Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: weird_looking_cactus Mar 6 2004, 03:12 PM

I had my car running pretty good tell I stated to mess with the distributor. The whole thing turns. I stated to mess around with it and turned it and the car wouldn't start. I sometimes put it back into the same spot to make it run but now I can't get it in that spot. Im not even sure if its suppose to turn.

Posted by: McMark Mar 6 2004, 03:38 PM

You're changing the timing. You need a timing light to get it 100% correct. Any cheap-o one will work fine. Just move it small amounts to find where it starts and runs. A little bit goes a long way. Once it's running you can use the timing light.

Posted by: 914ghost Mar 6 2004, 05:02 PM

Okay, you got spark now?
You got gas..?
The you MUST find Top Dead Center for #1 piston.
Read a book, check Pelican Parts tech files, they have some good advice.
FIND T.D.C. the turn the engine to TDC make sure its right on TDC or you'll be doing this for a week and have no luck.
Is the Engine on TDC? Yes? good-
THEN, with the distributor cap off, make the ROTOR in the dist point to the little tiny line / notch in the rim of the distributor, by loosening the clamp like you did before and rotating the dist housing.
Make SURE its on TDC. Then check again.
Okay, you have a test light?
If you do attach it bewteen the wire from the CONDESNSOR and its connection at the Coil (-) - negative side.
Make SURE its on TDC.
Now as you rotate the dist housing the light should be ON- as soon as it GOES OUT - STOP!!
Leave it there. The ROTOR should point nearly exactly at the nothc/line I mentioned earlier.
Close enough until you can get the right tools to set the timing at full advance.
DO IT!!
Hope this helps, if you follow this advice AND everything is working, IT WILL run.
_Bob O

Posted by: Bleyseng Mar 6 2004, 05:23 PM

Posted by: McMark Mar 6 2004, 05:26 PM

Forgot a step. Tighten the clamp down so that it doesn't move again.

Posted by: 914ghost Mar 6 2004, 06:21 PM

D-OH!!

Posted by: rhodyguy Mar 6 2004, 08:47 PM

can't he just index the rotor over the notch to get in the ballpark? you don't have to loosen the clamp on the distributor very much to adjust the timing. actually i like mine a little stiff .

kevin

Posted by: Rgreen914 Mar 7 2004, 03:36 AM

Kevin

As you get older, those words will haunt you!

Posted by: McMark Mar 7 2004, 10:55 AM

The rotor is dependant on TDC. So you have to put the engine at TDC which set the rotor into a certain position. Then you can turn the distributor body to point the line at the rotor.

All of this is dependant on the distributor drive gear being inserted correctly. There is a classic thread which describes the procedure for checking the drive.

Posted by: SirAndy Mar 7 2004, 01:58 PM

Posted by: davep Mar 7 2004, 04:09 PM

Not to be an asshole here, but slow down. Read the manual before you start "messing" around. That way you should know what you are doing. These sort of messes are an inconvenience to fix, others may be very expensive. READ THE BOOK! This is not the place where "if all else fails read the book" applies. Read the book first, and be sure you understand it fully before looking at the car.

Was the distributor unclamped to begin with, or did you undo the clamp? There are two parts there. The clamp is bolted to the block. Only remove the nut if you are pulling the distributor out. Otherwise just loosen the clamp until the distributor can rotate with significant friction. On an engine that runs reasonably well, the distributor will not need to rotate much to change the timing; like one degree or less. You might not need to rotate the distributor at all. Just replacing the points will restore most of the geometry if done correctly. If you don't have a timing light, don't rotate the distributor, that just makes things worse. You have to learn to leave some things well enough alone.

Posted by: weird_looking_cactus Mar 7 2004, 06:44 PM

I have no clue what you guys are talking about when you say clamp. But the distributor moves alot. I have already replaced the points.

Posted by: Aaron Cox Mar 7 2004, 06:55 PM

someone post a pic with an arrow for him...lemme go look for one

Posted by: Dave_Darling Mar 7 2004, 11:05 PM

Go to the Bird site (pelicanparts.com), scroll down until you see "914" on the left side of the page, click on "tech articles" link below that. Look for "timing" on the tech articles page. It will describe the whole dwell and timing thing. (It shows pics, including one of the clamp nut.) Since you changed your points, you messed with the dwell setting--which changed your timing. So you need to set the timing anyway.

--DD

Posted by: SirAndy Mar 8 2004, 01:13 AM

this is one of my fuzzy pictures of my engine before cleaning it up.
the red arrow points to the long nut/bolt that is used to hold the dizzy in place (or loosen it up).
the yellow outline gives you an idea of the size and location of the "bolt".

i believe it's a 10mm wrench you need, but i could be wrong on that one.

Andy


Attached image(s)

Posted by: mike_the_man Mar 8 2004, 08:57 AM

I was just futzing with it yesterday, and yes, it is a 10mm bolt that tightens and loosens the clamp. A ratcheting box end wrench works awesome for messing with it.

Posted by: davep Mar 8 2004, 09:52 AM

The clamp is a plate (about 1/8" thick) that is around the neck of the distributor. It has a big hole (about 1" diameter) for the neck of the distributor and a small hole (about 3/8") for the 8mm stud on the engine case. The 10mm nut goes on the 8mm stud to hold the distributor in place; it holds it down in the engine and keeps it from rotating when the clamp portion is tightened. Now this plate is split with a slot on the one side. There is a clamp nut that looks like a 2" long hex nut that is used to close up the slot and clamp the neck of the distributor to the plate. Without the clamp plate the distributor could be pulled right out of the block or rotated freely. The vibration of a running engine would cause an unclamped distributor to jump out or rotate easily and could not run long.

Posted by: davep Mar 11 2004, 01:01 PM

Have you got the dizzy working yet? Is the clamp there? What progress?

Posted by: cgnj Mar 11 2004, 02:09 PM

Side bets on if it is missing or not?

Carlos

Posted by: davep Mar 11 2004, 02:50 PM

I can't see how it could run without one. The engine spinning should pop the dizzy out of the hole pretty quickly.