I've been having a problem with my drivabilty. I had some time this week and decided to play with the timing. I put the crank at TDC and found the distributor rotor to be what seemed to me, one tooth ahead. I double checked for TDC and found the same. I turned the rotor back one tooth and tried to start the car after replacing the cap and wires. The car only turned but couldn't fire. When I let off the key while cranking it spit fuel out the carb. I removed the dis. cap and wires, pulled the driver side valve cover, and put the #1 cylider back at TDC. Both #1 valves were closed. Reinstalled everything and reinstalled the plugs wires one by one to make sure they weren't crossed up. Tried starting again. Same thing. I can get the car to fire like it wants to fire but the distributor cap is turned back so far that the HEI connector is touching the firewall. WHAT GIVES?

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1984 Z/28
GoodWrench 350, Edlebrock Performer intake, MSD 6AL Super HEI kit, Crane CompuCam 2040, Edelbrock headers, Catco cat, Flowmaster aftercat, K&N, Custom 700R4, B&M Megashifter, Eibach springs, Energy Suspension Hyperflex kit, KYB GR-2 struts/shocks, Jegster adj LCA's, Lakewood adj panhard bar, BFG Comp T/A's, 180* stat, AutoMeter Pro-Comp COOLANT GUAGE.

 

How did you find TDC?

If you used the balancer, then welcome to the real world. The timing mark is on the outer ring of the damper which is only connected to the crank by a blob of spooge. They are rarely reliable. People place entirely too much faith in timing light indications because of this IMHO.

Find TDC by removing the #1 plug, bumping the motor with the starter until compression occurs there, then observe the piston through the hole until it is exactly at TDC using a dial indicator or whatever other method you can think of to obtain the accuracy you would be satisfied with. Then put the dist back in right, mark the damper, and set the timing quickly, before the ring moves again. The distributor should be installed such that the #1 plug is to the front left and the #8 plug, the next one in the order, is to the front right. So the rotor should be pointing about 22½°, more or less, to the driver's side of straight ahead.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."

 

I found TDC by rotating the crank until I had the rotor pointing towards the #1 terminal. I then placed a 1/4 socket driver into the hole and turned the crank until the piston stopped pushing the driver up. I have a Streetdampr with the timing marks etched on the outside. The marks on the damper seem to line up with the timing tab when I place the crank at TDC. When I first set it to TDC I did not rely on either the timing tab or the damper being correct. Am I doing something wrong by finding TDC this way?


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1984 Z/28
GoodWrench 350, Edlebrock Performer intake, MSD 6AL Super HEI kit, Crane CompuCam 2040, Edelbrock headers, Catco cat, Flowmaster aftercat, K&N, Custom 700R4, B&M Megashifter, Eibach springs, Energy Suspension Hyperflex kit, KYB GR-2 struts/shocks, Jegster adj LCA's, Lakewood adj panhard bar, BFG Comp T/A's, 180* stat, AutoMeter Pro-Comp COOLANT GUAGE.

 

I'm pretty sure I installed the distributor correctly, did I miss a step some where? Why would I have to turn the distributor back so far to even get it to act like it's trying to fire up?

 

RB,

LMFAO! This is probably the best, yet least technical description I've heard for the "elastomeric isolator". I always thought a "blob of spooge" was what she wiped off her face when the President had "completed his briefing"...

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Later,
Vader
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"No matter how hard you try you can't stop us now"
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