new ignition

[Tourniqet]

Hey guys,

I just put a mallory distributor on my car. I like it alot. I use to have a problem of the car not getting enough gas at higher revs under continous acceleration due to a fuel pressure regulator, but this new ignition sparks strong enough to supass the old problem... ( I think thats what its doing...)

Anyway, I spent about 2 hours trying to figure out how to hook it up. After a few backfires and some other noises I finally took the valve cover off and the first sparkplug and set it to TDC. I tried this before but I think I had it at TDC of the exhaust stroke... I dont know really know what the little tiks on the crank pulley are but would like to!!! I have the order of the cylinders 153624 starting from the one closest to the radiator...

When I use my timing light on the first sparkplug (closest to radiator) I cant even see the timing tiks... I have no idea what they are and never really used them... I just turned the dist by hand untill the idle sounded its best, and then gave it a few revs and ya... thats it.... It runs well and feels like all cylinders are firing and well...

PLEASE TELL ME ALL THE TIMING TRICKS THAT YOU KNOW, ALONG WITH THE BAISICS!

Thanks

[Tourniqet]

ok maybe I scared you guys away with the caps....

anything ?

[LanceM]

With the engine TDC on #1 compression stroke the timing mark on the dampner should align with the 0 mark on the timing tab, if it dosen't the something is wrong with the dampner or it is not the right one...

If it does align correctly then with your timing light connected to the #1 plug you should be able to see the mark on the dampner at low idle.

[Bambikiller240]

If you have a pre-73 Z car you probably don't have a "timing tab" with a "0" mark. What you will see is a "pointer" attached to the timing cover of the engine, and several notches in the couter edge of the crankshaft damper/pulley. If that is what you have, looking down as you stand in front of the car, the biggest and deepest notch is TDC and should be the one all the way to the left. The space between each notch = 5 degrees of crankshaft timing, the the 5th notch (the one all the way to th right) = 20 degrees BEFORE TDC. If you ahve a hard time seeing the notches, take a piece of white chalk or white crayon and rub it over the notches to make them stand out. Set timing according to the specs in your manual. (you do have a manual, don't you?)

[Inf]

Find the notches on the dampner when the engine is not running and clean/mark them with some whiteout or something similar. They might just be filled in with road grime or something.