THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION

1fast94svt

1fast94svt

New Member
Jun 14, 2004
205
0
0
Michigan....Detroit
#1
guys...i wasnt thinking and pulled out my distributor to get out of the way to change gaskets. The car now wont start. Gota bad backfire so i know its ignition. I have called and tried to get some tips on this and nobody knows...if anybody knows this or a site, or off the top of their head i would be more than gratefull.

-How do i get the distributor back in the right spot. I know its either one tooth off or 180 degrees..... not what i need to hear. Where to start, and where to go from there. Please guys i havnt been able to drive my cobra in 3 weeks. Is there a way to pull it out and put it in a certain way and find the right spot from there? Its been made oout to be this huge deal but just like anything else on a car, its fixable and if it was put in by somebody right..there is obviously a way to do it. Pleaseguys help me.!! :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang:
 
#2
Pull the passenger's side valve cover. Put a socket on the crank bolt and rotate the engine clockwise until the exhaust valve opens and closes, and the intake valve opens and closes; after the intake closes watch the balancer. As it continues to rotate after the intake has closed, the piston will be approaching tdc on the compression stroke - which is the correct tdc to stick the distributor at (you probably stuck it at tdc at the end of the exhaust stroke). Stop rotating the engine with the ignition timing pointer pointing at the timing you want to set the engine at (about 12-14 BEFORE tdc on the compression stroke). Once there, stick the distributor with the module about half way between t'stat housing and the a/c bracket, and with the rotor pointing as closely as you can to the number 1 spark plug wire on the cap. That should make it close enough to start - then get a light on it with the spout out and set it where you want it.
 
#3
First grab a beer :D , then pull out the #1 spark plug. Put your finger in the hole and turn the engine (or have an assistant do this) with a ratchet and breaker bar. When you feel air pushing out you know youre on the compression stroke (where you wanna be). Now stick a screwdriver or something in there and keep turning until you can feel the piston as high as it will go. Now youre at TDC.

Grab another beer and then put the distributor in pointing to the #1 mark on the cap. Thats it, try and start it. You may have to turn the distrib one tooth one way or the other, hopefully you have a timing gun. Post here if you have any trouble.
 
#4
ok..

:flag: Ok guys....im not pulling valve covers, just got done doing that...going the second route. Grabbing a beer than setting the timing. With a blower do i need to advance the timing or is tdc good? Also i have a timing light, not gun....will this do the same thing to help me place the distributor in the right spot. And initially where does the distributor go? with the #1 pointing where? to the #1 cylinder.....im not getting the whole distributer placement thing.....where do i put it that it would only be a tooth away from being right again? SOrry and thanks much fellas.
 
#8
I'm probably late but I do pretty much the same thing Mike does. He's so darn articulate that us common folks never can understand him. What I would do is remove the "1 spark plug and stick a screw driver or something thin but rigid in the hole. Turn the motor over by hand and watch and hold whatever you put into the # sparkplug hole. Crank the motor over until the 0 on the balancer is at the timing pointer. If it seems as though your object is at its highest point then you should be at tdc. Put the dizzy in and point the rotor towards the #1 cylinder.....awe heck- do this :

"Once there, stick the distributor with the module about half way between t'stat housing and the a/c bracket, and with the rotor pointing as closely as you can to the number 1 spark plug wire on the cap. That should make it close enough to start - then get a light on it with the spout out and set it where you want it."

Mike's method is the best but if you don't want to lift the valve cover my way is easier. You could always just crank the motor over to 0 and stick the dizzy in- you stand a 50-50 chance of getting it right.
 
#9
Dude, its 180 off, (360 on the crank). From here, all you do is turn the crank (with a breaker bar) until you are at 10 BTDC. Now look at your dizzy, either it will be lined up with #1 or it will be way off. If it is lined up with #1 do one single 360 rotation of the crank ending back at 10 BTDC and adjust the dizzy accordingly. If you already ended up with the dizzy way off, pull it and adjust accordingly. Dont gotta pull the valve covers this way.
 
#10
There is more than one way to do just about anything. Sometimes more than one way will work. MY is fond of ways that work 100% of the time if you follow 100% of the instructions. Just comes with a technical background.
 
