I'm trying to time my 88 5.7 tpi (motor is now in an 84 T/A). without the aid of a timing mark (view obstructed or missing altogether?) I pulled the distributor, installed an old spark plug into the no. 1 cylinder - loosely -. then hit the key just to barely turn the motor untill I heard a hiss from cylinder no. 1. I put the dizzy back in but the angle of the rotor whith the dizzy seated all the way was about 90 degrees away from pointing at cylinder no. 1. I found this odd. So I kept pulling the dizzy out until the teeth would disengage, turn the rotor clockwise a tooth and try to drop it in. Well when doing this the dizzy wouldn't seat all the way, so I'd pull it up again and turn the rotor back a tooth and the dizzy would seat with rotor angle just a few degrees forward of its last position. So I repeated this until the dizzy was pointing to cylinder no. 1. Then I installed the cap and turned the dizzy so the rotor was pointing to the no. 1 plug wire on the dizzy cap. have I missed anything? is this as close As I can get. Am I at least firing on the right cylinders? Did I do anything I shouldn't have? How do I tell if I'm firing on the intake or exhaust stroke? Thank you for knowing!

 

Bang/flames out the intake = intake
Crack (at high rpms) or a "whoosh" (low rpms) = exhaust

Youll know the difference. Do you have some threaded rod you can use as a piston stop? That will help you get TDC

 

Use a timing light and do it right, this isnt hazzard county.

 

you dont need a a timing light to get it right, you are just doing it wrong. Either get a friend or a remote start button(that clips to starter) for like 10 bucks. Take the #1 plug completely out. Stick your pointer finger in the hole. DOnt be a sissy, just do it. Bump it slow, till you feel some air push. then stop and turn it by hand till it either just stops pushing air(a tdc whistle is nice here), or if you want, stick a screwdiriver in the cyl and feel the top of the piston for when it stops coming up. When you get to that point, install the dist. with the rotor pointed at the #1 terminal. You can go from there. This will be approximately o*base timing. I normally wouldnt use a screwdriver, but where you have no tab to find a solid TDC or no TDC whistle, it'll work.

 

IMO im not getting zapped. WHeni had to time my car and i didnt have a light i just did it by the sound of my exhaust, i kinda got used to the sound of it and how fast/slow it lopes (i guess you could say) but personally id get yourself a timing light, if your gonna pay for a remote starter button you might as well drop the 5 extra bucks for a light
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Whats so wrong with hazzard county??? lol

 

You're going to have to get yourself a piston stop and a degree wheel
to find TDC without pulling the head. Use the positive stop method for
best accuracy.

Once you have found true TDC, you can then scribe a new mark on the
balancer and have a reference.

Now that you have the pointer and new mark scribed, buy yourself some
timing tape.

From that info, you can set initial timing by lining up the tab marker,
with the amount of advance your setup requires on the timing tape.

Then, align the distributor rotor with the #1 spark plug post.

Borrow / buy a timing light and check the setting.

You will want to know the total advance, and initial numbers at a minimum.

 

He said there was no timing tab on the engine. Besideds, hes not building a 1000hp engine. he doesnt need to purchase a tdc stop. he just needs to turn the thing till the piston stops coming up, and then install the dizzy. We should help the guy get his car running, not tell him what tools he doesnt have. he definately does not need a degree wheel to find TDC.

 

A quick cheap dirty easy way to get it PLENTY close enough to run, is to use the point at which the #6 valves are equally open (exh just closing and intake just opening) as your indicator of #1 firing. With practically any cam and cam timign you're likely to be using, that'll be within 10° of "right", to get it to run.

 

 

A timing tab costs $5.00...or you can make one if you're too cheap to buy one. At some point this engine is going
to need a tab unless he plans to 'time by ear' for the rest of his life?

Scribing the balancer = free

Finding TDC without a degree wheel is shooting in the dark.

You don't need to have 1000 HP engine to do something properly.

If he doesn't want to buy a degree wheel, or rent one, at least borrow/rent/
buy a piston stop (~ $10.00) and use the midway point on some masking
tape to find TDC.

 

why? when he can meet the objective goal without it?I agree, he will need a timing tab, at some point in the future. If he wants to get the car running, no need for it.

 

Why?

Why would you want to do things twice? When he buys the timing tab,
he'll have to scribe it and find TDC all over again.

Your method doesn't ensure TDC. The timing could be off by a few degrees
because of the dwell time of the crank and rod near TDC.

He could be reading 36 degrees of timing, at it may be 41, or 34, or
whatever.

If that's good enough for you, then go for it.

 

I tried the screwdriver in the cylinder hole to find the top of the pistons stroke. And as I cranked the motor by hand the screwdriver got wedged in the spark plug hole? (I didn't bend it or anything, it just wouldn't pull out like the piston was holding it in there) so I rotated it the other direction and the driver came free. Should this be? Also from the way you described it; once you find the top of the pistons stroke, you drop the dist in, and where ever the rotor is pointing you line it up with the no. 1 plug terminal ON THE DIST CAP? You don't have to have the rotor pointing at the no. 1 spark plug hole in the engine block? Maybe this is where I'm getting it wrong?

 

No, you don't have to have the rotor pointing to cylinder #1.

Depending on how far you insert the screwdriver, it may get clamped between
the head and piston...so, yes it's possible to jam in tight.

 

thanks for the reply. I will use this technique tomorrow. And update.

 

yep, right on there, got it stuck in there too far. no big deal though. Get it just so, and install the dist. I usually try to get the rotor pointed to the front, slightly to d/s. whichever terminal you are lined up with, becomes #1. should be front one slightly to d/s.

 

Okay, I followed procedure. And it's running pretty good. I advanced the hell out of it until the motor started catching while it was cranking. Then backed it off until the motor didn't catch anymore. One thing I noticed is that while extremely advanced it was pinging pretty bad, but it didn't set a code in the ecm. Should this alarm me? As far as throttle response and smoothness it is running great, but, A: using the OBD to asses open or closed loop, it stays in open loop almost exclusively, and B: It's idling at 1000 rpm, somtimes dropping to around 800 somtimes rising to around 1200. Help me on to the next step!

 

Well, you have it running. now would be the time for you to drive it until you have the cash to get it fixed right. Like a timing tab, and set the timing properly. As for the knock code, dont worry bout it. I couldnt tell you how many GM obd1 cars that i have had come to the shop pinging like mad and never set a code.