Sloop0007 wrote:Question, I know the #1 cylinder must be at top dead center and the rotor should be pointing at the cylinder but when I get the cylinder at top dead cylinder, the groove where you stab the distributor is facing the back of the motor. So the rotor is facing the firewall too. And if you turn it @ to where you can stab it again, its facing the radiator. Not even close to #1 cylinder. My question is, does the slot with the gear on it where you stab the distributor turn at a different ratio than the motor turns over? Do I need to keep bumping it over till the slot is facing the #1 cylinder and #1 cylinder is top dead center?
U have NO CLUE
(sorry for the brutally harsh statement of fact)
Make sure you are on the compression stroke on #1( air wooshing out of the spark plug hole). If the distributor is out, drop it in place until set snug,( try to stab it with the rotor pointing in the general direction of #1 cylinder on the motor),position the cap on temporarily and gently lift up to see which spark plug hole the rotor is closest to....That will be your #1 starting point . Set the rest of the plug wires in proper order and rotation. Hope this makes sense and helps. Chris.
Update, I'm now a master mechanic! Not really but I did fix it. Started over from scratch. Got #1 cylinder at TDC on compression stroke as before. Stabbed the distributor and started running spark plug wires starting with numero uno on the distributor which was the direction the rotor was facing. Which was also no where near pointing at #1 cylinder so that ended up being irrelevant. Continued running wires in firing order from there until complete. But wait, there's more. It still wouldn't fire. So started thinking bout the instructions from skip white performance, which is where my brother got the distributor. ($54.95 with $10 shipping.)It stated that there would only be 3 wires going into the ign coil. I had 4. The previous electronic ign system had a ground going from the intake to negative terminal on the coil. Removed that ground and voilà! FIRE!!! So from there it was just a matter of adjusting the timing. I was so happy I took a couple victory laps and woke up the neighbors. I want to thank all you guys for the help. Another swepty tearing up the streets of Texas again...
And I did say from the beginning that I was clueless to all this pwrwgndrvr. But I am learning. And it was actually your brutal honesty on your last post that helped me figure it out. Thanks again...
Glad you got it go'in. FYI.....you get the rotor to point in the dIrection of #1 cylinder by moving the rotor close to that direction taking in consideration of the helical gear moving the rotor some as you stab it. You can get it pretty close then right on by moving the set dist. I think i just confused myself.
Sometimes its hard to covey the message to people needing help. I know that when I type up a response to someone needing help I keep going over my reply to see if all the information is written and even then I miss something. So much easier to actually show someone than write about it. That's how I prefer to do it.
Glad you got your truck running.
Cant drive mine right now as its too crappy outside and the city has been putting down calcium chloride to prevent black ice.(I know its not really black)
Txas2step wrote:Glad you got it go'in. FYI.....you get the rotor to point in the dIrection of #1 cylinder by moving the rotor close to that direction taking in consideration of the helical gear moving the rotor some as you stab it. You can get it pretty close then right on by moving the set dist. I think i just confused myself.
Chris, that does not work with mopar distributors because the helical drive gear is separate from the distributor. It stays in the engine when the distr is removed.
Txas2step wrote:Glad you got it go'in. FYI.....you get the rotor to point in the dIrection of #1 cylinder by moving the rotor close to that direction taking in consideration of the helical gear moving the rotor some as you stab it. You can get it pretty close then right on by moving the set dist. I think i just confused myself.
Chris, that does not work with mopar distributors because the helical drive gear is separate from the distributor. It stays in the engine when the distr is removed.
Terry, you are correct on the v-8's.....last one I stabbed was the /6....gear on the bottom of the dizzy.
So from there it was just a matter of adjusting the timing. I was so happy I took a couple victory laps and woke up the neighbors. I want to thank all you guys for the help. Another swepty tearing up the streets of Texas again...
