I finally got an older dizzy with the vacuum advance today to replace the uh oh 9 that came on the sucker. One thing that wasnt good, when I pulled the other dizzy out it didnt even have an o-ring on it so I know that couldnt have been good although it didnt appear to leak oil too bad from under the distributor.

Anyways, before pulling the dizzy I had in there I made a mark of where the rotor was relative to the tdc mark. Upon installing dizzy with the vac advance I notice that the tdc mark is in a much different location than before. I assume that it doesnt matter where that mark falls as long as I can confirm by looking at fan that the location is indeed tdc? Currently it seems to fall maybe around 9 o'clock if noon was the front of the car. For the mark on the new dizzy to fall where it did before there would be no way for the vacuum to fit.

So I installed it the way it fit and tried to rotate it so the rotor was in roughly the same position as before relative to the tdc mark. This also changed my plug wire orientation relative to the cap so I adjusted those to 1 being on top of tdc mark and then proceeding clockwise 1-4-3-2

I attempted to start and after a few cranks I get a sputter then a terrible sounding backfire. Is my timing just off or did I do something else wrong?

I've been through this before. You are on the right path. When you swap out the dizzy, it the position of the rotor will not match what the old one was. The best way to do it is verify #1 is at TDC, make sure the rotor matches this orientation and then install the plug wires in the same firing order clockwise, with the #1 plug wire going to the terminal that the rotor is pointing at when its at TDC. It sounds like you're one off right now.

What is the number on the dizzy you acquired?

I've seen this situation a few times when changing distributors. You may need to pull the distributor drive gear out of the case and rotate it a tooth or two one way or the other to allow the vacuum canister to clear any obstacles. The drive gear was probably pulled and rotated when the 009 was installed.

Note the position of the gear prior to removing it.

You may need to do this a couple of times to get it right.

EDIT:

Found this post from Dave Darling on ShopTalk Fourms:

"The 914 manuals call for the slot in the driveshaft to be 12 degrees left (CCW) of fore-and-aft when the engine is at TDC#1. This is most likely so that the vacuum dashpot will clear the oil filler, fan shroud, FI manifold, etc." ...

Yeah, the number would be helpful. My car had the 009 when I got it, but when I installed an 034 SVDA I didn't need to re-index the gear. Just verify it was at TDC, install the dizzy, and make sure the #1 spark plug wire was on the post that the rotor was facing at. The vacuum can still clears everything. But I have the Tangerine Cable linkage and a grease line running to a dual post oil pressure sender, so that probably helps too.

Can I just rotate the dizzy a full 180 degrees as long as I change the plug wire orientation?

No. It only goes one way. the "tangs" on the bottom of the shaft is offset from center.

If your verified for TDC, compression stroke, #1 cylinder, and the rotor does not point close to the little notch in the top of the housing (at ten oclock using your noon as the front), your drive gear has been moved to accomadate the old diz. Do it right and re oriente the diz drive gear. Otherwise, you will not have all the available timing adjustment. The engine doesn't care what position the gear is in or which tower the #1 plug wire is attached to, as long as it fires at the right time.

What Curt said. Quit putting band aids on it. It's easy. Get a clean extendable style magnetic pick up tool. See the notch on the lip of the dizzy where the cap sits? That is the #1 location. With it removed, hold the dizzy in the #1 position and look at the orientation of the offset slotted gear position on the bottom, e.g. 2 o'clock and 8 o'clock position. Regardless, this is the position you want to place the gear inside the case to match. If they don't align pull the gear up with the magnet to reposition then drop in. It will spin slightly when moved up or down so what looks correct will be off once it drops all the way in. No biggie. Lift it and do it again. Now drop the dizzy in and the rotor should line up on the mark on the lip of the dizzy when timing mark is at tdc. You'll be done in 30 min's.

For this it should be added that you start by turning the crank to TDC for #1.

