Hello - I want to set and check my timing on my stock 401 nailhead 1960. How can I find out wich Cylinder is the 1st Cylinder that I need for my timing? How many degrees should I put the timing 6BD , 2.5 BD or 12 BD? And how much idle - vacuum line connected or not - and should I plug it if I disconnect it? Thanks Herby
Unless the engine has the distributor it left the factory with (lots of things get changed in 52 years), the stock timing specifications may be totally useless. You are better off setting the total timing to what you want. The initial timing will then be what it has to be, depending on how much mechanical advance is built into the distributor that you are using (this varied over the years), and how much total timing is set. If you quicken the mechanical advance, you must limit the amount of vacuum advance in the canister. The basics of the Power Timing thread apply to the Nailheads as well. http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?63475-Power-Timing-your-Buick-V8
True, but some International-Harvester engines time off of #6 or #8 cylinder. There's always someone who just has to be different! :laugh:
True, they may time off the #6 or #8 cylinder but as was said "#1 is always closest to the radiator." At least on conventional cars with the engine running north and south. Who knows about the transverse engines where the radiator is on the side of the engine.
you are correct about transverse, a lot are rear bank closest to the firewall , that's why I like to say cylinder furthest to the front of the engine, but I still want to say olds had a motor that wasn't the case. Best bet is the book. I like all data or identifix is pretty good. 99% of the old cars was closest to the radiator. I will ask my buddy bob because he always corrects me when I say that.
AWWWW,, John is just in a tizzy because he secretly wants a holley carb to go on his engine THAT HAS THE #1 CYL CLOSEST TO THE FIREWALL..:Brow::Brow::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh: And aint got one.....:laugh::laugh: Actually I am talking about just the American made domestic car engines.....So there, John,,,, mutter,,, mutter,,,:Brow::laugh::Brow::laugh:Oh Yeah, John,,, which is number 1 on a radial aircraft engine.... I was looking at the engine from a B36 Peacemaker bomber and could not make heads or tails of it..... o No:o No:
#1 in a radial is the one with the master rod, then the rest of the cylinders are numbered sequentially. There is always an odd number of cylinders in each row.
Nope not true. For #1 not always closest to rad. :grin: You could time your nailhead off #4 as well as #1.
I'm going to stick with Doc's comment in post #5 of this thread. No one is asking which cylinder to time from; the question was which cylinder is #1. Time it from whichever is your choice. But you've got to know where #1 is before you can identify anyother one.
Actually any American made v8 engine was designed to fire sequentially ,,, going from no 1 through the firing order.... so to keep the power pulses smooth as possible , the cyls that are on the same throw of the crank do not fire at the same time, the ones that are on the same bank as the no1 cyl fire , then just a few deg later, the piston on the off side fires....add to this , the crank throws are divided in increments of a circle to further spread the power flow.... and finally the flywheel/converter assembly finishes the smoothing process..... so the factory is right in telling us to time off no1 cyl only to get the best result.....:Brow:
Hi Doc, A little over a month ago I actually did take a very hard look at a cool little Corvair Monza! :laugh:
The statement about #1 closest to the rad doesn't apply to any of Henry Fords v8's rom 1932 to 1953.Many people are unaware of this and soon become confused when they first start out to hot rod an old flatty.Bin there done that. W
Well,,, it has been so long since I was running a flathead that I dont remember,, the the Y block engines and the FE engines are that way....
Unless they have changed in recent years, Ford OHV V8s have 1-2-3-4 on the left bank, 5-6-7-8 on the right.
Fe and Y block are 1 2 3 4 on passenger 5 6 7 8 on driver side Windsor and Cleveland block are the same way as FE. This also holds true for a flathead except the #1 cylinder is not closest to the rad.# 5 is closest.The block is cast different but numbered same as other ford v8's.That is how the mix up can happen.
I stand corrected - I knew that 1-4 were on one side, and 5-8 were on the other. I have looked at a bunch of photos of this engine, and it looks like #1 is closest to the radiator.
