Ok, I have never done timing before, but it seems like a fairly simple task. I have a tach hooked up, timing lite hooked up correctly. And the vacuum advance disconnected from the distributor. The guy I bought the engine from told me something about 20 degrees.... Cant recall if he said retarded or advanced. Either way. The straight line on the harmonic balancer is supposed to line up with the hash marks on the timing plate, correct? If so, mine line is about three inches to the left (while standing in the front of the engine looking toward the rear) of the first hash mark. If I turn the distributor so as to bring the line closer to the hash marks, it drops the rpm down to about 1k, and the engine starts to really stumble. Am I doing this correctly? is something up that I do not understand? Any help is much appreciated.
CK5
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Need some help timing my bbc
- Thread starter us74k5
- Start date
fmstruck
1/2 ton status
Is there a reason you have it idling way over 1000 rpm?
Guys as I stated I have never done timing before. wtf do you mean initial over total, etc. I am trying to do the timing, but I do not know how. I was asking if the process I was following was correct? If you know how I should go about doing it, please tell me. Thanks
I'm assuming you don't have a dial timing light or a degreed balancer. Heres a tip. If you have an 8" balancer each degree is .070" on the balancer. So mulitply by 34 and you get 2.380". So make a mark exactly 2 3/8" (it's within .005") to the right of the zero mark on the balancer. As you rev the engine the timing mark should get closer to that mark, but not go past it as the mechanical advance comes in. To be safe, if you just set the timing at that mark at 4k RPM with the vacuum advance disconnected you should be fine, then reconnect it. That should be a nice safe number. If you hear any detonation back it off 2 degrees (.140") at a time until it's gone.
Timing and idle adjustment go together the idle screw on you carb needs to be turned up when you turn down your timing. However it should idle fine at 800 rpm unless its a really cammed motor.
The timing mark sounds right the tab has a few notches in it the big one is 0 the it goes to the left from that I think 12 is the end of the tab. You should be in that area 8-12 initial to get 30 total.
Your distributer may be advancing it centrifugally at 1000 rpm so you might need to lower the rpm to get it to stop.
The timing mark sounds right the tab has a few notches in it the big one is 0 the it goes to the left from that I think 12 is the end of the tab. You should be in that area 8-12 initial to get 30 total.
Your distributer may be advancing it centrifugally at 1000 rpm so you might need to lower the rpm to get it to stop.
