What did I do? Help?

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67Dart273 said:
Are you ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you did not screw up on the plug wiring, or timing light cylinder selection? Do you have a light that is NOT "dial up?"
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Never moved a single wire. I still checked twice. I have a snap on Dial light and a not dial up both reading accurate. I can't really vouch how good the other dizzy is. I do have a new pick up I can install but the engine runs great. Just the timing read out is whacked.
 
I ain't trying to be rude here, but are you sure you're looking at the damper correctly?
 
The same damper with timing tape that I've been reading for 4 years. I was reading timing a few days before this all started happing after removing and reinstalling the dist.
 
MobileCustoms said:
Well, if a spare distributor is behaving exactly the same then it can't be in the distributor. I think somehow the distributor drive gear may have came up a little and jumped at least 1 or 2 teeth over then dropped back down when you pulled it the first time. Put it at tdc again and pull the distributor then see where the drive gear slot is clocked. Then hold your distributor in roughly the same position over the hole and see where your rotor is pointing.
I'd be curious to know what your timing reads now if you were to move the pickup clamp to plug wire #8 or #2, or even #4 or #7.
I don't know if that would help verify if the gear could have jumped over or not. Just trying to help but I ain't real smart. It's gotta be something simple though since you didn't have much apart.
edit: My gear was off by a tooth for a while The guy that dynoed my engine installed it that way) and it ran just fine, but when at TDC, the rotor pointed more towards #5 spark plug and I had to rotate the distributor more to get the correct timing, if that makes sense. I moved the gear a tooth and now the rotor points towards plug #1 at TDC again. If you happened to rotate the rotor while pulling the distributor up and out, it could very easily have walked that gear up and over a tooth or two.
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THIS actually makes sense
 
67Dart273 said:
THIS actually makes sense
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Those gears move pretty easily if you put a flat blade screwdriver in there and turn it, the gear will walk right up and you can move either direction then. I'm guessing it would need to move the opposite way of what it naturally wants to, if that's what actually happened in the first place.
 
I know what you mean about the distributor gear. at 10 TDC on flywheel the rotor is pointing on #1 plug.
When this all started, I was figuring the crank balancer had slipped but Bump stop shows it's fine.
 
Only other dumb question I can think to ask, and don't recall seeing it in any of the previous info: When you set it to TDC, did you make sure it was on the compression stroke with air coming out of #1 plug hole?
 
Get out your FSM and follow the procedure for installing the dist.

There are 2 TDC one is on the compression stroke one is the exhaust stroke.

If you are timing it to the exhaust stroke your going to have issues!
 
Have you tried replacing the distributor cap? I've see hairline cracks or carbon tracks do crazy thing. May be one of your cheaper fixes!
 
TDC on compression stroke. I have done this 100 times. Also tried 180 out anyways. I've always had an a-body since 1976. I have the FSM. Read post #15. I type too slow to keep repeating myself lol. I do have another cap and rotor but doesn't explain why the motor still runs smooth just can't get a correct timing reading.
 
I had a similar thing happen in the 70's, found I was connecting to the wrong tower. My intermediate drive gear had moved. If your reading around 45 off, its one tower away on your distributor. ( 8 x 45 = 360). Experiment with connection to other tower when its running well. Sorry if this is repeat advice.
 
grjammer said:
I had a similar thing happen in the 70's, found I was connecting to the wrong tower. My intermediate drive gear had moved. If your reading around 45 off, its one tower away on your distributor. ( 8 x 45 = 360). Experiment with connection to other tower when its running well. Sorry if this is repeat advice.
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I agree. I think it may even be 2 teeth off.
 
Can you show us a photo of where your distributor is positioned when you have it turned enough to where it runs good?
 
When I set up my dizzy I turned my gear so my VC was facing forward as there is lots of space with the RPM intake and it made for easier access to the dizzy bolt. I then aligned rotor to #1 post on cap. This is how it's been for years now.
Here is Crank at TDC on Compression stroke. Here is rotor pointing at #1 post note I marked housing with sharpie before removal. 3rd pic is post 1 I am pointing at. When I 1st rebuilt the motor, I bump stopped the new Balancer and it was off 10'. Thats why you can see old timing tape under current tape.

Diz 1.jpg


Diz 2.jpg


Diz 3.jpg
 
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am I thinking wrong, because I think your timing tape might be on backwards. Has that been on there all along?
 
Here's a photo of mine and you can see that the timing tape also matches the faint etched numbers on the balancer.

20240710_103146.jpg
 
Kendog 170 said:
The same damper with timing tape that I've been reading for 4 years. I was reading timing a few days before this all started happing after removing and reinstalling the dist.
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I'm not sure how this is even possible with the tape on backwards?
 
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