What year timing cover?
Riddle me this, Batman!
- Thread starter Mean416
- Start date
-
Thank you for the reply, but It doesn't matter. Because I verified TDC against the timing cover zero mark.
kevmo1955
Member
with The weights pinned Start at 16
TT5.9mag
Two atmospheres are better than one
It can be. But if you have a mini starter and a good battery it’ll spin through it. But if it’s a street engine put a curve in it.
B3422w5
Well-Known Member
Never had any problem with locked out dizzy on the street or anywhere else.
even with compression, start super easy.
I have found that good wiring and grounds makes a HUGE difference.
Night and day difference over old stock 50 year old patched up stuff.
even with compression, start super easy.
I have found that good wiring and grounds makes a HUGE difference.
Night and day difference over old stock 50 year old patched up stuff.
I have never seen anyone use a random spot on the bottom if the engine like that to mark "TDC". Why aren't you using the timing mark on the timing cover? Looks to me like your damper spun, or your distributor position, or cam, is off degrees wise.
It's not random. That's just a picture of the damper where it happened to be at that time. Go take a picture of the damper on your engine right now. Wherever it happens to be.
I just took a snapshot of the damper. You can see the TDC mark, lined up at zero.
When that mark spins on around to the TDC mark on the timing cover, low and behold, the no one piston is at TDC.
Seriously. I hope this is clear.
Edited because I was a few beers in when I wrote this and was an ***. Apologies.
Last edited:
AJ/FormS
68 Formua-S fastback clone 367/A833/GVod/3.55s
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2014
- Messages
- 24,937
- Reaction score
- 12,287
Are you using an MSD amplifier?
My experience with those is that a non-MSD dial-back timing light does not work with those while the unit is multi-striking. Rev it up, to in the range of 3500 to 4000, after the the unit goes into Single-Strike mode, and check the timing there with the dial-back.
BTW
You can use #6 cylinder for timing adjustment, if it is more convenient, and that would rule out adjacent induction firing. #6 is exactly 360 degrees from #1, so it will read exactly the same as #1.
Also
>Sometimes I have had to turn my inductive clamp around on the wire.
> If you switch certain wires in the firing order, the engine may idle just fine, even rev up, allbeit with a larger throttle opening; 5 and 7 come to mind. 18436572 is the correct SBM order and #1 is on the driver's front, while #6 is on the passenger side and Third from the front ...... just in case you were a Ford guy..........
My experience with those is that a non-MSD dial-back timing light does not work with those while the unit is multi-striking. Rev it up, to in the range of 3500 to 4000, after the the unit goes into Single-Strike mode, and check the timing there with the dial-back.
BTW
You can use #6 cylinder for timing adjustment, if it is more convenient, and that would rule out adjacent induction firing. #6 is exactly 360 degrees from #1, so it will read exactly the same as #1.
Also
>Sometimes I have had to turn my inductive clamp around on the wire.
> If you switch certain wires in the firing order, the engine may idle just fine, even rev up, allbeit with a larger throttle opening; 5 and 7 come to mind. 18436572 is the correct SBM order and #1 is on the driver's front, while #6 is on the passenger side and Third from the front ...... just in case you were a Ford guy..........
Last edited:
Sharpie/paint a mark on balancer across the rubber, that way you can tell if balancer spun. I doubt it tho as you've verified TDC several times.
Good luck, keep us posted.
Good luck, keep us posted.
Put clear packaging tape over the timing tape, it will stick.
Clear as day. Also rude as hell to people who are trying to help. I'm done.
At a glance, It looked like a sharpie marker on the oil pan. My mistake. Sounded to me like cam position / tooth was off one to the point it was picking up the next, or previous, terminal/wire. Sorry for the confusion. Good luck.
Doesn't matter, TDC is TDC as far as the timing marks go, only difference is whether it runs or sets Your carb on fire. It's stated to be "running fine".
Question #1 I have was asked by AJ, is this an MSD or other multispark/CD type ign.? Back when GM went to DIS, We had a helluva time getting them thru' the emissions tests, which required a steady RPM reading, had to wrap tin foil around the ign. cables sometimes etc. That, or get another source of RPMs, good times.......