#12
yeah, don't gotta take ANYTHING apart. Put timing marks on 10BTC like the guy said and stick the distributor in such that the rotor will point at the contact for number 1 sparkplug WHILE the distributor is more or less facing the right way. Then put the cap on and make a small mark on the distributor base indicating where #1 contact is, then remove cap and turn dizzy till rotor points right at the mark. Tighten dizzy down for now and install everything. Try to start engine. If no start, remove distributor and rotate the rotor 180 degrees and put it back in, then rotate the crank one full turn till 10btc lines up again, and again line up the rotor with your small reference mark. It will start this time. Then you can loosen the dizzy hold-down enough to precisely adjust timing with your timing light.
 
#13
1fast94svt said:
ok....well waht is your way...having trouble understanding what you meant.
Click to expand...


I do the finger on the spark plug thing, then follow up with a pencil or something to feel the motion of the piston without scratching the cylinder walls if I do something stupid.
 
#14
THANX

Hey guys i just wanted to do the right thing and thank everybody in here who contributed to my thread. I really dont know what i would do without this site. The site has saved the cobra a few times now and i just joined not too long ago. Hopefully after work she will fire up, if not i dont know what to do except sell as is for a decent price. It's posted before running for 11,000 so maybe ill just knock a grand off that and see what happends. I really didnt mess with enough stuff though for it to not be starting for any other reason except ignition. Anyways thanks again guys..until next time keep on shifting :flag: :hail2: :D
 
#15
Micheal will get any novice there the first time, the rest may never get you there.

I've done it enough (like many of the above) that's it's alomst painless. I just set the crank to 14 BTDC and mark the distributor where #1 plug wire goes and set the distributor in so the rotor ends up lining up with the mark in the distributor. If it starts the first time, great. Just set the timing with a light and go. If it doesn't, turn the crank over once and restab the distributor and try again. Hardest part is to not get confused, that's why mike has you pul the valve cover (sparkplug pressure doesn't always 'feel' truthfull).

Jamie
 
#16
The piece that gets missed most of the time on this is that there are 2 tdc's for every 1 rotation of the distributor. The cam/distributor only turns at half the speed of the crankshaft. So you can't simply put the tdc mark on the balancer at the ignition timing pointer, and you can't simply stick something in the plug hole and feel for the piston coming up - because you may be at the wrong tdc. If you set the distributor at tdc at the end of the exhaust stroke, then the plug will fire then. As you can see, having the plug fire just after the piston has pushed all the air/fuel into the header can make for some pretty good backfires. As mentioned earlier, you either need to feel for air being pushed out of the spark plug hole when the piston's on it's way up, or watch the rockers to see when both valves are closed - and the piston's on it's way up - that's the tdc you want before you stab it.
 
#19
Michael Yount said:
The piece that gets missed most of the time on this is that there are 2 tdc's for every 1 rotation of the distributor. The cam/distributor only turns at half the speed of the crankshaft. So you can't simply put the tdc mark on the balancer at the ignition timing pointer, and you can't simply stick something in the plug hole and feel for the piston coming up - because you may be at the wrong tdc. If you set the distributor at tdc at the end of the exhaust stroke, then the plug will fire then. As you can see, having the plug fire just after the piston has pushed all the air/fuel into the header can make for some pretty good backfires. As mentioned earlier, you either need to feel for air being pushed out of the spark plug hole when the piston's on it's way up, or watch the rockers to see when both valves are closed - and the piston's on it's way up - that's the tdc you want before you stab it.
Click to expand...

Yes once again you are right....like I said earlier 50/50. It's hard to give advice because unless you're talking to TMoss, EDC, or MY you don't have a good feel for what somebody can do with confidence. My friend has a mechanic working at his Radiator shop that can do a water pump or AC on anything you could imagine, yet he needed me to show him how to do exactly what we were talking about on a Mustang at the shop. You just never know. Mike, BTW, if you want an official "Radiator Shop" hat just PM me your address (was it 123 Mullet Avenue or something like that?) and we will send you one. Really....
 
#20
I left off a little piece - with a 180-off stick, as the exhaust valve is closing, the intake is opening (overlap) and if you spark it then, sometimes folks get a little combustion in the intake manifold as well. It's worse with 'bigger' cams that have more overlap cause the intake opens sooner relative to exhaust closing, and there's more time for more mixture to be pushed into the intake.

QDRHRSE - just send it to 118 Herron Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919 - one block over from Mullet Drive. :)
 
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