Need help with timing

[Veltboy618]

I recently pulled my engine (SBC 350 block # 3970010)out of one Cutlass & put it in my other one. I took the cap off but I broke the rotor when & was pulling it out. The distributor was getting caught up so I pulled it out too. Later I found out a wire in the distributor was broken so i dropped another one in exactly how I pulled the other one out. Once I got everything wired up I tried to start it & it wouldn't fire up. After that didn't work i moved the distributor counter clockwise & tried it again now it sounds like it want to fire up but I couldn't turn the distributor anymore. I ended up moving all the plug wires around 1 spot counter clockwise & it fired up but that is wrong because now the # 8 wire is in the #1 spot

I'm sure I had it wired just like the diagram before I took everything apart & I know i dropped the new distributor back in the same spot that the old one came out of so I don't know whats going on here... Please help!!!

 

[pontiacgp]

if I were you I`d start over...take the number 1 plug out and when it hits the compression stroke check the balance to make sure its on 0 and then set your distributor so the rotor is point to number 1 on the cap and then put the wires on the cap

 

[Veltboy618]

I'm about to head over to the car now & try to get this figured out. How can I tell when its on the compression stroke?

 

[crucial118]

I'm about to head over to the car now & try to get this figured out. How can I tell when its on the compression stroke?

#1 cylinder piston will be all the way up

 

[Veltboy618]

I'm about to head over to the car now & try to get this figured out. How can I tell when its on the compression stroke?

#1 cylinder piston will be all the way up

Don't the piston go all the way up on the compression & the exhaust stroke?

 

[Phoenyx]

Hold your finger over the spark plug hole. When you hear the air forced out of the hole you have it.

 

[Veltboy618]

Okay I'm confused now. I did this before to find the compression stroke but it's not working this time. I pulled the #1 spark plug out to find the compression stroke but when I put the paper to plug the hole it blow out on the compression stroke & on the exhaust stroke. What's going on here??? It should blow the paper out once every 2 spins of the distributor rotor right???isn't it one full spin of the rotor for each stroke?

 

[pontiacgp]

The reason why the paper blew out on the exhaust stoke it that although the exhaust valve is open the piston coming up the volume in the cylinder cannot escape the exhaust opening that quickly and creates pressure..but significantly less pressure than a compression stroke. If you set it up on the exhaust stroke then it will backfire so just turn the distributor 180* and it should be good

 

[megaladon6]

i maybe confused here but let me double check
you have the engine running, but the plug wires are one spot off on the cap?
that's nothing. what happened is that you positioned the rotor in the line you wanted and it turned on it's helical gear when it dropped in. (quite often it looks like it's in, but once the gears move a little bit it drops more.)
it's nothing that needs to be fixed, but if you want to, get the motor to TDC (either stroke, it's just for position reference) and pull the cap. pull the rotor and reposition it about 15* clockwise of where you want it. play with it until it drops all the way in (remember it'll spin back CC) and you should be good. (BTW i might have the spin direction backwards, if so just reverse them)

 

[Phoenyx]

I have to admit that in all my years I have NEVER put a distributor in right the first time. lol