Oops! I took my distributor out!!! Help!!

[Jambo1]

Oh man! I thought I marked my distributor location when I removed it but I put it back in and it does'nt fire. I was replacing the distributor mount gasket cause I was getting a oil leak out of it and I went to put it back in and it got all screwed up. Do I take the plugs out and rotate the motor to #1 cylinder then install the distributor with the rotor located at #1?

[OBX-AUTOMOTIVE]

DO THIS...TURN THE DAMPER TO "TDC" ON THE TIMING MARK...THEN STICK IT IN..THE ROTOR POINTED TO NUMBER ONE CYL ON THE CAP THEN TRY TO CRANK IT..IF IT STARTS THEN YOU ARE OK...BUT IF NOT THEN..PULL THE CAP,TURN THE DAMPER TO "TDC" ON THE TIMING MARK,AGAIN.. IF IT'S POINTING TO NUMBER ONE...YOUR STILL 180 OUT..IF NOT,THEN,PULL IT OUT AND POINT IT TO NUMBER ONE ON THE CAP AGAIN...THEN PUT IT IN.....YOU HAVE A 50/50 CHANCE OF HITTING IT THIS WAY....OR PULL THE VALVE COVER!!.... .....IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANY OF THIS...THEN SOMEONE OTHER THAN ME WILL HELP YOU.... smile.gif

[OBX-AUTOMOTIVE]

ONE OTHER THING...YOU'LL NEED TO SET THE TIMING....WITH A TIMING LIGHT smile.gif

[irbob]

Like Gem said. The only thing is that some call the damper a harmonic ballancer. When you go to put the dist. place it just b4 where you want it to be. When you slide it in it will rotate some as it seats.

What your trying to achieve here is to install the dist so the #1 piston is at the top of the compression stroke and the rotor is pointing to the #1 plug wire on the dist cap at the same time.

[Jambo1]

Let me ask you guys this......after I screwed up the distributor by pulling it out. I just started putting it back in and turning the rotor till it would slide in all the way. I found that there were mainly two places where it would go in all the way. So my question is, if I have it in one of those postions, do I have a 50/50 chance of getting it right? Kind of a cheesy way of re-installing it but just a thought.

[Marvin Gates]

Jambo, the sure fire way is to pull the #1 plug have someone turn the engine over a little bit at a time, hold your thumb over the spark plug hole and when you feel the compression building you know you are at top dead center! Drop the dist. in pointing to the #1 and you are done.
Good Luck MG :D :D :D

[Jambo1]

Thank you, thats what I was hoping to hear! You the man!

[Oso]

A lot of people forget to mention that when setting the distributor that when you slide it in it should be about in the middle of the twist for setting the timing. Really sucks to get it in and at the stops and can't twist it to set the timing.

[Jambo1]

Marv, I did what you said. I took spark plug #1 out, cranked the motor till i felt pressure. It actually popped. Then I set the distributor at #1. I turn the key, gave it some gas. KaaaBaaaammmm!!! Major explosion out of the exhaust pipe. All the scale and dirt blew off the bottom of the frame. At least that is clean. I think the trick is stopping the rotation of the motor before it pops. Does'nt seem very possible, it happens in a instant. Im not up for more explosion's. Any other stageties or ideas??? :(

[OBX-AUTOMOTIVE]

LOOK AT THE TIMING MARK...."TDC".... TOP DEAD CENTER!!!! YOUR ONE OF TWO PLACES.....ON THE FIRE STROKE....... AT NUMBER ONE....OR 180 OUT!!!!!!!!! THAT THUMB THING IS COOL......BUT YOU CAN GO PAST TDC VERY EASY!!!!... SO WHY NOT LOOK AT THE "TIMING MARK" I DON'T GET IT?????????????? :confused:

[Ernzo]

It is a 50/50 deal. The only reservation is that being 180 off can REALLY blow some $%^#@, and that can be distrubing to an old motor...

However, Gembox's technique is the one I use.

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[Don S]

Can I take pictures when the air cleaner goes thru the hood and the truck jumps 6 feet in the air on a cloud of black carbon particals as the muffler goes out the back end.. Wow!!.. what a chance for an award winning video clip!! :D :D .. ;) .. ds..

[ June 22, 2002, 02:47 PM: Message edited by: Don S ]

[irbob]

Hmmmm...I thought you would turn the crank with a socket/ratchet until you found the compression with your thumb over the hole. Glad you didn't loose a finger on the down stroke. :eek:

I take all the plugs out to make it easier to rotate. When you start to feel the pressure pushing on your thumb continue to turn the crank until you hit TDC on the timing mark. This is the full or fool proof (in my case) methode and will work every time, not 50/50. Done yet :D good luck.

[Jambo1]

It works now, thanks for putting up with my ignorant questions. My buddie came over this weekend and brought his switch that hooks up to the starter so we could bump the engine while we were under the hood to find TDC. We found the mark on the crankshaft pully, bump the motor til the the mark was on or close to "TDC" the timing mark on my wag looks like it say's "0". We got under the hook and cranked the motor with a socket to get it real close to TDC. Bumping it with the starter was close to impossible getting it to land on TDC. You gotta fine tune it by hand. We set the distributor in with the rotor pointing to #1. Had to start out a little shy of #1 as it turns clockwise going into the shaft. We had to take a screw driver and turn the oil crank to line it up with the end of the distibutor. This is what my problem was before. I could'nt get the distributor to go in because the coil crank shaft was'nt lining up with the slot in the end of the distributor. So it slipped it fine. We had taken out the #1 plug and checked with a small screw driver that it was at the top of it's stroke. Turned the key on, gave it some gas and it started. Set the timing and she runs good.

All that to replace the gasket where the distributor meets the motor, and guess what, turns out that's not even where the leak is. :mad: On to the next repair. I learned alot, thanks for your posts, they really helped. Hope this helps someone else someday. :cool: