Is my distributor off a tooth?

[MrSony]

To close up this thread, I located the 1st cylinder (frontmost on passenger side. Passenger side is 1 2 3 4 and driver's is 5 6 7 8. Weird huh?) aligned the rotor (points distributor btw) with the terminal for the #1 spark plug wire when the piston was just about at TDC. It helps to have one person inside bumping starter and another with finger over (not in 😛) the plug hole. Looked at the balancer, it was right on 30 degrees BTDC. Moved it a smidge to 15 degrees BTDC, (rotating it clockwise, pushing down on the ratchet) positioned the canister in the middle like I had it, put the dist. in, and it pops off nicely. Revs up better too. Now to fix that pesky donut gasket on the exhausts. 😀 Sorry for the over explanation, just wanted to put all the info outthere incase anyone else on here with a Ford 385 series needs help lol.

 

[87BlazeLS]

The devil lives in the details. These things are tricky and can be off just a bit if not careful on assembly.
Luckily now you know what to look out for on future events like this.

Glad to see it's better too. You must be happy....

 

[MrSony]

The devil lives in the details. These things are tricky and can be off just a bit if not careful on assembly.
Luckily now you know what to look out for on future events like this.

Glad to see it's better too. You must be happy....

Sure am. Purrs like a Tiger. Roars like one too. Those 2.5 duals and flowmasters sure do help it exhale.

 

[64nailhead]

It really isn't necessary to pull it if you're out of timing adjustment unless you're anal retentive about having the dizzy in the factory original location. The easiest solution is to move the plug wires to the next position clockwise or counterclockwise depending whether it doesn't have enough adjustment to advance or retard. It will take 10 minutes and you'll be done. Personally, I've never understood the obsession with this issue. SBC purist get crazy over the location of #1 plug wire. In your case, a Ford in a G-body, does it really matter?

This is the same solution when someone stabs the dizzy 180 out. If you do that, then just swap each wire to the location directly opposite location on the cap - done.

My thoughts and good luck - Jim.

 

[87BlazeLS]

Sure those methods will get your ride running. However there are the correct ways to which all
the manuals show in relation to other systems in the engine bay. Does it all really matter ?
I guess if you want to drive your car with the dist 180 out of phase and plugs wired in reverse
No harm done....

 

[pontiacgp]

It really isn't necessary to pull it if you're out of timing adjustment unless you're anal retentive about having the dizzy in the factory original location. The easiest solution is to move the plug wires to the next position clockwise or counterclockwise depending whether it doesn't have enough adjustment to advance or retard. It will take 10 minutes and you'll be done. Personally, I've never understood the obsession with this issue. SBC purist get crazy over the location of #1 plug wire. In your case, a Ford in a G-body, does it really matter?

This is the same solution when someone stabs the dizzy 180 out. If you do that, then just swap each wire to the location directly opposite location on the cap - done.

My thoughts and good luck - Jim.

it takes far less than 10 minutes to move the distributor over one tooth or 180°