he said pull the coil wire because its a safety precaution (wouldnt want it starting up while your hands are down there by the fan now would we?)

you have it right for finding TDC (top dead center) but moving the distributor will not change that. if you have your finger pressed against the spark plug hole on the #1 cylinder (front passenger side) and a friend rotates the motor in a clockwise direction you'll feel air pushing up on and around your finger. this is the compression stroke. when the piston gets to the top of the cylinder the line for 0 deg (top dead center) on the balancer should line up with the "needle".

now that you know your balancer hasnt spun and things line up like they should, first replace the coil wire. then replace the spark plug and spark plug wire from the #1 cylinder you had taken out. put the clamp thingy from the timing light anywhere on the #1 wire. connect the positive and negative clamps from the gun onto your battery. next, unplug the rubber hose going from your carburator to the distributor (leave it connected to the carburator) and plug the hose with something so there is no vacuum leak (a small bolt works great for this). loosen the bolt that holds the distributor in place, its a 1/2" wrench. (dont loosed it too much, just enough so you can rotate the distributor.... not too much now, you wanna keep thta sucker where it was). start the car and at an idle point the gun at the balancer / needle and pull the trigger. when the light flashes you see which number is lining up with the needle. it wont be 0, it should be somewhere from 6-14 degrees unless you rotated the distributor too far when you loosened it. anyhow, you probably want to set it @ 10-12 and lock the bolt down. check it again to make sure it didnt move while tightening the bolt. shut down the car, unhook the light and hook the hose back up from the carb to the distributor and your done.

road testing is a good idea, take 'er out for a spin and if you dont hear "pinging" under a acceleration in your top gear everything is fine. if you DO hear pinging, you need to use better gas, or back the timing down a couple degrees like 8-10.

i dont think i could lay it out any more complete than that - print this page and get to work

 

All except you don't need to get the engine to TDC on #1, you just need to mark the slot on the balancer so you can see it with the light. Do what my77stang said, but start at the 3rd paragraph.

 

texas, just making sure that his balancer hasnt slipped at all - laying it all out there[8D]

 

Yup - my balancer slipped, rendering my Summit timing tape USELESS. Andfinding "exact" TDC can be such a PITA! So I scrapped the timing light and got a vacuum guage to set the timing the OLD SCHOOL way. Using the vacuum guage, set your idle to where the vacuum is highest and your idle speed is as desired. Then get out and drive the car (bring a 1/2" wrench with you), and listen for pinging. If it pings on hard acceleration, pull over and retard the timing a bit (i.e. loosen distributor ("dizzy") bolt, turn dizzy counterclockwise 1/8" to 1/4", then retighten bolt. Get in the car and test again. Keep doing this until you don't hear anymore pinging on HARD acceleration.

Anyone want to buy a new timing light???? j.k...

 

You may want to check the point dwell before you set the timing since the point gap affects timing. 26 to 32 (lower is better), then timing then make sure you idle speed is correct.

 

just a question on that:
i once set ignition on a 68 289, where the timing was either slipped, or where the balancer was mounted in a wrong way.
For some reason we ciould see the marking when timing the 2nd ! cylinder. i would have said ok if the 2nd cylinder is out by 180 or 90 degrees, but the 2nd is the 4th to fire. so i just wanted to ask:

is it possible to mount the balancer 90 degrees or any degress wrong, or is this one slipped ?
if it's slipped I'll give him a call and we'll do it again going for the allmighy ping method ...

Kalli

 

Go to Google and type in ignition timing for your year and make with engine size!![8D]

 

That is an interesting situation. I think that it mayit is safe to say that either the balancer has slipped or the balancer and timing pointer may be mismatched and the engine is timed 180* out.

My guess would be that timing with a light would be ineffective under either of these conditions.

Without really looking at the construction of a Ford balancer, I will beinclined to say that a slipped balancer will effect the proper external balance of a SBF, which will eventually cause issues.

A properly built, installed (using it's key-way)and sourced balancer is impossible to install in the wrong position.

 

i believe as well that the thing should be impossible to mount in a wrong way.
The next time I meet him I'll check with a mirror if there's a a nut or similar to prevent this.

My guess was that it must have slipped so timing with a strobe is rendered completely useless in this case.
I'll check as well with a rug (get rid of 1st cyl spark plug. block hole with rug/cloth. then start and see when it pops.
I's a pain you cannot see the valve positions of first cylinder without removing the cover.

Are there any other ways on checking if the engine is on TDC first cylinder without relying on the timing marks ?


Kalli

 

Actually yes, This device can be inserted into a spark plug hole. The engine is advanced carefully by hand until the piston stops, then the caliper is used to fine tune actual TDC.
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...p;autoview=sku