Rant: If you're too stupid to put the distributor in the hole correctly...

I can. Drop the distributor in, rotate to engage the oil pump, bolt it down.
Whenever I get ready to crank it,, might be next year, put #1 piston up in position, the wire to #1 spark plug goes in the hole that the rotor is aimed at. All other ways are more complicated......

 

When I tested for the post office mechanics position, part of the test was to pull the distributor out of a running mail truck (chevy s-10) Then the tester spun The motor over and had me reinstall it all and get it running in a certain time limit. (9-12 minutes?) He was impressed when I was done as he said most applicants never get it running again.

 

I had trouble with an International Scout with a 345. I couldnt get it timed. Tried everything. Then, I read the STAMPED steel valvecover. Timed off #8 cyl. not #1 like I was doing! Stupid Hoosier built piece of backwards engineering!!!

 

I was wandering around a Corvette shop one day. The mechanic was trying to start a Vette he had worked on. I asked him what was wrong. He said he installed a new cam shaft and now it wouldn't start. I asked him to crank the engine over. I noticed the valves hardly opened. I asked him if the cam was hydraulic or solid. He said, "What?". I expalined to him how to adjust the valves on a hydraulic cam. He cranked and I adjusted. The Vette fired on the first turn after that. His boss offered me a job after that............

 

BRAD...why the rant? you said yourself how easy it is! just fix the problem and save a heart attack...POP.

 

The IHC thing just means that the timing marks are for #8. You can time any engine using any cylinder you want, just use the valve positions to find TDC.
One engine that has to have #1 in the right place on the dist. is a VW. One cylinder is timed slightly different due to its running hotter because of the heat from the oil cooler.
At least no-one came up with the old "cam a half a turn out" story!

 

If all the home mechanics got it right the first time, I would be a little hungrier than I am right now. Trouble shooting and re-clocking a distributor is pretty simple stuff compared to some of the snakes nests that come in here.
Larry T

BTW, I couldn't clock this one so that number one was at the number one terminal on the cap. No big deal, just remarked the cap and explained to the owner what and why I did it. And why it has Ford parts on it. (G)

 

I BET that MAYBE ... 1/3 or more ... here on the HAMB that profess to be a HOT RODDER ... could not pull the distributor, crank the engine with the key, then install the distributor ... and get it to run on the first try

I have bought a few cars/trucks that HOT RODDERS worked on ... and could not get to run again. Got them @ cheap money too

 

My Buddy bought a Mustang from a Ford "expert" for cheap. It had loads of aftermarket parts on it, and while my Friend is a Chevy guy he couldn't pass up the deal. The Ford guy couldn't get it to run right.
I bought a Ford Manual on the way over to help him. (We're both Chevy guys.) We drove ourselves nuts trying to get it to run right. We finally ave up and my Buddy bought a different cam, now it runs like a striped assed ape. Turns out the guy had installed a fuel injected cam on a carbed motor.

 

Ya' get to buy cars cheap that don't run right 'cause the owner doesn't have enough brainpower to pull a string outa' a cats ass.

 

A little off from this and off-topic, but some newer cars you have to mark it before they come apart, since there is no procedure to reset. They use a crank trigger for timing, so a light will not help. The dist. only has the cam sensor for fuel injector pulse, and while some have a fuel sync, some do not.
Mark the stuff and keep it straight when removing! The guys that pull it apart and just throw everything in a single bucket/box are either very experienced with the vehicle or hacks!

 

Bought an O/T Ranger that someone replaced the motor in. Sold it to me for $400 because he thought the motor he just installed was bad. I drove it home, switched two of the spark plug wires and it ran perfect. Amazing he was able to do a complete engine swap but not get the firing order right. I drove it for a year and sold it for $1200.

Also, I remember having trouble with timing an SBC when I was younger because the distributor would rotate like a 1/8 turn when you dropped it in. Lesson learned.

 

Brad
At least he didn't drive it down in the hole with a hammer like an idiot did a freinds 302 ford.

 

No kidding on the brainpower thing. I've told before about the Buick I bought with the ignition torn apart, that I put together with a bunch of basically junk parts, and found it to be bone dry out of gas. How they might have missed that became more apparent when I put the seats in another car and a pot pipe fell out of one of them. And even more apparent when I took the seats out of the second car 3 years later and another pipe falls out of the other one.

 

It don’t matter. Pick a spark plug, any spark plug. Call it any number you want. Put that piston up in position for firing. The wire hole in the distributor that the rotor finger is pointing at is that one. All the rest come in order sequence, direction of rotation.

