Projects Cutting my Hotrod Teeth (57 Chevy Budget build/revival)

Hey, I just want to say, way to stay in the game. Sometimes a little break helps.

 

That would be much appreciated! It seems like it’s pretty simple, but I’ve never done it before!

 

Short wire from plug goes to terminal on back of alternator. Long wire from same terminal goes to the battery. Pretty simple. Not a true one wire though. A true one wire doesn't have the plug. Honestly I prefer this self excited style over one wire

 

Huh, that sure looks a LOT like my alternator! Here are q couple photos I dug up from a few years ago, I have the gen light on the dash wired to the other terminal on the alt, but the rest of the wiring is the same. So I guess I actually have a 3 wire alternator and not a 1 wire!

 

The wire to battery id say is far too thin. Need it to be beefier

 

10-4!

 

The one from the plug to the post is fine. That's just to "excite" the alternator. Just the one to the battery needs more girth.

 

Ignore the actual diagram as it's for an externally regulated alt. Mainly I forgot what gauge wire the battery wire needs to be. According to this 4-6 gauge. That stays the same regardless of alternator. And I stole this from another thread lol

 

Meant to share this as well. I was getting this intermittently, sometimes it would start and sometimes not. From what I’ve gathered, the fast-slow-fast-slow crank indicates a timing issue? I’m assuming it has to be timing too because you can hear it fire a couple times, it just doesn’t actually go, meaning spark and fuel aren’t the issues…

 

Base timing shouldn’t change, unless maybe something is going on goofy with the springs and the weights.

I’d think even a stretched timing chain would be consistent at start up.

 

Does the vacuum advance on the distributor work? Even without it running, can you turn the distributor like 10 degrees or so in one direction, and when you do, does it spring back into place when you let it go? The vacuum advance on my distributor was seized up and wouldn't move at all, would idle fine but no power. I'm not exactly sure what the mechanics are inside the advance mechanism, but if there's a return spring in there that's broken, the timing could walk around. A total and complete guess from a total and complete novice mechanic, but it's something to check.

I agree with the ChevyPope, I think your charging wire off of that alternator is just way too small, I'm kinda surprised it didn't melt. I run the same 3 wire alternator in mine but with a much larger wire to the battery. I have mine wired like yours with a check light, although my light is isolated from the dash. My gen light only has one wire and grounds to the dash housing, mine runs through a bulb in a plastic housing, in one end and out the other. If your light is going out and you see more than 13 volts at the battery when running, it must be working though.

 

I do have vacuum advance on this distributor, though it’s plugged right now until I figure out the timing situation.

 

I do. I was going to try it the other night but the battery got low and I had to get going anyway. Next time!

 

Couple easy tricks that don't require a timing light.

To set base timing.
Mark where center of #1 terminal is from cap to the distributor. Use a marker.
Remove cap.
Rotate engine so rotor is pointinting to #1 terminal.
Verify at crank the pointer and preferred initial base timing mark are aligned at the crank.
Go back to distributor, adjust so rotor is pointing to #1 terminal.
Base timing is now set without using a timing light.
Should be within 1°.

To verify timing chain slop.
Rotate engine to TDC.
With distributor cap off, rotate the crank backwards by hand while watching distributor rotor(doesnt matter if it it is at actual #1 or 180° out) when the rotor starts to move STOP.
Look down at crank pointer.
<3° You're OK
<5° You're OK for a streer car.
>5°-<10° Start looking for a new timing set.
>10° You needed a new timing set 10K miles ago.

 

Thanks for the tips, funny I actually had deduced the distributor/timing mark method already just thinking about it. Good to see I was right. I would think you could get it pretty damn close to perfect by just statically matching the marker line and rotor, to the 30 degrees mark on the timing tab.

 

back to the top

 

He’ll be back, he went out and got educated, got a good job, then visits home to work on the car on weekends when time permits.
I know nothing as fact, but recall this thread as it started and progressed, hope I’m right!!

 

Still with it guys, just don't get a chance to work on the car unless I've got a free weekend. This week I scored a set of dog dish hubcaps which I have always liked the look of, Belair trim be damned!

I'll be up at my mom's tonight and tomorrow, an old high school buddy just moved back from out of state. So as long as I'm not too busy hanging out with them, I'll see if I can get this timing figured out.

 

Well, I’m getting 13.05v on the alt terminal while running. I didn’t have any beefy wire laying around so I doubled up the 12 gauge by running some 10 gauge with it. Battery is at about 13.3v, so still not sure if it’s charging or not. I guess i could let it just run and watch the battery to see if the voltage drops or levels off at some point. It did start with 13.38v, and when i shut it off it was at 13.33.

I’m not sure this timing light is going to help me much. I can’t even see the timing mark on the balancer while it’s running, and it is marked with sharpie. Might need to do this inside the garage where it’s darker or something.

 

Manually rotate the engine til you see the balancer marks. Chalk or soapstone over it, the rub off with your finger. The “white powder” will stay in the groove and be much easier to spot.

You get a contrast that way.

 

I got the oil pressure gauge plumbed and I’ve got just over 40psi

 

Ah, I should mention the balancer is orange, so black sharpie might actually work better, no?

 

Also, be sure you are on #1 wire. Front drivers side of engine. (Just a reminder). Take care of the fan, but move the light around to see it you can find the mark.
Does the dampener have a rubber ring in it? I don’t know if 283’s did or not, @squirrel told us once, but I forget.

 

I don’t know. Maybe orange and black don’t contrast? I’m not a color
expert. Lol.
But white
will stand out.

 

“Borrowed” some white paint from the basement, i’ll give that a try!

 

Hah! As always, trust the graybeards! The white line solved my problems!

 

White reflects the light no matter what color the balancer is.

 

Well i don’t know what it is, but it’s back to no starting! I have spark, I have fuel, and it’ll even sputter randomly while cranking, and smoke come out of the exhaust, but no start!

Luckily this time I was able to just put it in gear and turn it over to get it back inside, but I just don’t get it. It was running pretty well, idling even, with the timing pretty close to being set. I had the timing mark hitting about 10-12 degrees clockwise from TDC on the balancer. It’s like every time I try to actually do any tuning, it up and dies on me.