Hey guys , this is a great forum!! I've had many question answered just reading through the archives and new posts. I have a few questions that maybe ysomeone could help me out with. I have a 1978 Chevy pick-up with a 350 small block. The wiring and electronics under the hood are minimal. I guess whoever had this had a short somewhere and burned up some wiring. They rerouted just the basic stuff, horn, coil hot wire, etc. , which leads to my few questions. The Hei was replaced with a standard points type ddistributor. As I said in an earlier post I was driving home one day and it just quit. After some help from you guys I figured out it was the timing chain. I replaced both gears and chain. Now here is where it geit tricky: I brought up #1 to TDC by lining up the timing mark on the crank gear in line with the center of both crank and cam jut like it says in my Chiltons, I then moved the cam around so that the other timing mark is at the bottom of the cam gear directly opposite the mark on the crank. My rotor is now pointing at about the #6 plug wire on the cap. Shouldn't it be pointing to my #1? Do the #1 and #6 reach TDC at the same time? Can I remove the distributor at TDC and reinstall it pointing to #1? Truck runs fine this way but mark on balancer is on the opposite side of the balancer when the #1 is firing. When I first got the truck home, before the chain gears went out, I tried to time it but I couldn't see the mark on the balancer and I just figured it was because of the dirt and grime. Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, 78chevy
Your best bet would be to probably take it to your local ASE certfied Mec, to get it done right,I to have points in my truck they are a pain in the a**, one of these days in near future IM going to HEI.
Dizzy 180° Out It sounds like your distributor is 180° out of time ~ remember , the distributor turns at 1/2 the engine's speed . This is a fairly common thing , even the guys in my truck shop do this from time to time . Bring the engine up to TDC whilst watching the # 1 cylinder intake valve , it should be closing as the TDC mark lines up . Now , remove the Dizzy and re-install it so the rotor points to the # 1 cylinder spark plug wire , static time it to about 9° BTDC and you should be off & running. If you can afford to buy one , or borrow , the inductive timing lights with the advance dial can be used to set the ignition timing far more accurately so it'll run on cheap pump fuel without knock or ping , run cooler , stronger and have more power too~ unles you've shaved the heads to raise the compression ratio , give it 28° ~ 32° all in , at 3,000 RPM's or so . This is one of those simple , basic things usually overlooked that will make any engine , old or new , give it's all . I am still using my $50.00 SEARS Craftsman inductive advance dial timing light I bought over 25 years ago ~ I know many hate Craftsman tools but this one is a good 'un , I know a few poorboys who bought them offE-pay for under $40.00 . I hope this helps .
Thanks for the help guys , that sounds like what I need to do. I'm still not ready to go HEI untill I get my wiring straightened up under the hood, but I'm slowly working on that. I have an inductive timing light, but not with an advance dial. Will start looking around for one. Thanks again!!
