Thread: Setting New dist on rebuilt 350

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I'm just getting back into the street rods after 20 years and my brain is a bit foggy. This may be a simple question for all the gear heads out there, but please forgive my ignorance, I'm installing a new distrbutor in a freshly rebuilt350, I know that the timing mark needs to be on top dead center of the number one plug, is this when I set the distributor, or do I rotate the crank 180 to the number one plug and than set the distributor ? I know with all the vast knowledge out there one of you guys can take a minute after laughing at the question and refresh my memory.

The timing mark comes up to the pointer twice. Once at TDC compression, and once at TDC exhaust. You want to set the distributor near (just before) TDC compression.

Put your thumb over the #1 spark plug hole (or slightly plug it with a small sandwich plastic baggie.) Turn the crank with a wrench or bump the starter and watch as the timing mark comes up. When the compression pushes your thumb (or the baggie) off the hole, and the timing mark comes to about 10* before the timing mark, that's where you set the distributor. Point the rotor to the #1 spark plug terminal, then wire it up.

Firing order 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 clockwise.

If you don't have a helper or a baggie you can watch the intake valve on #1 go down and when it comes back up to the closed position crank the pointer around (35-45*) to where Jack said.

Jud

For years it was a running joke in our family that everytime I built an engine I invariably set it up 180 degrees out of time on the initial fire up. What was screwing me up was I would set the two marks up on the timing gears pointing right at each other and think that was when I should put the rotor pointing at number one. I couldn't seem to grasp that you had to turn the crank one revolution more and then you were at TDC for the rotor.

Ever since I learned the thumb over the # 1 sparkplug hole, I have never had a problem.

Don

Oh and when wiring, the distributor rotation is clockwise looking down on it.

Originally Posted by southerner

Oh and when wiring, the distributor rotation is clockwise looking down on it.

Sooooo . . . you Kiwis look up from the bottom? Is that a southern hemisphere thingy?

looking up from the sump it would be anticlockwise.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

The timing mark comes up to the pointer twice. Once at TDC compression, and once at TDC exhaust. You want to set the distributor near (just before) TDC compression.

Put your thumb over the #1 spark plug hole (or slightly plug it with a small sandwich plastic baggie.) Turn the crank with a wrench or bump the starter and watch as the timing mark comes up. When the compression pushes your thumb (or the baggie) off the hole, and the timing mark comes to about 10* before the timing mark, that's where you set the distributor. Point the rotor to the #1 spark plug terminal, then wire it up.

Firing order 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 clockwise.

Thanks for the information, I will save me some frustration.

Originally Posted by sleeperred90tgp

If you don't have a helper or a baggie you can watch the intake valve on #1 go down and when it comes back up to the closed position crank the pointer around (35-45*) to where Jack said.

Jud

Thanks you guys have been a big help.