Ignition wires and timing
08-21-2023, 05:58 PM
#1
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Car: 1985 trans am
Engine: 305
Transmission: T5
Ignition wires and timing
Hey all, recently sorted my issues with needing spark plug wires to fit with my headers. With that being said the wires will be here tomorrow and I’m anticipating putting them on. The wiring setup I had before was kinda messy and I’m not sure that the plug wires were routed right, although the car ran great. I’ve googled spark plug wire diagrams but I’m unsure of where the corresponding cyl 1 position is for my distributor. Is there any tricks to figuring it out? Thanks in advance!
08-21-2023, 06:18 PM
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Re: Ignition wires and timing
Cyl 1 is supposed to be the front driver's side one. Firing order is 18436572. All that have to cross from one side to the other should go around the back of the dist exc #2.
Doesn't matter what your dist is. It only matters that whoever put it in, put it in at the right spot. Which should be, with the 12V & tach connections pointed straight to the driver's side, and the #1 in the place as described. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on whether you know what you're doing, the engine will run just fine with it in all sorts of random orientations. If yours is installed weird, I'd STRONGLY recommend sorting that out before ruining a new set of plug wires making them fit some wacked-out loser's arrangement of garbage.
Photos of your current setup, w #1 labelled somehow, would help identify how it is now.
Doesn't matter what your dist is. It only matters that whoever put it in, put it in at the right spot. Which should be, with the 12V & tach connections pointed straight to the driver's side, and the #1 in the place as described. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on whether you know what you're doing, the engine will run just fine with it in all sorts of random orientations. If yours is installed weird, I'd STRONGLY recommend sorting that out before ruining a new set of plug wires making them fit some wacked-out loser's arrangement of garbage.
Photos of your current setup, w #1 labelled somehow, would help identify how it is now.
Last edited by sofakingdom; 08-22-2023 at 07:59 AM.
08-21-2023, 10:18 PM
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Car: 1985 trans am
Engine: 305
Transmission: T5
Re: Ignition wires and timing
Cyl 1 is supposed to be the front driver's side one. Firing order is 18476532. All that have to cross from one side to the other should go around the back of the dist exc #2.
Doesn't matter what your dist is. It only matters that whoever put it in, put it in at the right spot. Which should be, with the 12V & tach connections pointed straight to the driver's side, and the #1 in the place as described. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on whether you know what you're doing, the engine will run just fine with it in all sorts of random orientations.
Doesn't matter what your dist is. It only matters that whoever put it in, put it in at the right spot. Which should be, with the 12V & tach connections pointed straight to the driver's side, and the #1 in the place as described. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on whether you know what you're doing, the engine will run just fine with it in all sorts of random orientations.
08-22-2023, 07:59 AM
#4
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Re: Ignition wires and timing
Sorry, my brain got a cramp somehow... not sure how I can mis-type the firing order but I sure did...
08-22-2023, 10:03 PM
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Re: Ignition wires and timing
For the inexperienced or backyard mechanic who is unsure of themselves, the best way to determine TDC is to remove the distributor cap so that you can see the rotor. Bump or bar the engine over until the timing pointer lines up on the balancer mark. The rotor will be pointing at either #1 or #6 cylinder.
It all depends on how the distributor was installed the last time somewhere else had it out. #1 can be anywhere on the cap as long as the rotor is pointing at it when at #1 TDC. Just about any position other than the 5 o'clock position just makes routing the wires more difficult.
As already mentioned 18436572 in a clockwise rotation is standard for the SBC. Be careful you don't mix up 5 and 7 because the plugs and cap rotation are right beside each other.
It all depends on how the distributor was installed the last time somewhere else had it out. #1 can be anywhere on the cap as long as the rotor is pointing at it when at #1 TDC. Just about any position other than the 5 o'clock position just makes routing the wires more difficult.
As already mentioned 18436572 in a clockwise rotation is standard for the SBC. Be careful you don't mix up 5 and 7 because the plugs and cap rotation are right beside each other.
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