I have a 86 berlinbetta 305 w/ a edelbrock 795 quadrajet. My car has been running rough and crappy lately. The timing wasnt right cuz I turned the distributor when i was changing the plug wires. and having no timing light i turned the distribuot and did my best judgement.

Today I decided to change out the cap and rotor and i also changed out the distributor harness to the cap. So i hooked everything back up right and as expected the car runs like crap with bad timing but, I now have a knocking coming from the distributor. I've never heard this knocking sound before. so i dont know what to make of it. Could someone please help me out here and tell me what is wrong. Is this just really bad bad timing or something worse?

Thanks,
Bruce

 

If the distributor is making noise, it's assembled incorrectly.

Take it apart and look closely at it, make sure the rotor isn't hitting the cap.

 

I tightened the 2 screws for the rotor tight and snug. I also replaced the distributor harness and i fastened it in place and i tighted down the one screw..that may be the problem but i dont think it is..tomorrow morinng i'll tear it all down and look for errors.

bruce