Diputado

Hey 67 Mustang,

I said 1/8 INCH rotation at the distributor base....not 1/8 total rotation. Yeah, with THAT much it'd be way off. In my case, somebody had actually put a small nick in the dist. base to mark where they set it (assuming it was PO), and I only moved that index mark about 1/8 inch counterclockwise.

Al Newman

Time the danged thing with a vacuum gauge. Get a reliable vacuum source, and with the engine at about 800 rpm and any vacuum advance disabled, adjust timing to achieve highest vacuum reading on gauge. Then back timing off to drop gauge about two points. That should be about right for your setup. If you can find leaded gas or racing fuel to run, set timing at highest vacuum reading. With unleaded crap, you will experience detonation there, though.

MtnMustang

Well Al beat me to it. I always set timing on engines using a vacuum gauge. Your symptoms really sound like a timing issue more than anything.

The only way I know to check ring or piston clearance is to pull the piston and remove a ring and push ring into cylinder and measure the gap in the ring with a feelers gauge.

Diputado

Thanks, guys! Yeah...I finally bought a good vacuum gauge and set the timing that way a while back. Advanced it up until it was pulling about 16-18inches of vaccum, and backed it back to about 14. With our crappy gas here (91 octane) I can't advance it too much. Like I said...the problem (hot starting) seemed to "go away" for several months, but has started to reappear. Anyway...am planning on some major work on the engine in a few months (new cam, heads, distributor), and will put on an actual timing pointer then. In the meantime, I think I'll go back and re-check my timing with the vacuum gauge, just in case.