dorgant

Hello

I'm trying to put in a new distributor. I have the old one disconnected, the cap off and the plugs out. Now, I need to find TDC on cylinder 1.

My Clymers says to "Remove the plug from the bellhousing and locate the timing marks inside the bellhousing access hole. You'll see the timing increments directly next to the timing pointer."

The picture in the manual shows the pointer right next the 'HM' just above the engine type stamp. On my 92 1.6L VTEC I don't see anything that looks like a 'plug' to be removed. Is this a bolt or what? I find the pointer for aiming a timing light on the driver's side of the crankshaft but I don't see an access 'plug' there, either.

any help would be so much appreciated as I would like to get the car running again!


thanks,
Tom

I'm confused

postman

old school way is to remove valve cover and watch the lobes on your cam for cylinder 1 when there at base circle. not the duration part. your piston is close to tdc. sometimes you can put your hand over the hole and feel the push and pull of the piston

92civichatch1

well u can do this the ghetto way man. it works especially if u kno how to use your timing light. The dizzy can only go in one way as im sure u now because of those slots that it has that match up with the cam. Match them up and put the dizzy back in. start the car and use the timing light. make sure u jump the ecu so its not adjusting it. i did this on my d15 and it ran fine and then i timed it to be sure. i think the degree to time it is 16.

dorgant

So, I used the timing marks on the crank pulley not on the label I could not find under a cover on the bellhousing.

I made sure the old rotor was pointing to the number 1 cylinder wire on the distributor and that the the red (I assume TDC) mark on the pulley lined up with the timing notch on the crank. I then pushed a measuring device (screwdriver) down onto the piston heads and checked that number 1 was higher than 2 or three and the same as (though on the opposite side of the stroke) as 4. I turned the crank with an open-ended 3/4" wrench on a gold-colored bolt on the upper left portion of the 'front' of the engine. It worked fine but I don't know if it's the recommended nut.

before removing the old distributor, I carefully marked the position of the old distributor body with respect to the timing adjustment bolt holder (top bolt on the distributor) to keep the timing as close to the same as possible.

I also noted carefully the orientation of the rotor underneath the cap on the old distributor.

I had to draw a little picture which showed the orientation and position of the spark plug wires going into the old distributor so that I could plug them back in properly. I also marked the wires with their numbers on little pieces of tape.

I then removed the old distributor and transferred the timing mark to the new distributor - not easy and not exactly accurate.

then I spun the rotor to the position indicated by the old distributor.

I carefully slipped the distributor into place w/o moving the rotor (much - it has to slip onto the shaft) and w/o moving the shaft at all. Check the rotor and TDC marks on the pulley again.

Put in all distributor hold down bolts loosely. Line up the mark on the timing bolt housing of the new distributor body as well as possible with the mark on the bolt housing on the engine and tighten it down. tighten the other two.

bolted on the new distributor cap using the diagram I had made earlier. snapped on the ECM wiring harness to the new distributor and made the two connnections it required.

matched the numbers on the spark plug wires to the diagram wires and inserted them into the distributor cap. Re-inserted and torqued the spark plugs. routed and placed the spark plug wires.

checked for and found tools left under the hood. hooked up the battery.

assumed this was done correctly because car started immediately and runs quite well. Still need to set timing exactly.