Dizzy newb! Whats wrong here? w/ pic

bloopbloob

Member
Sep 27, 2006
578
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16
Alberta
if any of u remember from before, i had been trying to advance my timing, but the connector to the dizzy hit my waterneck on the tstat housing. so i yanked it, rotated and restabbed to a position that would allow me to advance it more. but its not right, i'm pretty sure. this is a pic of it now. where my finger is is #1 spark plug wire on the cap. i've never done this before, so i'm looking for some guidance. does the pic help at all right now? should i find tdc first and then see where the rotor points? when i try to set timing (before, and now after yanking it) i havent been able to get pinging. it stalls out at about 5*, and i can advance it to over 30*, and then it dies too, but i never get pinging. i know im screwing something up....
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first off is the sput connector removed? Second, what you want to do is pull the dizzy, get underneath the car and find the markings and using a breaker bar turn the engine over until the 0* is on the end of the timing pointer, then you restab the dizzy hoping you get it in pointing directly to the number one cyl(I marked mine under the cap) Restab it untill you get it working and it often won't ping until it is put under load/revved high.

Set it around 13-14* BTDC and your done!!

And pinging is a bad thing :nice: it means you are igniting the spark too early and could end up bending a valve...
 
yes, i removed the spout connector. i put it on 0* tdc using the balancer & timing pointer. i was told maybe to find tdc through #1 spark plug hole for better accuracy, so maybe i need to do it that way. what do you mean "hope to get it pointing to #1 cylinder?" my cap is marked where #1 spark plug wire is on the inside. what am i pointing? when i restab the dizzy, does the rotor move? i have no clue how to do this! i know pinging is bad, i'd just like to get pinging so i can retard it a little, but i can advance it to ridiculuous #'s without pinging, but then it dies at a certain point. so i know something is wrong. i need a dizzy for dummies book or something i think:)
 
make sure your TDC your stabbing at is the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke.

pull the dizzy and turn the engine until the #1 piston comes back up to TDC again and see what happens.
 
i appreciate the help, but i have NO experience in this department, and nobody to learn from except :SNSign: . if u don't mind, could i get a little more detail please? so i pull the dizzyfirst? do i touch the cap or rotor or just leave it all as 1 unit? then i turn the engine so my screwdriver ( in #1 plug hole is coming up (right?) and stops when it is at its highest point? am i correct so far? then what? i just put the dizzy in? when i took it out the first (and only time) i tried, it only seemed to want to drop at the point where it had come out, and then where it is now (about 1/4 turn counterclockwise from where it was). can it go in anywhere? or will it only drop in certain places? do i need to adjust the rotor or anything after this?
 
if you just want to start form scratch cause you think you buggered something up. pull the number one plug out and rotate the motor with a breaker bar till you feel air being pushed out of the hole. then just line the pointer on the balancer up with the tdc mark (0*) and restab your dizzy so that the pointer is facing the #1 spark plug terminal on the cap. then have some one start the motor with a timing light hooked up and you can reset the timing to around 12-13*.

its been a long time since i did this cause my car has been down for so long lol, if i missed something out someone will point it out. also if you have a haynes book they have detailed instructions on how to find TDC
 
computer is fine, reset the timing and listen for pinging. to be safe i would just run it at 12-13*. the extra degree or 2 IMO isn't worth the risk of detonation if you get a bad tank of gas

btw pinging and detonation are 2 different words for the same thing
 
Just to be clear, you will not hear any pinging at idle, even if your timing is way too advanced. You will hear the pinging only when you drive, usually if you accelerate hard, or lug the motor climbing a hill.

When someone says "advance the timing and listen for pinging", they mean advance the timing and then take it for a drive and listen for pinging.

Sorry if that sounds dumb, from this thread it sounds like you might have been listening for pinging at idle when you advance the timing.

Jeff
 
when i took it out the first (and only time) i tried, it only seemed to want to drop at the point where it had come out, and then where it is now (about 1/4 turn counterclockwise from where it was). can it go in anywhere? or will it only drop in certain places? do i need to adjust the rotor or anything after this?

Someone help me out with this, since it's been a while since I had the dizzy out of a 5.0

The oil pump drive shaft (which goes into the bottom of the dizzy) is six-sided, correct? So without rotating the oil pump drive shaft, you might have trouble just moving the dizzy one or two teeth? It will drop most of the way in, but not that last little bit.

Will he need to turn the oil pump drive shaft to get it to line up with the new dizzy position?

That may or may not make sense, still waiting for the caffiene to get to my brain.

Jeff
 
I just went through this. If your hitting against the water neck then you have the dizzy in the wrong positon. The metal part on the rotor should be where your finger is at top dead center. When the dizzy falls in and the metal contact of the rotor is pointing at #1, you should be close enough to get it timed correctly.
 
Pop out a spark plug and manually find TDC...ON THE COMPRESSION STROKE...you will know the comp stroke by putting your finger over the spark plug whole and feeling for pressure. If no pressure then the exh valve is open and you are on the exh stroke. Once TDC is found then check your timing pointer on the balancer to make sure everything is setup correctly and agrees w/ eachother. Re-stab dizzy at # 1 and try to re-time the motor. You must drive it to check for detonation as said above.