Ok, the distributor was out of the car and it seems like the engine turned over while it was out. I was reading some other posts here and I just need someone to verify that this is correct.
I should set the #1 cylinder to TDC, now in all the books I check though the #1 cylinder is the front drivers side of the engine. Is this correct?? Then when the #1 cyl is at TDC I need to reinsert the distributor and have the rotor pointing at the #1 terminal of the distributor. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Also how can I verify that the #1 cylinder is at TDC. Right now the timing marks are lined up, does this mean that #1 is at TDC?? If not how do you quickly tell is #1 is at TDC.


Thanks
Justin

 

Pull the #1 spark plug out, you're right in thinking it's the front drivers side cylinder. Stick a hard wire inside the hole until it contacts the piston, and turn the engine over by hand until you veryify tdc. You may need to do it twice if you've never done this before. After this, drop the distributor in and see if the rotor points at the #1 cylinder. The #1 terminal is roughly in the same direction as the #1 cylinder. If it will not drop in this way, you need to move the oil pump shaft into the right position. It will face the same way as the rotor, so use a long flathead screwdriver or something similar to spin it. If you look at the bottom of the distributor you can see how the oil pump shaft fits into it.

 

 

OK, I got the #1 cyl to TDC. I then had to adjust the oil pump shaft so the distributor would drop in while the rotor was pointing at the #1 terminal of the dist cap. I hooked up all the spark plug wires correctly and tried to start the car. All it does now is keep turning over and over, if I give it a little bit of gas it will try to start but there is loud backfiring coming from the exhaust.
What did I do wrong??
Also I do have spark and gas, but I did not verify that the fuel pressure was correct as I do not have a guage yet.

 

You probably had the engine in #6 firing position (this is a V8, correct?). Rezzin's method won't tell you any more than the timing mark would, and that could be either #1 or #6.

With the #1 spark plug out, you should feel pressure with your finger over the spark plug hole as the mark approaches zero on the #1 compression stroke. If you are turning it over with the starter, have the ignition disconnected or you could fry your fingertip as flame jumps between open intake valves as the other cylinder gets spark (ask me how I know this...). Then make sure the rotor is at #1, re-orient as necessary.

You never said why you had the distributor out. It's also possible you have a couple of wires crossed. Or, your timing is extremely retarded.

 

Ok, I looked into it a little bit more and this is what I found. When I remove a spark plug from the hole and check for spark there is a little spark (I don't know how big the spark is supposed to be but it is really small). I put the plug back in and hook up the timing light to the spark plug wire and turn the engine over. The timing light does not flash. But when I hook up the timing light directly to the wire coming from the coil it lights up like normal. What would be causing this?? I tried two sets of wires but they do the same thing. Keep in mind that I just installed a brand new pickup coil, ignition module, coil and wires. Any help would be appreciated, I need to get this thing running again.

Thanks
Justin

 

Oh yeah the distributor and rotor are also new.
Anyone got any suggestions

Thanks
Justin

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, er, skipping disc for all of you that don't remember vinyl records, what year and engine do you have? The coil/distributor setups changed over the years.

 

The engine is in an 87 Iroc. It is a 350 and it has the small distributor cap in it, you know the ones with the seperate coil.

Justin

 

just another question that ive been pondering while i think about doing engine work and it seems like it would fit in here.........i was going to remove my old heads and then turn the motor by hand till the #1 is flush with top of bore, since the valves on the new heads will all be closed when i bolt em up i would want this to be the compression stroke.........how do you know if the piston is on the compression or exhaust stroke if the heads are off the motor?

 

It's the cam you're getting into position. The crank makes two revolutions for every one revolution of the cam. As you approach the #1 firing position, neither lifter for the #1 cylinder will be moving for the last half of the rotation that brings the piston to TDC (or, to put it another way, as the timing mark approaches zero on the timing tab).

As you approach the #6 firing position (note it's 180 degrees from #1 on the distributor cap), the #1 exhaust valve will be closing as the piston approaches TDC - #1 and #6 pistons come to TDC at the same time.

In your case, Wasp, since you'll have the heads off, you'll also have the intake off. Assuming you leave the lifters in place, you can watch them as you turn the crank over. Just make sure they're actually moving down, as nothing (like a push rod or valve spring) is pushing it down.

 

Another question, how do I turn the engine over by hand, if I still have all the pulleys on the engine. Is there an easy way to do it??

Thanks

 

put a socket on the crank ,no? also ..... so if both lifters are going down its the compression stroke hey five7? makes sense to me

 

I was turning the engine and was watching the valves at the same time. As I approach what I think is TDC on the #1 piston and both valves are closed and not moving. At the same time the exhaust valve on the #6 piston is a little bit open. Does all this mean that the #1 piston is at TDC?? If so I guess I just pull the distributor and put it back in with the rotor pointed towards the #1 spot on the dist cap.

Thanks
Justin

 

Guess I answered my own question, I removed the distributor and turned it 180 degrees and the car started right up. I still need to set the timing though.

Thanks to everyone that posted especially five7kid, thanks alot. I thought I was never going to get this thing running.

Later
Justin