New intake/ timing issues

[bigjoenvegas]

Ok, I installed a new Edelbrock intake the other day on my elco and made sure to mark the distributor and everything else as I took it apart. The car had a broken intake at the bolt closest to the #1 cylinder, so it was leaking and it ran a little rough. After changing the manifold, the distributor wouldn't go in at the same spot (which was pointing towards #1). I didn't turn the engine in any way so I don't know why it did that but I think that it is the oil pump not lining up with the dist. shaft. Anyways the dist. fell into place with a little bit of turning but it was pointed towards the #2 cylinder now (front passenger). So I pulled off the #1 cylinder spark plug and hand cranked the engine till it seemed like it was at TDC by using a thick piece of wire in the spark plug hole. After that I marked the dist. rotar on the housing to show where #1 would fire. I installed the cap, lining a tower up with the mark, and correctly adjusted all my wires 1,8,4,3,6,5,7,2, starting with the marked tower. I had to turn the dist. a little but I got it started. I adjusted it to where I thought it should be and it would hessitate and sometimes pop when I would rev it. So I would adjust it till that would stop. I hooked up a timing light and the mark on the pulley was almost 2 and a half inches away from the timing marks on the block. Now I've adjusted the timing so where the mark on the pulley is about an inch to the left of the marks on the block but the car doesn't wanna really go and If I floor it, it sometimes will pop. My queston is. Is my timing too advanced? Is there a better way of finding TDC? My transmission lines at the radiator are leaking, could that be my loss of power when accelerating? Could the old rubber tubing leading from the transmission to the back of the manifold cause it to lose power and make it feel like the transmission is slipping? I did adjust my edelbrock carb a little bit too. Oh, and I also gotta fix a leaky valve cover.

 

[monte olrac]

go buy a timing light, so you can time it correctly...just eying it will produce bad results.

 

[billyjack]

Sounds like you may have the distributor 180 degrees off. You may have set #1 at TDC when it was coming up for the exhaust stroke rather than the compression stroke. It's a very common error. How the engine runs that way I don't know, but it will run, albeit poorly. Go back to square one. Have someone bump the key while you cover the #1 plug hole with your thumb. When you feel the compression pressure, bump until the timing marks line up. Now put the distributor back in the proper place. If the oil pump drive won't let the distributor go all the way in, turn the oil pump drive shaft with a long screwdriver. Remember that the dist. will rotate slightly as it engages the cam gear, since the cam gear is helical cut. Re-install your wires in the proper place on the cap, and crank it again. Adjust until the timing to around 4-8 degrees BTDC without vacuum advance or computer advance, and you should be good.

Bill

 

[bigjoenvegas]

Thank you. I didn't think the car would run with the dist. 180 degrees off. It seemed fine at idle but when I drove it was a different story. It was very sluggish, but still wanted to go. No knocking, pinging, just hesitating and no responce when accelerating. I'll check it out. BTW, I do have a timing light.