Please help, I had problems keeping my car running so like a dummy I removed the distributor. I found that it was a fuel issue and I resolve that issue, but now I cant get the car to turn over. It's a carbed 351w with a complete MSD ignition system. It ran fine before the fuel issue. I marked the harmonic balancer where TDC should be and I have the rotor pointed towards the number 1 spark plug wire on the dissy and it still wont start. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Please help finding TDC
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ID89GT
10 Year Member
Something you can try is to pull the plug on the number one cylinder, then put your finger over the hole and use a button starter to turn the engine untill your finger blows off from the compression caused by the compression stroke, then you can line it up to tdc on your timing mark by hand
93 LX
Founding Member
You dont need to mark the balancer, TDC is 0 on the timing mark. As for the rotor just take this note. The crank turns 2 times vs the cam. You pull the valve cover and watch the valves as you spin the crank, both valves up and at 0 then your at TDC.
Up meaning closed.
Up meaning closed.
TDC
Well first you need to know if you are in the Compression stroke or the Exhaust Stroke as well your simple mark is not going to tell you because you could be 180 degree's off meaning on the wrong stroke. Their is tho an easy way to figure this out. What you want to do is take out the 1st spark plug and put your finger in the hole (dont worry you wont hurt your finger). If you can (on my mustang I know I can do this myself) get a socket and turn your crank slowly watch your mark on the balancer as it goes around now when your on the compression stroke your finger will start to get pushed out by (compression) of air. This is the stroke you want to be on. If you know what your motor should be timmed to stock (a mustang with a 5.0 is 10* BTDC from the factor) so you would want to line the balancer up to the pointer at 10* BTDC on that Compression stroke you just found by sticking your finger in the spark plugs hole. Now you can replace the spark plug make sure all wires are good to go and Line your Dizzy's #1 Spark plug up with the pointer on the distributor. Now one thing I can recommend if this engine has been turned over a few times is (1) pulling all the plugs and cleaning them with a wire brush helps greatly incase they are "wet" from you trying to start it. and (2) get someone else to turn the motor over while you slowly turn the dizzy clockwise/counter-clockwise near your mark until you get it to fire up then from their use a timing light to get it to the correct Timing. Hopefully this helps let us know what you find out and we will go from their.
Well first you need to know if you are in the Compression stroke or the Exhaust Stroke as well your simple mark is not going to tell you because you could be 180 degree's off meaning on the wrong stroke. Their is tho an easy way to figure this out. What you want to do is take out the 1st spark plug and put your finger in the hole (dont worry you wont hurt your finger). If you can (on my mustang I know I can do this myself) get a socket and turn your crank slowly watch your mark on the balancer as it goes around now when your on the compression stroke your finger will start to get pushed out by (compression) of air. This is the stroke you want to be on. If you know what your motor should be timmed to stock (a mustang with a 5.0 is 10* BTDC from the factor) so you would want to line the balancer up to the pointer at 10* BTDC on that Compression stroke you just found by sticking your finger in the spark plugs hole. Now you can replace the spark plug make sure all wires are good to go and Line your Dizzy's #1 Spark plug up with the pointer on the distributor. Now one thing I can recommend if this engine has been turned over a few times is (1) pulling all the plugs and cleaning them with a wire brush helps greatly incase they are "wet" from you trying to start it. and (2) get someone else to turn the motor over while you slowly turn the dizzy clockwise/counter-clockwise near your mark until you get it to fire up then from their use a timing light to get it to the correct Timing. Hopefully this helps let us know what you find out and we will go from their.
Putting the distributor back in is fairly simple. Pull #1 sparkplug, put your finger in the sparkplug hole,
crank the engine until you feel compression. Then line up the TDC mark on the balancer with the pointer
on the engine block.
The distributor starts out with the #1 plug wire lined up at about 12:00 with you facing it. Align the rotor
to about 11:00, since it will turn clockwise as it slides into place.
Align the distributor rotor up with the #1 position marked on the cap, slide the distributor down into the block,
(you may have to wiggle the rotor slightly to get the gear to engage) and then note where the rotor is pointing.
If it still lines up with #1 position on the cap, install the clamp and bolt. If not, pull it out and turn 1 tooth forwards
or backwards and try again. Put the #1 spark plug back in and tighten it down, put the clamp on the distributor,
but don't tighten it too much, as you will have to move the distributor to set the timing. Note that if it doesn't
align perfectly with #1 position, you can turn the distributor until it does. The only problem is that if you are too
far one way or the other, you can't turn the distributor enough to get the 10-14 degree optimum timing range.
At this point hook up all the wires, get out the timing light and start the engine. Set the timing where your car
runs best. Don't forget to disconnect the SPOUT jumper connector when you set the timing, and plug it back
in when you finish.
The HO firing order is 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8.
Non HO firing order is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8
crank the engine until you feel compression. Then line up the TDC mark on the balancer with the pointer
on the engine block.
The distributor starts out with the #1 plug wire lined up at about 12:00 with you facing it. Align the rotor
to about 11:00, since it will turn clockwise as it slides into place.
Align the distributor rotor up with the #1 position marked on the cap, slide the distributor down into the block,
(you may have to wiggle the rotor slightly to get the gear to engage) and then note where the rotor is pointing.
If it still lines up with #1 position on the cap, install the clamp and bolt. If not, pull it out and turn 1 tooth forwards
or backwards and try again. Put the #1 spark plug back in and tighten it down, put the clamp on the distributor,
but don't tighten it too much, as you will have to move the distributor to set the timing. Note that if it doesn't
align perfectly with #1 position, you can turn the distributor until it does. The only problem is that if you are too
far one way or the other, you can't turn the distributor enough to get the 10-14 degree optimum timing range.
At this point hook up all the wires, get out the timing light and start the engine. Set the timing where your car
runs best. Don't forget to disconnect the SPOUT jumper connector when you set the timing, and plug it back
in when you finish.
The HO firing order is 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8.
Non HO firing order is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8
desertcox05
New Member
Looks like these guys pretty well have it covered. I merged the thread from 94-95 Tech into this one, so we don't have identical threads spanning both forums.
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