Prepare for the worst/hope for the best

[Woodie83]

That's a very good explanation of IGNITION timing, DOC. There's also VALVE timing, a different thing, that may be confusing kais3. The timing belt that connects the crankshaft to the camshaft must be set correctly, it's not an adjustment per se as it's either spot on or it's wrong.

Doctor Bill's second picture shows the valve timing, when #3 is on 0, the timing belt determines whether #'s 1 and 2 align. This must be right first or setting ignition timing is a waste of time.

[kais3]

Alright that does make good sense. now looking in the book and remembering correctly to rotate the distributor i have to turn the crankshaft pulley. yes?

The haynes manual states that the ignition timing is under hood for a sprint it is 10 BTDC (top dead center) what is the B stand for?

So i would then line up this mark on the crankshaft pulley with the number 10 on the timing belt cover numbers if this was a sprint.

I think i got it. it has been so long since i heard this car running i forgot what it is suppose to sound like.

[DOCTORBILL]

"Alright that does make good sense. now looking in the book and remembering correctly to rotate
the distributor i have to turn the crankshaft pulley. yes?"

No !

You start the engine, shine the Timing Light on the bottom of the Timing Belt
Cover, and rotate the Distributor until the Crankshaft Pulley mark is at the
setting you want.

BTW - the Timing Light is connected to the number one spark plug on the left
side of the engine.

The Crankshaft Pulley mark should be at zero when the Timing Pulley is setting
at the mark on the Valve Cover Flange (see #3 in my previous posting).

Once those marks are aligned (by setting the Timing Belt), you THEN time the
engine with the distributor and Timing Light.

It is cumbersome as the distributor is on the opposite side of the engine where you
are watching the Timing Light.

For God's sake, don't let the Timing Light fall down into that belt while you are
rotating the Distributor !

You may need a female companion/helper for that job and then for later on...to help
with timing other things - you know...for longer than 30 seconds !

DoctorBill

[kais3]

how do you rotate the distributor?

when i set the timing belt the marks on the crankshaft sproket and camshaft were positioned where they needed to be. when i placed the pulley on the crankshaft the little notch painted white is not lined up with the 0 marking on the timing cover.

are you saying these all need to match?

I hope not seeing as the crankshaft sproket allows the pulley to go on only one way due to the little knob it needs to fit into.

as i look at it right now the crankshaft pulley mark is about an inch and a half to the the right of the 0 mark.

[kais3]

alright i can rotate the distributor by loseing the two nuts on the that flare out to the side, i believe that is how people discribe it. this does not allow much room for rotation however.

I removed the number one piston and tdc when the air comes out the pully mark is pointing directly at the passenger seat a quarter pulley from the 0 mark.

does this matter?

should the mark be at the 0 when the first piston is at tdc

I am going to go shoot the light and see what it tells me, maybe i am overthinking all this. but then agian one mistake and all this time and effort and i get to do it all over agian.

by the way the B in BTDC is before which makes sense

[Johnny Mullet]

You have to have the timing cover off and the crank pulley. Remove the 4 or 5 small bolts from the crank pulley and remove the pulley. Remove the entire cover. Now rotate the engine to TDC and the little mark on the timing belt sprocket (not the pulley for timing light) should line up to the marks. The crank should line up and also the camshaft marks. The distributor rotor should be pointing almost straight up to the #1 spark plug wire connection.

[kais3]

Yep I aligned the crankshaft and camshaft to the right marks.

I could not get the timing light to work arrgh must have been built on friday. so i just rotated the distributor untill the car sounded good. I then took it for a little spin to the gas station 2 blocks away and ran out of gas one block from the house, that was a good heart stopper.

She seemed like she ran fine alot more get up and go than before.

took her 60 miles to work today and she ran real good, stopped smokin. I will check my gas mileage tommarow night and may try a new timing light if it is below 45mpg's

[Johnny Mullet]

No need for the timing light. Here is how I time them............

Mark your distributor so you know where you are set now.
Loosen the 2 bolts and advance (turn clockwise) it a little.
Take your tools and test drive.
Listen for "ping" or "spark knock" on accel or load.
Advance in small steps till it starts to ping and retard in very small steps until ping is gone.
This would be your ideal setting for ignition timing.

I have mine advanced pretty far especially with the cam and gear change and I run premium fuel to prevent spark knock.

[kais3]

well my check engine light came on a block from work today. i finally made it down to the auto parts store and recived a P0420 catalyst efficency below threshold code.

I have suspected my 02 senser to be getting on in years for the last couple months however; since i just got done rebuilding my engine can this have something to do with that? is this fortelling of a bigger problem down the road?

P.S. I just replaced my cat converter in nov 08.

[kais3]

Johnny what does spark knock sound like?
is it just a knocking engine?

[bennie442]

Roll up the windows and turn off the radio so you can hear better. Under load ie. rapid acceleration, going up a hill,etc. is when you are most likely to hear pinging. It's going to sound like marbles rattling under the hood. If you have engine pinging, there are two ways to get rid of it. One is using a higher octane fuel (may or may not fix the problem if the timing is jacked way up), the other is to retard the timing.

[DOCTORBILL]

A timing light is not very expensive ($25 or so) or you can rent them from tool rental places.

You don't need a "super-dooper-pooper-scooper" kind, just a simple one.
Harbor Freight has one for $25, I believe. Sears, Shucks, NAPA,.....

Why not just do as the manual says and use a timing light? i.e. do it right.

A timing Light is kinda an essential tool for automotive repair and tune ups.

No guessing.

DoctorBill

[Johnny Mullet]

A poorly running engine will screw up a new cat. Sometimes you can burn them out by driving the car like you stole it up to 60 MPH, then let off the gas in gear down to 30 MPH several times. This helps burn up old deposited carbon.