Think about that for a minute. It wouldn’t matter when putting a timing tape on if it was on compression or not. It would matter for putting a distributor in and some other things, but not for the install of the tape
You're right, I was a jerk. @Johnny Mac Sorry about that.
Rat Bastid
Dunamis Metron
You do NOT want to lock out your timing. It’s a bad thing. Here is a video I shot just a week or so ago.
This shows exactly why you never lock out a distributor. If you do, you won’t know what your timing is.
That's really interesting. Is the retard just built into the functionality of the ignition module or is it some kind of lag?
Would this also be the same with an hei?
Rat Bastid
Dunamis Metron
It’s the nature of the electronics. It’s called slew rate.
An HEI will also retard. Anything that has electronics will have a slew rate.
Even your timing light has a slew rate. And they don’t all read the same. That’s why when doing a tune up I have the owner use their own timing light. That way if there is discrepancies between what the timing lights read they are already have the light they will be using.
Lol, post#39, right on..
AJ/FormS
68 Formua-S fastback clone 367/A833/GVod/3.55s
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2014
- Messages
- 24,937
- Reaction score
- 12,287
This cam/engine combo, as do all street combos, will want different timing with changes in rpm and load. There will be times that it may want maybe as much as 56* of advance, and other times that it will be happy with just 5*.
If you lock the timing, it is good for one thing only, namely WOT DragRacing. The timing will be dead wrong under all other circumstances.
On the street, you will get best results with a factory-type vacuum-advance distributor; and the vacuum advance is gonna need to be modified and tuned as well....... cuz how do you get from 35* Power-Timing, to something like 56* cruise-timing?
Last edited:
Still fighting the timing issue? Not sure from your posts if your situation is that the timing light shows a clear image of the wrong spot on the damper, or if it is a jumping, fuzzy, continuous blurry image. Even if the timing is off, the timing light should show a clear image of some spot on the damper, unless there are other issues.
Does the tach show a rock steady rpm at idle, or is it varied? Skip and plug the vacuum adv for testing. How about trying turning the carb idle adj screw to a sure steady rpm, say 1500 or 2000 rpm, and checking then; should be a clear timing light image of something on the damper.
If it's a clear timing light image of the wrong spot on the damper, then we can figure that out, but guessing more likely the latter case of a jumping image, so let's go there. Crossfire wire bleed issues- new plug wires, or better wire routing. Timing light issues- different timing light. Distributor issues- try a different distributor. Carb issues- try a different carb. Other engine problems, valve leakage, timing chain, dist drive, etc. causing subtle run issues -check engine health with compression and leak down tests, put a breaker bar on the damper bolt, rotate by hand back and forth and check for dead band, drain oil inspect for debris.
PS: As the for the measure of the engine running well at idle, I've found that sometimes that can be tricky and some engines that seemed to run ok, or even potentially good at idle, turned out to be not without problems, and that sometimes engine issues were revealed once in gear and under load.
Does the tach show a rock steady rpm at idle, or is it varied? Skip and plug the vacuum adv for testing. How about trying turning the carb idle adj screw to a sure steady rpm, say 1500 or 2000 rpm, and checking then; should be a clear timing light image of something on the damper.
If it's a clear timing light image of the wrong spot on the damper, then we can figure that out, but guessing more likely the latter case of a jumping image, so let's go there. Crossfire wire bleed issues- new plug wires, or better wire routing. Timing light issues- different timing light. Distributor issues- try a different distributor. Carb issues- try a different carb. Other engine problems, valve leakage, timing chain, dist drive, etc. causing subtle run issues -check engine health with compression and leak down tests, put a breaker bar on the damper bolt, rotate by hand back and forth and check for dead band, drain oil inspect for debris.
PS: As the for the measure of the engine running well at idle, I've found that sometimes that can be tricky and some engines that seemed to run ok, or even potentially good at idle, turned out to be not without problems, and that sometimes engine issues were revealed once in gear and under load.
JMO. I'd set the damper at 15* BTDC, the set up whichever cylinder, 1 or 6, it was firing on so distribitor is triggering there. Then try to fire it up.
No vac adv attached.
No vac adv attached.
-
