Thank you, Dave.
I'll try to answer your questions in close to the order you've asked them:
I wasn't as diligent as you were when I removed the distributor. My markings were limited to the dizzy position relative to the side of the push rod gallery. But I eyeballed the rotor position relative to the dizzy enclosure/head, figuring that as long as the rotor is coming up on the #1 cylinder and the hold down bolt at the base of the dizzy is toward the center of its range of travel, that it would fire and I could set timing with a timing light. In fact I had it running, set the timing at the BB and drove it for about an hour, but after I pulled into the driveway I couldn't get it restarted the next morning after it cooled down. While I had it running, I took a couple of turns up some local hills and found that it was a gutless wonder--less power than it had before the recurve, though I'm expecting better performance by properly setting the total timing. And that's when I started playing with the distributor thinking that there was still something amiss.
Setting timing when I first install the dizzy is to find TDC of the compression stroke and then move to the BB for 7* BTDC for starters. (Rather, not really start-ING.) I read in the FSM that the keyed slot in the oil pump is supposed to be at 35*, so I'm suspecting that is my problem--not getting the correct orientation when I seat the helical gear in the oil pump and winding up pointing closer to #4 than to #1. After multiple attempts at 7* pulling out the dizzy and reinserting it another gear cog over, I tried to come up with another timing configuration based on some of the other mud posts. (Timing in the mud vernacular doesn't distinguish between base timing and total timing.) Thanks for making the distinction between base timing and total timing. That helps.
I didn't remove any of the plug wires, except the #1 at the cylinder so I can find the compression stroke. After I put the distributor cap back in place, I make sure that I haven't displaced one inadvertently.
Since I live at 5,200 feet and want to drive this rig up to 7K or 8K feet and down to the Texas coast, I have it in my head that I want to reinstall the HAC and I think that is complicating things so I disconnected and plugged those vacuum lines with golf tees until I get it running right.
I'm not ready to give up on your recurve. As I said earlier, I've had this thing running since I put it back together. It's just a matter of getting it to start easily and run dependably.
This little project is going to sit until Friday--the first opportunity I have to dig in to it again. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Thanks you,
George