 

Ive had some FE fords that the dizzy was hard to remove and install. I would just move the wires around the cap. If you use a Early Mallory dual point with a edelbrock C3B or C4B intake you have to time it with the dizzy 180 off in order to turn it enough to get proper advance. Either that or advance the plug wires one hole. In Short most engines dont care where the rotor is pointing. just as long as the wire from # 1 cylinder is connected to the dizzy cap where the rotor is pointing when its at #1 TDC. I think just for meaness I will purposely reinstall all the dizzys off a plug wire or two on everything I work on from now on OldWolf

 

The engine does not care where the number 1 cylinder is on the cap. Only the book does.

As long as you put your wires in the cap relative to the position of the rotor while #1 is TDC on the power stroke, It'll run.

Rotor phase... that's another topic.

Here is a trivia question for ya:

Which cylinder on a SBC is at TDC on the power stroke when the cam and crank gear timing marks are aligned?

 

I had to work on one a while back , the dude said he had everyone and his brother over to try to get it running. So then he calls me. It was a real nice old SS Chevelle that decided to hop up. Anyhow says he figured out that the cam was in 180 degrees out. Really? spent the whole day before straightening it out. So anyhow, long story short, I start going through the firing order and he tells me that the firing order goes the other way. Counterclockwise. Really? this is coming from the guy that says the cam is in 180 out. hmmmmm. any how in 10min. it was running and the dudes ol'lady was almost in tears. She said she thought that the car would never run again.

 

kris-when timing marks on cam and crank are alinged-you are on tdc #6-been there

 

A Chevy is firing on number one when the dots on the timing gears are both straight up. Most manuals show them this way. (Maybe I should have said some, not most)
Larry T

 

1985 I am the youngest mechanic in a chevy dealership, constantly made fun of for......... actually READING the shop manuals! peace

 

The Gold Star goes to Tom!

 

Imade a fair bit of money by fixing owners tune up,s.Most would pull all the wires off and wired the v8 by (left bank 1-2-3-4) (right bank 5-6-7-8) and i was a hero for starting it. 5 min $15.00........................YG

 

For my sake alone, you should have started this thread Saturday!

I have had the 390 in my Galaxie apart for a couple of weeks replacing the heads, intake, & carb.

Before pulling the distributor, I got it on top dead center of the compression stroke on cylinder #1 and marked the distributor where the rotor pointed at cylinder #1.

Between Dad & I working on the engine off and on and turning over the engine to check the valve clearance, one of us got it 180 degrees off without realizing it.

Put the dist back in, and went to fire it up...POP POP POP through the carb!

All this from 2 guys who have been working on cars thier whole lives...combined age 125 years!

It can happen to you!

 

Karma is an absolute bitch...

I got the thing running like a champ on Sunday night. The wife fired the car up, I dialed the distributor by hand until it sounded good. Shut everything off, closed up the cargo deck (it's a Corvair wagon), shut the lift gate, got the tools out of the way, fired that bitch up on the first hit of the key and took it for a test drive. Maaaaan the thing ran like I'd just dropped a new engine in it! Put about 6 miles on it, varying speeds, get home, brag to the wife and tell her I'm gonna go to Sears in the morning and get a new timing light and really dial it in for her.

Guess what doesn't have ANY spark anymore? I tried all day to get the thing to fire, and no dice. Got juice going to the coil, but nothing at the spark plugs.
It's a Pertronix, so I'm gonna see about a couple things tomorrow, and if those ideas don't help, I'll assume the unit is dead and will switch out to points.

Dammit.

-Brad

 

Brad, throw that pertronix in the trash. i have had nothing but problems with them over the years. they go out and do just what you said, work one minute and gone the next.

 

Heh, sounds familiar. Found a '66 289 Mustang for sale $600 a few years back. A buddy wanted a pony so we checked it out. Nothing special, cept it wouldnt run, came with a pile of NOS Ford boxes of sweetness. Front end was a bit munched. After giving it a tuneup the P/O and his neighbor couldnt get it to start so they put it up for sale.

Looked at the distributor, looked at the plug wires, did a quick thumb over #1 and then looked at the rotor position.
Yup, distributor was 180* out, and the spark plug wires were routed in the 351/5.0 firing order of 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8, instead of the correct 289/302 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8

I didn't have the heart to correct the 'problem' in front of the P/Os face

 

I think it is just a matter of thinking. I am a SBC guy but, then picked up an Olds. Guess what the dist runs the oppsite direction as a SBC. I was pulling my hair out untill I had the cap off and noticed the problem. Makes you feel like a fool. It ran but popped and cracked like a big dog. I ask my buddy what in the heck did we do to my car. It only takes one time to learn.

 

I got one that I'll have going some time this spring that I decided to pull the dizzy because the fella had numbered the spark plug wires 1, 2, 3, 4 down the left bank and 5, 6, 7, 8 down the right bank. Its an SBC so I figured he didn't know what he was doing.
So I don't know that he had it wrong just figured why go though the consternation of trying to light it if it wasn't right.

 

Go ahead and rant away Brad

I'm just glad you called it what it actually is, a Distributor (not a Dizzy ) .