DISTRIBUTOR POSITION

Just figured out that the previous owner put a underdrive crank pulley on. I guessing this may effect the timing marks and the reason the marks dont line up with the pulley. does anyone know if this relates???

Thanks for your comments.

So, if its not the crank pulley, timing chain, crank or cam it can only be the hb or the timing pointer. (and you thought i wouldn't get it.)


There must be a way to tell if the hb is bad or slipped besides the fact it's missing the pointer at tdc. It looks fine and feels fine.

btw (StangGT1995) i understand that the left edge of the circle on the pointer is the reference point, but i'm not even close to that.

Thanks for your comments, keep em coming:

I checked out the pointer once again. There is absolutly nothing to the right or left of the pointer hole. there is just a bracket that is mounted to the timing chain cover that has an elbow (not bent, but formed from factory), extending out over the hb, and with a hole in it. It looks right but doesn't line up with tdc. tdc is to the right of the hole about 1.25 to 1.75 inches. This sounds right according to Final 5-0's statment that tdc would be to the right of the hole, but again, the pointer does not reach that far. This makes suspect that the problem is not with the hb (slipping) but with the timer. I finally got in touch with the previous owner, who said, " the pointer was never right and that the previous owner (before him) probably put the pointer on himself

Well... I thought I finnaly got it right. It seemed to run good, (without any studdering), but with a loss of about 10 to 20 hp....maybe..or maybe its just me wanting more. The timing was set there out about 18 degrees (according to my determined TDC reference. I thought about advancing the timing another mark or two, but decided not to because I thought I heard some pinging. With that in mind I retarded the timing until I thought the pinging stopped. Maybe I'm just hearing the valves clattering but it seemed to soften when I retarded it to about 14. I took it for another test drive and everything seemed O.K.

My happiness was short lived... I decided to take it to a friends garage and let him listen to the car to see if I could afford to advance it anymore. I made it about one block and noticed the studdering again. The slight studdering is at about 2500 t0 3000 rpm. I can accellerate through the studdering and it doesn't seem to be there. It only happens at a constant speed or at a slight acceleration. I did not test it again at 18 degrees. The question that come to mind is, should the tolerance be that tight just to get the car to run without slight studdering. I'm starting to think that maybe there is a problem with the fuel injectors, but keep in mind that the car did not studder before i started messing with the timing. The reason I started messing with the timing is because the previous owner had it set at 25 to 28 degrees and running without the spout. This caused the car to start hard (embarassingly).

Sorry about the lengthly post, just trying to be thourogh. If anyone has experience similar problems please reply with your sugestions.

lowered the fuel pressure from 41 to 37 psi. seemed to due the trick. Needs some futher tweeking for max performance. I would like to hook it up to a dyno, but need to do some other work first. I'm loosing some hp thru my motor mounts and I needs some battle boxes before I rip the car in half. If anyone has ever put battle boxes on their car and has some tips please reply. Should I bolt them on or weld them? How much do they cost? How much work?