9165pt0

Installed new balancer and timing pointer, trying to make sure everything is correct. When I rotate the engine and get piston 1 at the top of compression stoke, where should the timing pointer be pointing? Mine is close to ATC, I was told it should be near BTC 0 degrees

dawson1112

It should be at btc 0

9165pt0

hmm, ive tried it several times. as soon as air gets pushed out of cylinder 1 the pointer is always at where the balancer says ATC. it starts up, runs, and the pointer is at 14degrees at idle with spout out. Something is really off here with the timing/balancer.

dawson1112

That's because as soon as it starts to expel air is not tdc,

it is starting to compress but still coming up.

You need to put a short wood dowel ( not to short so it don't fall in ) the spark plug hole then as your bringing the piston up on the compression stroke, TDC is when the dowel stops coming up and right before it starts to go back down.

9165pt0

thank you so much, you have been a real help for my past few posts. wood dowel, makes perfect sense and ez to use since im doing it alone.

hopefully its right on and no more issues. ill report back with results.

barnett468

besides the pointer, what exactly is the problem you are trying to fix?

9165pt0

Well I had been battling a slight knocking sound. Can hear it at idle and usually most at low rpms light throttle. can really hear it through the exhaust. While trying to track sound the issue, I noticed my harmonic balancer was messed up. The rubber was all cracked and coming out. The oil pressure guage got a lil lower than usual also. And the oil a a few tiny bits of metal. So I have installed new harmonic balancer, changed oil and filter, and checked oil pressure with mechanical guage. Readings were 50psi cold idle, 40psi at 2000rpm, and 25-30 psi hot idle. I also took off the valve covers today, and made sure nothing was loose or showed any signs of damage, also retorqued down the rockers. The tick/knock is still there and really audible in exhaust with stethoscope and egr valve and the thermactor exhaust tube behind the heads. But as far as the timing, I was able to find TDC, only issue with the timing right now is I have to push dizzy all the way to the driver side as much as I can to get timing between 10-14 degrees. Which is odd, since Im usually right near the middle of how far you can turn dizzy left to right to adjust timing. (if that's making sense) If I keep dizzy where it normally sits, the timing is too far advanced.

barnett468

if you had steel in your oil and it has a lifter tick your cam is likely going flat. if its aluminum its bearing material. you need to move all your wires on your distributor 1 post clockwise. if you did not touch the dist or plug wires then either your timing chain jumped a tooth or your gear on your dist has sheared the pin or the timing marks on your new damper are off.

remove the dist vac line

rotate dist until highest rpm is achieved.

once rpm quits increasing or eng stumbles as you continue to advance the dist stop and retard it 3 degrees.

dist vac must be connected to ported vac not manifold vac. if its efi then i don't know.

it it turns over more slowly when it is hot then retard timing 3 more degrees.

9165pt0

It wasn't aluminum, almost like steel sand. It maybe a lifter, but when I pushed down on all of them they didn't bleed down easily. I doubt a lifter is hitting the cam lobe, that happened to a buddys car and I heard it. This sound isn't similar, but its just hard to explain. But def coming from rear of engine.

Its efi, I didn't take any plug wires off. I did restab the dizzy, everything lined up immediately before I removed dizzy. Now it sits way to the right, to achieve the same timing. idk

tinman

You really can't be precise when trying to replace the timing pointer unless you have the heads off the engine and have access to a dial indicator in order to tell you the exact place of the piston is at tdc.
I use the ones sold by Ford Racing that are adjustable.
This is just MHO, BTW........