i have the rocker arms in place snug tight and i have no clue where the timing tab is and its hard to find the number 1 firing position. so could anyone walk me through on how to time them? 91 305 TBI

 

The timing tab should be mounted to the timing chain cover, right behind the water pump. If it isn't there, then it's either been removed or fell off, or someone's changed the timing chain cover.

Disconnect the coil wire from the distributor.

Once you find the timing tab (if you do), crawl under the car and have a buddy tap the starter to rotate the engine until you see a groove on the balancer that's about 1/8"-3/16" deep. Use white paint or a white crayon to fill in the groove so it's easy to see.

Unhook the ESC connector. It's located near the blower motor on the passenger side firewall. It'll be the brown wire sticking out of a black wire loom. Just seperate the connector and leave it sit. To be safe you should wrap the open ends of the connector with electrical tape so no electricity arcs near the body.

Hook up the timing light using the inductive pickup to the #1 sparkplug wire. It's the one that's on the front driver's side of the engine (closest to the radiator).

Loosen the distributor hold down bolt just enough that it takes a little effort to be able to rotate the distributor either clockwise or counter clockwise.

Start the engine and aim the timing gun straight down between the water pump and the engine block. Look for the groove in the balancer.

A stock LO3 should be set at 0* BTDC. The groove should be lined up to the first "V" on the timing tab (the one closest to the driver's side). If not, rotate the distributor one way or the other until it is. At this point ignore the other "V' grooves.

Turn the engine off and tighten the dist. hold down bolt. Start the car and check the timing again to be sure the dist. didn't move while you were tightening the bolt. If so, correct it.

Once you're done, turn off the car and hook the ESC wire back together.
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To set the valve lash, tighten the rocker nut while spinning the pushrod with your fingers. Once the pushrod stops spinning the valve is at ZERO lash. Turn the nut another 90-180* to preload the lifter.

You can use the old "IC-EO" method to find out what valve you should be adjusting. It's the most time consuming method, but it's fail proof.

If you don't know what "IC-EO" means.....
Rotate the crank until the intake valve just starts to close (IC), then set the exhaust valve. Rotate the crank until the exhaust valve just starts to open (EO), then set the intake valve.

 

thanks alot