am i totally screwed? distributor position troubles

under the radar · Post by **under the radar** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:19 pm

i was being an idiot and i removed the distributor without marking the position of the rotor and now i'm lost. i tried cranking the motor to TDC and pointing the rotor at the cyl #1 mark on the dist, but no fire. help a dummy please!!!

GripGreg · Post by **GripGreg** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 6:09 pm

OH, Oh! I wish I could help' cause I answered so soon,,,but.

I would've done just you did.
Someone here will help, I'm sure.
Greg
Ps,,did you crank the motor to #1 @TDC, of maybe not?

Falkenberg · Post by **Falkenberg** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 11:14 pm

And only one out of 2 TDC is good for ignition.

GripGreg · Post by **GripGreg** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 11:44 pm

Can you explain 'one out of two'??

Like,,which one?

Mike W. · Post by **Mike W.** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 11:49 pm

You can do it by trial and error or pulling the valve cover to see which cylinder is in the compression phase. I've usually found a little extra advance is needed to get it to start.

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:07 am

Well, now it's time to have a little fun. There are two ways to get back your timing. One is explained in the FAQ section with nice pictures and involves removing the valve cover.

Cylinder #1 needs to be at Top Dead Center and on it's compression stroke. The Camshaft rotates at half the Crankshaft speed - so the TDC mark will come up on the exhaust stroke and the compression stroke alternatively.

The rogue method is to remove the #1 spark plug and spin the engine. You will hear and feel air being pushed out the spark plug hole on the compression stroke as the piston approaches TDC... the one out of two that will make it fire

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Jeff Dennis · Post by **Jeff Dennis** » Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:45 pm

What they said.....

under the radar · Post by **under the radar** » Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:29 am

update. got the car running well. the method i used to index the distributor...i took off the valve cover and parked the car on my sloped driveway in 5th gear and had a friend let it roll forward while i watched the cam to find TDC on cyl 1...seemed like the easiest way to spin the motor, being that i don't have a 36mm anything and even if i did, there just doesn't seem to be enough room in between the radiator and the pulley to fit a socket or wrench in there. much thanks to Mark AKA 2002Sue for the phone coaching.

on to the next chapter.

1st 5er · Post by **1st 5er** » Fri Aug 02, 2013 1:02 am

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Fri Aug 02, 2013 6:52 pm

That's great. I like how you did it. Way to go.

Falkenberg · Post by **Falkenberg** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 12:59 pm

GripGreg wrote:Can you explain 'one out of two'?? Like,,which one?

The compression one, of course.

Falkenberg · Post by **Falkenberg** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 1:03 pm

under the radar wrote:update. got the car running well. the method i used to index the distributor...i took off the valve cover and parked the car on my sloped driveway in 5th gear and had a friend let it roll forward

congrats

I also use that method, minus the friend and the propriety driveway