iSAY, THE ONLY WAY TO GET 180 OUT is to line up the timing mark @ zero and not check to see if it's on the compression stroke... I say if you pull the cap and see where the rotor is pointing... stab the distributor with the rotor pointing in the same spot... and put the number one plug wire in the same spot it will be close enough to run....but I was told today that thats how you get 180 out.... I said I have always done it that way,,, but was told that I just got lucky....lol,,, vec doesn't have a timing mark... and I said I've done it with no mark, or timing light...one guy cranks it and the other move the dist a little till it runs and idles... then test.. if it labors the starter too much advance.... back it up... then road test... if it pings back it off... if it doesn't give it a tad more... then do the starter test again... right or wrong.... also.... I said the crank turns 2 to one on the dist.. right or wrong...new techs loose it with dist. and carbs..
the other way I do it is on a motor with no dist...put my finger on the #1 plug hole and feel for the compression,.. then to get more spot on if theres no timing mark.. put a zip tie in the plug hole and watch for it to go as high as it will go... thats TDC... and it doesn't matter where the #1 plug wire is, where ever the rotor is point ing is #1...
Pull the passenger side rover cover and observe #6 rockers. The exhaust should be closing and intake starts opening. Cylinder #1 will be on compression stroke [then line up the timing marks] This method works on 90° crankshafts
my flat head doesn't have the nipple on the crank..... so no timing mark... this guy that says he knows flatheads was going to help me put a new distributor in... while I was waiting for it... he stopped by and was looking around.... when I told him there's no timing marks... he said I have to pull the head... and when I told him how to do it he dis agreed... said it will never work,,, need less to say... I'll be doing it my self.. my distributor has no advance... verified by a vacuum pump. the vacuum advance won't hold vacuum ,.. it leaks... so I got a new distributor.. the motor is real lazy next... I've read that flats go clock wise @ the dist.... gonna have to check that today....is this diagram right???
but doesn't work on flatheads...also there is no #6 on the pass. side...unless you mean r. hand drive.... but thanks for helping..
another ... never heard before,.. worked on motors all my life... been to 10 county fairs and a goat rope'n.... what the hell is a rover cover???
soon as day light hits vegas I'm putting this dist. in..I will not remover one thing from the motor but the dist.... and it will run.. or I will be eating crow toe rims off my 32
if it is something that already runs, why can't you just remove the dist and install the new one so it is pointed the same way and start it up and adjust from there? why is this thread about flatheads in the off topic area???
Should be fairly obvious @Mimilan is referring to the rocker cover. Where did you get the info that a timing cover can be called a "rover cover"? How would you observe the #6 rockers by taking off a timing cover?
I figured with the china billet dist??? but feel free to move it anywhere you want... I hired a guy off face book.. a flathead mech... told him I want him to put the dist in,.. I said what you said..and said there's no timing mark. he said can't be done correct and it will be 180 out...that the head has to come off
well , I guess he was right.. I can't just buy a dist... pull the old one out and put a new one in... everybody else can... I can't... what a shit show...
so this was supposed to be a job so easy even I could do it... lol wrong... took out the dist.. mark a diagram where the rotor was pointing, and where #1 plug wire is... also verified that the distributor does go clock wise.. pull the dist... and pull the coil.... thats when the shit show started...it has a 6v coil????? 12v battery... so I verified that the gen is 12v....also the solenoid is 12v so thinking that the 12v dist isn't gonna work... put the old stuff back in... under the dash there is 2 what look like ballast resisters,,, could one be a volt drop...???? volts at the coil are only 9v when running... it's 14v at the battery when running.. but the voltage reg says 7&???? to run the electroiic dist... you have to use a 45v coil and remove the ballest...needs 12v at the coil... one of the resistors under the dash gets hot which makes me think it a volt drop??? puzzeled..
Unfortunately you are trying to be a smart-ass expecting us all to have mind reading skills. Nowhere in your first 3 stupid "cries for help" did you mention Flathead. My husband was correct ..... you act like an argumentive d***head [and probably a reason why a lot of people including him, can't be bothered anymore with this forum]
Go back and read your thread title and your first three posts before @Mimilan posted their reply (post #4). You didn't tell us it was a flathead until post #6. We are not psychic....
so I got her done... runs like a mouse in slippers... the what I thought was a ballast resister turned out to be a volt drop....i by passed it and got 12v to the coil.. stabbed the dist... fired right up.... but pullin to the advance side it was hitting... so I pulled it out went over one tooth and bam runs perfect... a joy to drive runs easy with traffic... up the same grade that I went up floored in 2nd @ 35 mph... I now pull high gear @ 45 with lots of peddle left....happy camper right now..
see what you started??? the thread was timing in general... on any motor with a dist. and plug wire....LOL... but thanks for posting... I got her done... and even though no one will dare say I was right.... they all know...
Keep going dude. Seven posts straight. You're on a roll..... Glad you got it sorted out, but you really don't need to be so xenophobic (Quick, get searching...). EDIT: I see a lot of posts have now disappeared. Strange....
DOES ANYONE HAVE A FLATHEAD CRANK PULLEY off the motor that shows the nipple??? I'm wondering if it lines up with the key way, and if it even has a key way..... there's something going on with the pulley.... maybe off a different year??? motor runs and starts spot on... be nice to know what amount of timing it has all in... no ping... no hesitation. .pulls hard through the gears..??? probley have to do the zip tie trick
The Jalopy Journal
