Cascade Crew

[turbo_jimi]

Good news is that I now have a horn and fewer oil and coolant leaks. Bad news is the car runs worse...after going to a vacuum advance type distributor. I'll let Aaron or John chime in on this to explain what it's doing so maybe there are some suggestions to remedy the problem.

[aaron_sK]

Bah. Crappy day. Been working on junk cars since 7:30 this morning.

Dizzy has to be out 45*. That's all I can figure. We didn't have a true dead-stop, but close as I can tell by dropping something down the cylinder the balancer mark is correct. Car acts like it's way too advanced, but when I pull the dizzy way back it runs like crap and stalls. Have to double-check that John and I stabbed it in the right spot, then go from there.

[RSFreak]

I'm guessing that we screwed up the cap/rotor orientation when we were trying to keep that vacuum canister from deadending into the heater hose. Probably should have pulled the cap and double checked that the rotor was pointing at the proper post.

[aaron_sK]

Kinda hard in the dark.

[chevymad]

Rotor can point at any post. As long as you run the wires right. Makes no difference whatsoever.

[aaron_sK]

[Dewey316]

you didn't throw a timing light on it?

[aaron_sK]

Timing light was reading normally. Had it at 4* before and it was knocking like crazy.

[rjmcgee]

Sounds like a bunch of newbs left unattended with a toolbox.


Firing order right?

I take it that you switched to a Non CC distributor. If so 4* BTDC is not enough base. Like 12*

[RSFreak]

[aaron_sK]

[RSFreak]

I bet we pull the cap and find we are not lined up.

[Twilightoptics]

If the timing light is on the timing mark.... and the balancer has not slipped.... and the firing order is right..... You're set.

Like said previously it doesn't matter where the distributor is and or rotor as long as the firing order is correct and oriented correctly on the cap for where the rotor is in relation to #1TDC F.S.

[RSFreak]

[Twilightoptics]

Aaron said the timing light was reading right. There for #1 is in sync with the piston. Firing order and slipped balancer are the questionables. Set to about 10-12deg BTDC like Rodney said with the Vacuum advance disconnected.

[aaron_sK]

The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking firing order (and if it's on the driver's side, it's John's fault ).

I'm still gonna check the balancer (have to, at this point) but if the balancer was out, when I retarded the timing it should have ran great, not fell on it's face and stalled.

[Twilightoptics]

When a balancer slips the engine will be in retarded timing at the specified mark. Think about how it spins. Crack moves clockwise from the front of the engine. If it slips, the crank turns but the balancer doesn't. So when you timing the engine on the mark, the ACTUAL TDC of the crank would be way off to the right in the ATDC area.

So you'd want to way increase timing based on the slip mark to make it run right.

[aaron_sK]

I was thinking about that backwards. I assumed that when the mark went back, it advanced it, but when the mark moves back, you move the distributor, which retards it.

This pretty much seals the deal on mixed up wires, because it was pinging and backfiring at 4* before, and wouldn't even crank over past 10* before.

[turbo_jimi]

so, what needs to be done?

[Twilightoptics]

Ignore where they've got the numbers on the cap. Just follow the order. Leave your #1 in place... and make sure the other 7 are right.