Tune up frustration - Part Two

[bobc]

Well, today was another day. I decided to give it one more go, before driving the car into the ocean and lo and behold, it's running well at 5 degrees BTDC and dwell at 37 degrees! I don't know what I did differently, but it seems to be running well. One thing I did notice, it that it doesn't like to idle for any length of time with the hood up. The temp climbs about 3/4's of the way up, but this seems to be only happening when I'm working on it with the hood up. Sitting at lights or just sitting with the hood closed, it's only a bit past the middle.

So, looking a gift horse in the mouth, I've got one more question. I'm out of advance adjustment on the distributor. It's moved as far as it's going to go and all I'm getting is 5 degrees out of it. Any ideas?

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I'll do the valves someday soon or take it to Pierre.

Bob

[beandip]

I use to have a dist with points about 6 years back , there should be a secondary adjustment down on the dist shaft that will allow a further advance. I set the timing at 10 degrees BTDC . At least to to start with . Depending on what cam and such you are using. Unless you are trying to keep your car Concourse correct . The best thing I did for my stock L-24 was to install a ZX dist and coil. Bar none . GARY one more thing after rereading your post . When you are running at a retarded timing setting the engine will likely run hotter . I used to live down there in So cal . Do use coolant mixed at 50/50 . Not only will the engine run cooler but you will have better corrosion protection . Summer or winter . Gary

[bears240]

the pertronix point eliminator set up is really slick and you keep your stock dist. and get a high performance coil or just scrap the ballast resistor.

[biddljj]

http://www.pertronix.com/ignition_products/ignitor.htm

the pertronix point eliminator set up is really slick and you keep your stock dist. and get a high performance coil or just scrap the ballast resistor.

[Curtis240Z]

The distributor is secured to an adjustable mount. Besides the standard adjustment with the tick marks there is another sloted adjustment that is located at approximately the 12 o'clock position under the distributor. I believe it took an 8 mm wrench to get to it. If you need more than that you need to realign the distributor drive which would require you to drop the oil pump.

[=Enigma=]

If it's impossible to get the thing timed within the normal range of operation, something else must be wrong. How many miles do you have on the engine? Could this be a stretched timing chain guys?

[zack_280]

This has nothing to do with the timing chain since the distributor is driven directly from the crank.

[zack_280]

I had the exact same problem with mine. I can't remember how far I could adjust it somewhere around 0BTDC or maybe 5BTDC. No matter what I did I could not properly adjust the timing. I'm wondering if I put the oil pump/distributor drive gear on backwards. Whatever was/is wrong my car runs great. I just dropped the oil pump and turned the distributor until the rotor lined up with one of the "points" and moved my #1 plug wire to that point and the other wires around as necessary.

Again, I don't suggest this, but good luck.

P.S. I think I made the first post of the new year!

[Ed]

Like others mentioned it might just be your distributor shaft is off by one tooth. This happened to me once and I had to turn the distributor all the way to get it to run.

Quick way to check is to set your engine at #1 TDC (align the timing mark on the crankshaft pulley with the "0" on the pointer). Pull the distributor off it's base (two little bolts) and check the alignment of the tooth. If you have a service manual there is a picture.