
There's a line at the very top about inline with the "B" of "Before"

That is 10 BTC

The next line is 5 BTC

The "O" adjacent to the "E" in "Before" is TDC

Next line below is 5 AFTER TC

Last line next to "R" in "After" is 10 after TDC.
 
I vote with 273. The two 0's looks strange. I suspect the "10" for BTDC didn't stamp out fully on yours.
 
I set it like 272 said.

I finally got her somewhat in tune, so I took her out for a test drive. Debbie got in and we took it around the block a couple times until she stopped dead. Nothing. Except the speedometer says we are traveling at 45 mph.

I thought it was the fused link I put in earlier. I popped the hood and see the fuse is good, but there is a bunch of smoke. The fairly long positive battery cable has fallen over against the exhaust manifold. So I grab the wire to pull it off and slightly burnt some fingers.
We walk home, get my car and go back to Natalie and jump start her. No Problem. Back into the garage.
Hopefully tomorrow she gets new brakes
 
I took her into the shop yesterday. Just stopped in to see what was happening. She most definitely needs complete brakes. The lower ball joints, tie rods and gear box will also be replaced.
I will need to take it back for the A/C to be fixed.

The two surprises were the gear box and that it did not need any more front suspension work
 
Glad it wasn't anything major. Did it fry any wires going in to the bulk head?
 
Daddy, the only thing damaged was the cable, which I replaced. I was sure it would need a new battery, but the battery is good.


Stranger things have happened, not to me thank god, but some people
 
Pawned said:
I took her into the shop yesterday. Just stopped in to see what was happening. She most definitely needs complete brakes. The lower ball joints, tie rods and gear box will also be replaced.
I will need to take it back for the A/C to be fixed.

The two surprises were the gear box and that it did not need any more front suspension work
Click to expand...

I should not have spoke so soon, once they tore deeper into the suspension they found most everything, except the upper ball joints, need to be replaced.
On my way over to see for myself. Not that I will know what I am looking at
 
The price went up considerably from what I guesstimated it to be. The front end was a mess. i.e. ball joints, brake rotors and everything else.
It came to about $2,300.00. I trust the shop, but as President Reagan said, "Trust, but verify
'
 

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Daddy, Please explain. I am not catching your point.
I knew the rotors, ball joints needed replacement. Tie rods and the rest are no surprise. The gear box I never gave any thought to.
 
Natalie should be ready today. Basically new front suspension, brakes and I told him to fix the A/C.
Looking at about $2500 in work. They are recutting the rear drums. They could not find any 10" drums locally. If they start to warp, will deal with that later.
I will need to take it over for an alignment and am STILL waiting for the window felt I ordered.
I will worry about the paint repair till I get more money :thumblef:
 

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Pawned said:
It came to about $2,300.00. I trust the shop, but as President Reagan said, "Trust, but verify
'
Click to expand...

HOLY CRAP!
That's what I paid for my whole car, and I drove it 140 miles home.:D
It'll be nice when it's done though, as I just did all my front end bushings and what a difference.
 
The problem with turning drums too far oversize has several issues, but "your mileage may vary" because different drums are thicker than others.

Older Jeep, IHC Scout, etc, have very thin drums, and will go "eggshaped" with hard braking.

Turning drums oversize can, as above, make them thin to a point of unsafe

But usually, LONG before safety from "too thin" is an issue, there is a DIFFERENT issue, and that is that the larger you turn a drum, the smaller the shoes effectively become. So the shoes start making contact only on a small area of the lining, that small patch tries to "do all the work" and gets hot and glazed, and then you have even POORER brakes.

Years ago, "we" used to arc shoes and in some cases, would reline shoes with a shim to allow use in oversize drums.

This is an old Ammco arcing machine, and you can take it from me, you don't want to have anything to do with these things.............

86024cad1e83101d97359d735105115625082811.jpg
 
68gtxman said:
Make sure you print out the spec chart posted in post #10 in this thread: http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=244652&highlight=Alignment+specs if you are using radial tires or the shop will use their books which only show the specs for bias ply tires.

If they tell you they will charge you extra for any shims that may be needed, make sure you run away!!!
Click to expand...

I would but it is one big blur. No sense printing it. It is not being done by the regular mechanic but the shop he has the alignment done on his car,
 
TrailBeast said:
HOLY CRAP!
That's what I paid for my whole car, and I drove it 140 miles home.:D
It'll be nice when it's done though, as I just did all my front end bushings and what a difference.
Click to expand...

Yes it does seem high, but the mechanic will work 3 solid days on it to finish what needs to be done.
There are a bunch of things being done that they are not charging me for.

So it looks like Natalie will be ready sometimes late tomorrow afternoon:walk:
 
Suddenly my joint pain, and all my C/L used parts don't sound so bad, LOL
 
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