Working on a friends bird and there is something up with the timing. Currently it has the timing tab at the 2 o'clock position. If I check the timing with my dial back I show the timing about 60 degrees advanced. Car starts right up but has very poor power. Cant even do a brake stand and it doesn't currently even have rear brakes. I moved the plugs all one spot over and then it doesn't even start. I'm wondering if this is supposed to have the 12 o'clock timing cover or perhaps the wrong balancer got swapped on it at some point in it's life Can someone clear up where the tab is supposed to be?

 

85 305 timing tab should be at 12 o'clock i think, any other chevy 305 ive ever worked on was....350 has it at the 2 o'clock

 

Balancer outer rings have been known 2 slip around also. something to check.

 

I'm probably best off sucking it up and taking the pulleys off to see if it lines up right and/or the outer ring slipped.

 

Well for the next person looking into this my conclusion is that an 85 305 TPI has the 2 o'clock position tab. Maybe changed in 86 with the block change. The main problem was the outer ring had slid...really bad. Think it was about half way off of the inner ring. Thanks for the responses.