hey all, had to get a new distributor at 210,000 miles and to my dismay the "marks" seem to be worn off my crank pulley. My question is, can i simply set the engine at TDC on the compression stroke for cyl 1and mark the pulley in line with the timing cover marks?

 

anyone?

 

Yes.

Take spark plug in #1 out
Take a long screw driver and gently place it in the cylinder until it touches/lays on the #1 piston
Turn crank and when the screw driver hits its highest point, your got TDC for the bottom end

But I truly think you are not thinking correctly if you are simply replacing the dizzy. You should have marked where the dizzy was attached to the head with a pen and swapped the new one in the same spot.....no TDC needed.

 

It'd be nice if it just worked like that, when lined up where the old one was I'm pretty sure it's retarded. I jumped the advance and got it close by ear but it's still not perfect. I'm pretty **** about the **** and it's just not quite right. It's just a D15B2 but when everything's right it'll pull about 40 in the city. I need my 40... Thanks for the help tho

 

Just install the distributor and set it to about the middle.
Loosen the distributor bolts to adjust it.
Rev the motor by pulling the throttle cable to see how it revs.
Retard all the way and rev again and you'll see a HUGE difference.
Adjust the distributor and rev until it revs the fastest.
Tighten the bolts.
As long as you don't have high compression, you're done. If you have high compression, keep an ear out for any knocking and retard if you get any.

 

But you must jump the service plug to actually keep the timing set to where you move it to. Otherwise.....it just goes right back.

OP your timing should not have changed when you only replaced the distributor if you put it right back. TDC does not matter. But I do not know what steps you did when installing it. Jump the service plug and put a timing gun on it. Set it at 17-18 degrees and it will be fine.

 

Why would he need to jump the service plug? If this is OBD0 (or even OBDI) the only crank angle sensor is inside the distributor. So if the distributor is moved, the timing would have to change, right?

 

No....timing in my OBD1 changes right back....I have verified with a timing gun. It will change when you do it without the service plug jumped but once shut off....the ECU puts it right back.

 

OK, now I'm going to have to kick my own ***. I built a high compression B18 with Crower 62403 (stage 2) cams and I've been tinkering with that for the past year. I finally had to replace the bottom end with a stock block due to blowing head gaskets until I can get it fixed. I've got a chipped ECU with a Phearable.net program that seems pretty decent and adjustable cam gears.

I've been spending hours and hours and hours researching these engines, basic engine function, head flow characteristics, piston and crank and cam dynamics, etc. I have never, ever heard this before. Here's what I've been doing:

1) Adjust distributor with the car running until it revs the fastest.
2) Drive the **** out of the car.
3) Several days later, attribute my now slower car to the idea that I've just gotten used to how it drives.
4) A week later begin wondering what else has gone wrong that my car just doesn't pull anymore.

You may now begin laughing your asses off at what a moron I've been. I know this is a tool I should already have, but now I feel like I should invest in a timing light.

 

Lesson learned and if you buy a timming light buy a snap on with adjustable retard and advance.