>Have a couple more questions for those technical minds out there! What causes
>the timing to "go
out", in particular to become 180 degrees out?
>Could the distributor drive being in wrong (i.e. upside down) be the cause?
Sorta.
For this explanation you need to know that the cylinders are numbered 1 - 4
front to back, and the
distributor rotates counter clockwise.
The distributor drive can't be installed 180 degrees out. If you look closely
the drive dog it is
not centered, this means it will only go in one way. What can be put in wrong
is the drive gear
that interfaces with the cam (the shaft of this drive gear ultimately connects
with your oil pump).
To adjust this you need to rotate the engine so the #1 cylinder is at TDC on
the compression stroke.
Now look at the distributor rotor. My guess is yours is pointing to about
7:00. It should be
pointing at the #1 cylinder (about 2:00, maybe 1:30). The way to get it right
is to remove the
distributor and the drive gear shaft. To remove the shaft (which will be down
in the engine after
the distributor is removed) you need to use a long bolt, someone else will help
me here but I think
it is a 5/16" course thread. You screw the bolt into the drive gear shaft then
turn the bolt (and
shaft) counterclockwise and up until the gears in the engine are free of one
another. Notice the
position of the bolt just as the gears are free, then rotate the bolt/shaft 180
degrees counter
clockwise, then back down and clockwise until it is fully engaged again. At
this point check to see
if the rotor is pointing to the #1 cylinder. If it is you're done. If not, do
the procedure again
(fine tuning your technique) until the rotor pointing to #1.
Now you will have to re-organize the wires. The firing order is 1-3-4-2.
Remove all the wires from
the engine (you may need to remove them from the distributor too, depending on
the length of them).
Take the #1 wire (this would be the one at 2:00 on the distributor) and plug it
into #1 cylinder.
Then go to the next wire (one position counter clockwise) and plug it into #3
cylinder; next wire #4
cylinder, next wire #2 cylinder.
Although this sounds complicated, it really isn't.
You will need to reset your timing after all this.
This information is available somewhere on the WWW but I can't remember where,
but I bet someone on
this list will point you to the location.
> How will this affect the performance of the vehicle and will it cause damage?
No effect on performance, no damage. Just wrong.
Larry Hoy
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