I just put an HEI in the 73 455 Regal. I can't get the timing where I want it, the body hits the intake. I moved all the wires over one, and still the same boat. Thoughts? Thanx.
John, That happens, your off a tooth on the timing. With the bigger cap, you don't have as much rotation as with the small cap. The only thing I can suggest is to pull the distributor out and try again. Instead of setting the distributor/rotor for TDC, try setting it for the timing you would like to run.
Good suggestions as usual, Larry All I can add is that I had the same issue once, and it was due to a worn timing cover and a worn distributor housing flange. The distributor would literally sit at an angle that was just wrong enough that one of the molded retainer holders on the cap (for the cap hold downs) would rub the intake enough to stop it's rotation when timing. I would use a dremel to take a bit of the plastic off the cap there. This happened with my stock manifold and with an Edelbrock Performer 455 manifold. When I got a new HEI, the problem disappeared. I also recall that a very thin washer should be between the cover and the distributor. I never had one ever- Can someone verify it's presence? Once I started to panic about cam to distributor gear clash because of it's absence, but the engine has run like a dream for the last four years, so I stopped even thinking about it.
