timing confusion

[p24-1953]

I have developed an issue with the car and lack of power. in previous posts i had disussed the engine rebuild and distributor issues i had. i picked the car up from the rebuilders with a NOS Distributor and Carb and a week later loaded it onto a trailer to ship to out new house in the mountains of virginia. I now have an issue with lack of power. on flat land (georgia and in town) the car does well it is a little more slugish than it used to be on the take off but on the hills it has absolutly no power. I have been saying i will get to checking the timing and tonight i finally did. when the light is attached to the # 1 spark plug at idle the timing is not at 0. (in fact this is where i have got my self confused.) on the crank the markings are 10 -0 -10 and when my light is set to 0 the pointer lines up with the top 10 so that means i have a timming of 10 atdc idle correct? ( i can not turn my light below 0 so i assume this is right.) if i rev it... it appeares that i top out at about 22 deg with the vaccume advance connected. so can the tab or crank be installed off? or are they keyed in ? would a 10tbdc inital timming cause sluggish hill climbing? which way to i turn the distributor to correct this?

thanks for the help

Edited September 30, 2012 by p24-1953

[Niel Hoback]

I would start by turning the distributor whichever way it takes to line the pointer up with the 0 degree mark and see how it performs.

[p24-1953]

thats part of the problem the dist wont turn any more counter clock wise. I have now read that there is a second adjustment screw but it appears to be on the underside of the dist. and i didnt want to start changing things if the timing tab could be off. I want to at least give the mechanic the benefit of doubt that he knew what he was doing.

[RobertKB]

The second bolt on the back is easy to get at. I believe it is 7/16 and easily reached with a short wrench. You should be able to set it at 0 TDC without any trouble. There is a lot of adjustment with the second bolt. With today's gas probably better to set it about 2-4 degrees before TDC. Good luck.

[Niel Hoback]

You needn't remove the distributor to loosen either bolt, and, it is very, very unlikely that the timing tab could be off.

[james curl]

I had my harmonic balancer rebuilt by the Damper Doc. When I sent it to him the rubber had all deteriorated to the point that the outer ring was loose. After I got it and installed it on the engine before I put the head on I checked the timing and at zero on the balancer the piston on number 1 was about half way up. I called and talked to him, He thought he might have set the ring for a later model flat head six. On mine the key way is straight up at tdc, he redid the balancer to reflect that condition and the timing is right on tdc at 0. Check your engine, does it have just a steel pulley or a harmonic balancer? If you have a balancer the outer ring could have slipped.

[p24-1953]

it is a steel pulley, no balancer. what would be the effects of having the timing that far advanced?

[48mirage]

You do not want to run that engine that far advanced. The effects are the same as suffering from preignition due to too low an octane gas. You are reaching maximum combustion chamber pressure before the piston reaches TDC. You in effect are working against the pressure until the piston reaches TDC then you are only able to run on a lower chamber pressure. This condition is hard on pistons, piston pins, rings and bearings.

[Merle Coggins]

Check your points. If the NOS distributor was installed without properly lubricating the rub block of the points you could have accelerated wear causing your points gap to be reduced. This will effect the ignition timing too, causing loss of power. This happened to me once when I forgot to lube the rub block on a new set of points. It didn't take long before I lost power and had a bit of a hesatation off of idle. After I regapped the points and readjusted the timing the power came back.

Merle

[Rodney Bullock]

Have you checked the vacum advance. I have had problems like yours when the canister developed a leak. The car becomes sluggish because the vacum advance is not doing it's job.

[p24-1953]

i talked to the mechanic that did the work and he said that he did set it to 4btdc. so im assuming that since the distributor was not tightened down well and over the past couple of trips it has self adjusted some. i will correct this issue tonight and see how it runs. The self adjusting might explain how it droves so good when i first picked it up and it has slowly degraded.

[RobertKB]

Please let us know the results as this kind of issue, when resolved, is a benefit to forum members who may have a similar problem at some point.

[p24-1953]

last night I night i set the inital timming at 4btdc and needless to say she starts easier now. when reved her the timming now goes to 32 BTDC so i think i might be good to go. i will take her for a cruse around here as soon as it stops raining.

Edited October 3, 2012 by p24-1953
stupidity

[p24-1953]

With the vacuum advance connected when revved it shows 32 deg before top dead center. Is that not correct for our cars?. I know on sbc that's good.

Edited October 3, 2012 by p24-1953
stupidity

[Niel Hoback]

It has to be 32 degrees before or it wouldn't run. If you set the idle speed timing at 4 before, it should go to 32 before.

[p24-1953]

Sorry about that.. your right. It is before top dead center. When facing the engine. Btdc is to the right of the 0 line on the crank?correct?

[Niel Hoback]

Yes. Now you've got it.

[Guest P15-D24]

Do you disconnect the vacuum advance line at the carb and plug it at the carb?

[Niel Hoback]

No. At idle speed there is no vacuum signal from the carb.

[1941coupe]

I time my engine through the hole over #6 piston. Remove the plug and install your homemade dial indicator timing tool. This method is as precise as it gets and will never fail. You can chose to time it anywhere BTDC up to what the maintenance manual says is ok. I think my 41 is a maximum of 7º. Be sure to remove all of the plugs and turn the engine over using the fan belt.