Engine Timing 305

[ceejay]

I'm back with more questions. I have a 305 with an Edelbrock 1405 carb on it. Everything else is pretty stock. Trying to time it. Has all the normal symptoms it seems of being over advanced.

- Sometimes diesel sounding
- Harder to start warm
- High idle when warm

So trying to retard the dist. a little bit by rotating it clockwise, but it seems as if I hit my limit. It won't rotate any more. Any suggestions? I've read removing the dist. and rotating it opposite ( so counter clockwise) so I have more room to rotate it? Should I try that? I've also read swapping the plugs counterclockwise 1 too. I dunno, that's why I ask you guys haha. Thanks.

 

[Rusty Nail]

/facepalm.


We gonna need a pix dude. Show us what youre talking about.

Take the photo with your phone and click the more options button to upload.

Cant help
Need pix.

 

[ceejay]

/facepalm.


We gonna need a pix dude. Show us what youre talking about.

Take the photo with your phone and click the more options button to upload.

Cant help
Need pix.

What do you want me to take a picture of? It's stock dist. I just can't rotate the dist anymore clockwise.

 

[Customblue]

Take a clear picture of the top so we can see how far you're turning the dizzy.

 

[ceejay]

Hopefully this helps.

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[Rusty Nail]

Thanks.


There is no looking past this open manifold vacuum leak.
Plug this.
O.M.G. the horror! I bet she runs like ****.
(Nevermind what is intended to be there right now)
Getcha a piece of vacuum hose and run a screw in it big enough to seal it. Plug that hole.

Turn the distributor back to (about) where is was before you started messin with it and post the results.

First things first.

THEN-
We're gonna need a much wider angle view of the engine bay = more picks.

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This is gonna be #2. Your vacuum advance canister appears to be without vacuum signal.
Need more pix.

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[ceejay]

Thanks.


There is no looking past thid oprn manifold vacuum leak.
Plug this.
O.M.G. the horror! I bet she runs like ****.
(Nevermind what is intended to be there right now)
Getcha a piece of vacuum hose and run a screw in it big enough to seal it. Plug that hole.

Turn the distributor back to (about) where is was before you started messin with it and post the results.

First things first.

THEN-
We're gonna need a much wider angle view of the engine bay = more picks.

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Will do first thing in the morning. I'll report back here. Bear with me, she was a roller earlier this year! Previous owner jerry rigged alot of stuff.

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[Rusty Nail]

No worries - we're all on the same team.
This is a great example to highlight the need for pix though.. it's not always bein honery.

*Specifically we will need pix of the carburetor and associated vacuum hoses.

 

[ceejay]

No worries - we're all on the same team.
This is a great example to highlight the need for pix though.. it's not always bein honery.

*Specifically we will need pix of the carburetor and associated vacuum hoses.

So I plugged that port. And the other one, the vacuum advance port, the one you didn't see, I had plugged as well. I let the engine get warm, and reset the timing a bit. After letting the engine get warm, I tried to get it back to 12 degrees and it's still to the left of the 12, I would say about a few degrees. This is after again rotating the distributor clockwise, same as pictured above. I also replaced all the vacuum tubing from the carb just in case.

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[Bextreme04]

I would recommend you start from the beginning since you don't know what the PO has done. Get a vacuum gauge and hunt down all of the vacuum leaks. You need to block the vacuum advance line from the carburetor(that's where the vacuum is coming from), not the vacuum advance can. By this, I mean have the actual line run as it should be, then unplug the line from the distributor and plug it.

Then rotate the engine to #1 TDC and put a black line(with a sharpie or similar) on the base of the distributor below where the cap sits. Then pull the cap and look at where the line is in relation to the rotor. I would then pull the distributor and reset the distributor so that the black line, rotor, and a set spot on the intake manifold all line up. This should get you to a spot where you can get full adjustment.

It honestly looks to me like you might just have your plug wires on the wrong terminals.. I usually set my number 2 wire in the spot just clockwise of the coil connector and #1, is one more spot clockwise.

Make sure you check the firing order and wire placement. If you move your #1 wire one place clockwise, then make sure that in a clockwise direction you have 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2, you should be good. Then you can probably turn the distributor counterclockwise to get it on the mark without doing anything else.

 

[ceejay]

I would recommend you start from the beginning since you don't know what the PO has done. Get a vacuum gauge and hunt down all of the vacuum leaks. You need to block the vacuum advance line from the carburetor(that's where the vacuum is coming from), not the vacuum advance can. By this, I mean have the actual line run as it should be, then unplug the line from the distributor and plug it.

Then rotate the engine to #1 TDC and put a black line(with a sharpie or similar) on the base of the distributor below where the cap sits. Then pull the cap and look at where the line is in relation to the rotor. I would then pull the distributor and reset the distributor so that the black line, rotor, and a set spot on the intake manifold all line up. This should get you to a spot where you can get full adjustment.

It honestly looks to me like you might just have your plug wires on the wrong terminals.. I usually set my number 2 wire in the spot just clockwise of the coil connector and #1, is one more spot clockwise.

Make sure you check the firing order and wire placement. If you move your #1 wire one place clockwise, then make sure that in a clockwise direction you have 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2, you should be good. Then you can probably turn the distributor counterclockwise to get it on the mark without doing anything else.

Thanks! So I ended up rotating the Engine to #1 TDC and took the cap off of the rotor and it was pointing directly towards the front of the vehicle. To my best knowledge, I'm pretty sure it should be pointing towards cylinder 1? So I took the dizzy out and rotated it counterclockwise after turning the slot in the block a little back, and reinstalled it a little counterclockwise. After putting everything back together, and fine tuning it, I'm at 8 BTDC. As far as I know, or at least my owners manual, it says that's what factory spec is. Starts great, Idles great, runs good, shuts off fine, no dieseling. The only thing is, I don't feel like I'm getting as much power as I should. Should I go ahead and move it to 10 BTDC?

 

[mtnmankev]

The factory standard for initial timing is recommended for emission controls, but the engines can run better.
I suggest two things: check for timing chain wear and if that checks out within specs, give the timing some more advance.

 

[Rusty Nail]

It doesnt have much power because it has no ignition advance...you should hook that canister on the distributor to the carburetor as low as you can. There will be some nipple plugged off I bet.

Hard to tell without pictures.

 

[ceejay]

It doesnt have much power because it has no ignition advance...you should hook that canister on the distributor to the carburetor as low as you can. There will be some nipple plugged off I bet.

Hard to tell without pictures.

I did that already. You were saying something about the port on top of the intake manifold as well. The one that I plugged for the time being. Is that supposed to go somewhere in particular?

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[Rusty Nail]

Well Sir that is a very strong vacuum signal...my first thought was vacuum ball.

I went out to my C20 for example and find a coveted triple nipple!
In THIS example -
It attaches to the vacuum ball and has the transmission vacuum modulator connected as well as the brake booster.

See attached photo.

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Hope this helps!