Firing Order

[BuujinBejiita]

I would highly apreciate it if someone could tell me the firing order from front to rear of the engine and the distributor order, i recently ordered a header and a twice pipes exhaust package, but i already have my new spark plugs and wires, but my car sometimes missfires so i believe it is in the wrong order so i do not want to put in the new stuff until i know 100% that its all in the right order. Thank you

[Bambikiller240]

153624 (ten charecters)

[BuujinBejiita]

well what is the distributor order, or is it the same? how do you tell where 1 starts ect.

[BuujinBejiita]

nevermind the last one the picture just now loaded sorry

Thank you very very much for the fast reply and the great picture

[Bambikiller240]

the firing order is the firing order.

[Mike]

This is the proper firing order on 99% of the L-series engines. However, mine was flipped around 180 degrees after my engine rebuild. I guess the engine builder installed the distributor shaft backward.

I fought with this problem for about half a day before I just said, "screw it," and tried the 180 flip. My car fired right up.

[Zs-ondabrain]

I'm confused Mike, I thought almost all of the L-series had an off-set key so it was next to impossible to do a 180

[Mike]

I'm confused Mike, I thought almost all of the L-series had an off-set key so it was next to impossible to do a 180

I believe the offset key, you are referring to, is on the receiving side of the distributor. However, the other side is a shaft with a gear on it. After looking at the microfiche CD (shameless plug), I can see that another key may exist on the bottom side. This key is used for the oil pump?

Anyway, if the oil pump is running 180deg out of whack I don't believe it would be a problem either. So, I'm thinking the shaft was put in with the wrong rotation.

See the attached snapshot of the microfiche part #22.

[Bambikiller240]

Dave:

The driveshaft that operates the oil pump and the distributor does have an offset tang to it which should be in a specific orientation. When it *is* in the correct orientation, the distributor can only be installed in the correct orientation.

HOWEVER, the driveshaft *can* be installed in any orientation (i.e. it will "fit" in any orientation) that someone cares (or more accurately "doesn't care") to attempt. If this driveshaft is installed wrong, the distributor will be trying to fire the cylinders at the wrong time in relation to the combustion cycles of the cylinders.

I had that problem also due to the picture in the FSM and How to Rebuild books being slightly out of whack.

This image shows the picture in the How to Rebuild Manual on the left and on the right is a picture of my engine with the driveshaft tang set to match the picture in the manual as close as possible. The engine would not start.

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=8805&size=big&sort=1&cat=3109

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The below image shows (on the left) a picture that you sent me of your car showing the distributor with rotor pointing at #1 lug on the Dist Cap with the engine set at #1 TDC

The picture on the right is my distributor with the engine set at #1 TDC and the Dist driveshaft tang set as shown in the above picture. As you can see, the rotor isn't pointing where it's supposed to be. The engine would not start.

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=8928&size=big&sort=1&cat=3109

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The attached photo below shows on the LEFT the Distributor Driveshaft tang as set according to the FSM and How to Rebuild Manual pictures. On the RIGHT is a picture of the driveshaft as it appeared when I disassembled the engine for rebuild.

After the Rebuild, when I set the driveshaft tang to match the way it was found, (1 tooth off from the way it shows in the books) the engine then fired right up.

NOTE: This was discussed in another thread (that I can't find) and Victor Laury and sblake01 acknowledged that they had noticed the same situation when working on their engines.

EDIT: Mike is right the oil pump doesn't care how the driveshaft is installed. It only matters to the Distributor.