Not running right

[Casey E]

The op states the engine was rotated while the distributor was out. For him to reinstall it, it should be at TDC on the compression stroke. It is unclear how much the engine rotated and what he did to reinstall the distributor. In a 4 stroke engine the distributor rotates 1 time for every 2 revolutions of the crankshaft(360x2=720 degrees). Keep in mind with an engine everything is all about degrees in revolution. A spark plug fires every 120* of crank revolution. 720÷6 cylinder =120*. When #1 is on the compression stroke at tdc, #6 is at tdc on the exhaust stroke or vice versa. If it's 180 out, you can time it using #1 sparkplug wire even though #1 cylinder would be on the exhuast , but it would be more accurate using #6 wire because it will be actually firing its plug on #6's compression stroke.

If I’m fallowing, you’re saying he could move the wires to get it to run if it’s 180 out ?

 

[pb4ugo]

He could just use #6 spark plug wire if its 180* out. If he's a tooth or 2 off,bhe may be able to move the wires. I would install the distributor correctly with #1 on tdc of the compression stroke. It's not that difficult.

 

[Grayscale]

The most immediate information is / was post #13. The amount of engagement with the oil pump is really shallow, and hard to see without a mirror. It is important to observe how far down the distributor seats, before you pull it out. I wasted my F-motor in about '01 for this reason, should have been rebuilt, but it was scrapped and a different engine was installed. It needed bearings, but that gets into a tear-down and partial, or full rebuild. On other motors, they have the camshaft drive the oil pump on it's own gear directly, and the oil pump has a slot for the distributor, and the distributor seats down on the block with screws, not clamped on its circumference, a great design-innovation, avoiding that whole mess of troubleshooting by how it runs.

 

[andrewbridges1]

You are not at TDC at the BB. That is 7* before. TDC is the line under the BB. If you put it on that line, your rotor will probably be pointing at #4.

View attachment 3717518

These are supposed to be set to the bb though correct? You don’t want it firing on tdc you want it 7* btdc?

 

[pb4ugo]

To install the distributor the engine should be on tdc on the compression stroke, not the bb. Timing gets set to the bb.

 

[DeskJock]

To ensure you set the distributor into the oil pump, I used a remote start switch. I first got the engine set to top dead center and aligned the distributor- the. Remote start pushing down on the top of the distributor and you’ll feel it drop in.

Then, recheck top dead center and cylinder number 4 alignment.

For me - I could see a tooth difference when it was aligned wrong. The picture in the factory service manual is worth a thousand words.

 

[pb4ugo]

To install the distributor the engine should be on tdc on the compression stroke, not the bb. Timing gets set to the bb.

Actually, the 7* is not going to really make much of a difference when installing the dist. You're probably fine.