Gents,

I have changed out the cam in my 305, trying to work out the reinstallation procedure. I can sort the timing on the crank to the cam gears easy enough, but im wondering what the procedure is for aligning the cam to the distributor drive gear. Should that be pointing in a certain direction when the engine is at TDC? As its a keyway for attaching the cam/dizzy drive to the distributor shaft i figure it has to be bang on when installing the camshaft in the first place. Any online guides or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Tom.

 

Most installation instructions will have you install the timing set "dot to dot"; i.e. the crank sprocket with its dot at 12:00, and the cam sprocket at 6:00. Be aware that this IS #1 TDC, but it IS NOT the instance of #1 TDC at which it fires!! To set the engine to #1 firing, rotate the crank exactly one full turn from that spot; the crank dot will again be at 12:00, but the cam one will ony have gone 1/2 turn, and will be at 12:00 this time. THIS is #1 firing.

If you already have the timing cover on, find #1 firing definitively, by removing the #1 spark plug, bumping the engine a little at a time until compression comes out, then rotate it by hand until the piston is at TDC. You can look in th ehole and see it. DO NOT trust the timing mark until you verify it!!!

Once the engine is at exactly #1 firing, make a mark on the damper at exactly 0 degrees; back the motor up by hand to about 30 BTDC or so, then slowly turn it by hand until it reaches the point you want your static timing to be at (say, 10 degrees BTDC).

Look down in the dist hole at the oil pump drive rod. Turn it so that it's at about a 30 degree angle away from straight front-to-rear, going from LF to RR.

Hold the dist above the hole with its body in exactly the orientation you want it to be in when you're finished. Exactly which way this is will depend on which type of dist you have. Rotate the dist shaft so that the rotor points about 15 degrees toward the front from straight to the left. Drop the dist body in. As the dist gears engage, the rotor will turn CW. It should end up pointing just to the left of straight ahead. This is th eposition on the cap that the #1 plug wire will go on. Put in the bolt and tighten it snug, but leave it just loose enough that you can still turn the dist body.

While watching the teeth of the little star wheel, pull up as hard as you can on the shaft and rotate it CCW; the teeth should be fairly close to lining up; rotate the dist body CW until they exactly line up, then rotate it a few degrees (maybe 5 degrees or so) CCW from there.

Tighten the bolt, put on the cap, install the plug wires with #1 as described and in the order 18436572 CW around the cap from there.

Should fire right up from there, just like it always has, as if nothing had ever happened to it.