Is it time for 20W50? (1 Viewer)

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I talked to a mechanic that purchased a FJ40 when the previous owner gave up because he never got it to run right, turns out he had been tinkering with the timing and kept adjusting it the wrong way and gave up :dunno:
 
I'm not sure if you are running a stock dist. or not, but I'm pretty sure that they have an octane selector (timing dial). It might not give you enough range, but check it out.

that marble noise is what I was mentioning about when I said it would rattle under stress if it's too far advanced.
(I'm running a mallory distributor, so unfortunatley I can't help with trying to get it to move.)
 
1. Loosen the bolt
2. Apply fair amount of "massaging" with BFH.

It'll move. Getting it out is hard if it hasnt been done in say a decade or so... I am having the same problem. Want to pull the distributor and clean it out. There is all kinds of rust in there and the vaccuum advance is not able to move since the ring it pivots on is siezed up. I would really like to get a newer 2F distibutor though so I can just use the one retaining bolt and not the rusted little retainer ring and its tightening bolt (which is stripped).

I kinda gave up on taking it out since the corrosion is the only thing that is keeping the distibutor from moving right now.
 
The distributor is stock. In 79, they didn't have the octane selector (or I couldn't find a cap to remove).
I saw the Perfect Obsession pic - damn!! Looks like this electrical guy is going to have to use some mechanical advantage.
Wish me luck, and hope that I don't put a tool through the radiator or something catastrophic like that. More updates when I A)get it to move and line up the timing, or B) hurt myself and give up.
Thanks all for the support.
 
Good luck!!!! I feel your pain.......give the yoda some blood and hopefully it will give...lol.
 
I finally got the distributor to move (had to use a pair of vice grips and a torque arm). I also had the cap and rotor off as well. I tuned in the timing and it seems to be running fine, but I'll know for sure when I can get on the highway this afternoon and run it for a while.

I'm bothered that the timing was so far off. I did notice that the stock distributor internal parts had some heavy oxidation, but does that mean that the distributor is possibly stuck in "full advance"? I'm thinking that I may have to dig a little deeper and consider either playing with the moving parts or just buying a replacement.

... More later...
 
A couple of things here.

I switched to Castrol GTX(owners manual recomened brand) High milage 20w50 this past weekend, it quieted things down quite a bit.

The "marbles" you all are describing is ping if I think I know what I'm talking about. I had it , added octane booster, helped a little. It would only happen between coasting and full throttle. I have been adjusting my HEI dizzy for awhile. Sunday, eireka!, I turned it the other way, NO MORE PING! Schwinnnng!

One word of warning, those stock dizzy's get stuck in there pretty solid, I used a BFH and busted the dizzy housing. Good thing I was replacing it anyway.

Oh yeah, lucasoil rocks, I use it in everything now.
 
Well, I got the 40 on the highway for a while yesterday to check things out and everything looks good. It used to rattle between 2700 and 3000 rpm under load. No problems with that now, and I'll still be nice to it by only letting her run at 3000 rpm max.

Thanks all very much for the help, resolving this issue was an educational experience and that to me is invaluable.
 

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