I put the car in 5th gear so I can rock it back and fourth to help the gears mesh

Thanks for the help with this. I was able to get it working just fine last night. The new dizzy works way better than that 009 that was on there. Now if I can just get these carbs to stop coming out of adjustment. I am almost at the point of buyin a cable linkage ugh

Do it. You will never regret it. There should be a disclaimer at the top of the forum for anyone who is going to buy a linkage to forget everything else. Chris Foley's (Tangerine Racing) linkage is the only thing worth considering. After all the money I spent trying to get my hex bar right, I could have bought two of his linkages.

Before I put the six in my bus, I drove it nearly every day for 10 years without ever having to adjust the cross bar linkage on the Weber 40s. Why is it everyone else has problems with stuff that shouldn't even BE a problem?

The Cap'n

Because you probably knew what kit to get and have more experience setting them up than some of us new folks. CB Performance sent me a kit that did not have the right geometry. I called them to explain I needed one for a Type 4 and that the offset was different from a Type 1. I ended up purchasing more stuff, and long story short, I never got it figured out. There is nothing wrong with a well designed cross bar linkage with the right application, but if someone has come up with a better, simpler and cost-effective solution, especially someone involved with this community directly, I say support them.

That being said, my cable linkage was a very generous gift from another member who I am forever grateful to.

I have to jump in here... My cable linkage was much more of a pain to install than any hex bar ever was. Maybe it was just my experience, but I had pieces that didn't fit, and lots of engineering that seemed to only be half done. I am happy with the results, but I have never had to remove carbs, drill anything, or clearance parts that didn't fit with any hex bar linkage. For three times the cost of a hex bar, I expected more.

With the hex bar, you need to make sure that there is no play in the joints. Buying used, worn out linkage will never work in the long run.

I have to say that the hex bar doesnt work bad; it actually works fairly well. I think it is just the initial set up that takes a while. That plus trying to tune everything else that can have an effect it just seems counter-intuitive at times. Seems like as soon as I get things running fine and idling fine, after a short drive I am back out of whack. Then again, Im sure the bumpy streets of New Orleans dont exactly help either

On another note, after installing new dizzy and getting the timing set to around 27 degrees I was noticing the flat spot starting to disappear. After a short drive it came back along with some popping from the carbs when I would say lift in second and rpm would drop to around 2k. When accelerating after that I would get some slow response again coming back up. I backed out air mix screw about 1/8 and it eliminated the popping and pepped the engine back up. Why was I leaning out after driving for a while? The engine was already warm when I started driving. I am thinking of advancing timing to 30 degrees or so to improve things too.

Do you have insulators between the manifolds and head or carbs and manifolds? If not, you could be vaporizing fuel in the carb bowls = leaning out.

No but that would make sense. Isnt that the same principle behind a cold air intake to drop temp of air to increase mass of air to burn fuel better? Where can I get insulators that would fit my setup? Is it best to put insulators on both head/manifold and manifold/carb? How about wrapping manifolds with manifold wrap? I would think that would just keep them even warmer though as opposed to helping them dissipate heat faster

If you have direct contact between the heads and manifolds, the heat of the head is transferred through the manifolds to the carbs ... they will get HOT.

Use the standard insulators as on an FI car between the heads / manifolds. Another insulator between the manifolds & carbs wouldn't hurt but may not be necessary.

Cold air intake is just that ... to keep the carbs from sucking hot air and decreasing the density of the air charge ... just like driving at high altitudes.

In aviation .. air density / altitude is critical at times. "High, Hot & Humid" is not a good condition for maximum HP.

I currently have the paper gaskets that came with the carbs but I suppose I could use something better. Any recommendations?

Like Ron mentioned, phenolic insulators as used on FI engines. In some instances, you'll need to install longer intake manifold studs.

I am trying to find the correct ones. Will the Victor Reinz gaskets from Pelican be correct?

Depends what engine you have...

1.7/1.8


2.0L