Weird Timing issue on my 318 V8 5.2L

68dartgtman said
Hey Guys & especially Yellow Rose -
I am sorry that I pissed you off as that wasn't my intention - I let my anger get the best of me over the problems this car has given me - I know better than that - I know we are all here to seek advice and help each other out - my anger made me forget that - and I do apologize to everyone -
I can be a Dumbshit at times -

I just want to drive this car after all the years of work & $$$ I have put into her..............and every time I turn around, there seems to be another issue or re-occuring issues that never seem to go away.............. I need to just walk away from it for a while and calm down - but most of all - realize again that it is a 48 year old car!

thank you

68dartgtman said
Hey Guys

I had to replace the water pump and the intake gaskets on my 318 V8. The intake was plug with carbon completely - had that cleaned - started car last night and she'll burn the tires off in an instant ! My question is this:
I put the timing light on it and the line in the harmonic balancer is 2 inches below the timing plate ! When I turn the distributor to make the line come up to the "O" on the plate the engine shuts down. I have been reading on here and had a mechanic friend say that the harmonic balancer has shifted so just adjust the timing by ear. I can live with that since the engine runs so well. My question is this :
Would the shifting of the harmonic balancer in any way affect the way you position the spark plug wires in the distributor cap?
When I replaced the cap I simply put the new wires exactly where the old ones were and she ran fine - but last night I decided to make sure I had the wires in the correct position on the cap and come to find out the wires are off by two positions from Number 1 position - the car will not start now - not even trying to fire off ..........
This is why I am asking ........... could the engine have jumped time at some point in it's life?
My experience has been when a engine "jumps time" is usually will not run - but like I said - she will burn the tires off she runs so well with the plug wires in the wrong position on the distributor cap !

I have also read that I need to un-hook the vacuum advance before timing - I did not do that because I didn't know - will try that tonight after work.......
any ideas?????

I would set the dampener slit to 15 BTDC #1 compression. (the rotor will be under or nearly under the #1 plug wire cap terminal). (If rotor is under the #6 plug wire, turn the dampener around 1 turn again to the 15). turn dist housing slightly till the magnet is dead even with the tooth (rotor still under that #1 plug wire). lock dist down. plug in the can (if it ain't already plugged in). fire that puppy up. EDIT actually if you are on #6 compression/rotor under #6 plug wire you are OK just by lining up the magnet with the tooth but starting at #1 does make it easier to confirm correct plug wire firing order 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 clockwis around the cap ( On occaision I still have visual probs with 5 & 7!