Help with timing with TA 212

Yes I changed them back.

But the cutting out on the hill was happening before I set the timing again.
So, I went out for a drive to warm the engine up, to get it ready to set timing again, this time properly, that's when I noticed it was cutting, like missfiring going up hill.

Got home, put yellow springs on, dial light to 32, rev it up till line stops and line with zero.
put stock springs back on again.

but then didn't have time to take it out back to the places where it was cutting out.

I'll report back once I have all the new bits - points, fuel filter and dwell meter.

thanks!

 

Make sure the spark plug gaps are set for points if you haven't already, an HEI wants more gap than points do.

IIRC the gap with points should be .035"(.89mm). If the gaps aren't set, that's something you can do while you hurry up and wait for all your new "bits" to arrive?

 

I'm back!
finally had some time to look into this again.
Conclusion... I don't think the dwell meter works... or i'm doing something wrong.

It didn't have any instructions but reading about, everywhere said to put the black lead on ground, red lead on coil negative side.
this dwell meter had an extra blue lead which don't have a clue what its for..

Got the new points and condenser in there, set the gap at 0.016. started it up.

Dwell was showing 70! tried to move it to 30 but as I do that engine stops - my guess is because the gap got too big... the meter should be showing close to 30 after I done my feeler gauge gap, and then should only be a slight adjustment right??



So, I left it with new points, new condenser, gap set with feeler gauges at 0.016.

Moved to timing.
Put the yellow springs back in there.
Plugged the vaccum.
Fired it up.

Set advance at 32 on the light.
Revs up and this is the bit I'm not sure if something is wrong or not.... the timing line on the balancer doesn't move up steady.. .. as you don't visually see 1 mark goes up gradually....it's almost (visually) like there's 2 marks.
One up one down, and it kinda flickers between the 2. But I only have phisically one line marked on the balancer..... you just don't see 1 line moving up.... it's hard to explain, I couldn't video it either as i was on my one.

Also, the line, or one of the lines, only stops moving when the revs are really really high... like over 2500 rpm.... this is not right is it?? if I have the yellow springs in there?

ohh another question.
On those inline plastic fuel filters, for the 350 engine, which size inlet and outlet should I use? 1/4 or 5/16?
As the one I bought you can cut the smaller end off and use the bigger size.

thanks!!
JP

 

JP,
The tool I have is an Actron but they are all basically the same.
Black is Neg. on battery or ground and Red is pos. on battery then you need a feed from number 1 plug wire. Kinda like a timing light.
So yours is probably Black-Neg, Red-Pos. and Blue should go to coil.

 

thanks for that!!

Just talking to a mate and he says that the cause for my balancer mark being up and down is probably due to a worn dizzy and I need a new one?
to clarify, even when I'm on idle, the line flicks about between 0 and 4.... i dont have a steady light in one position, as the timing light flashes, the line appears at 0..at 2..at.4.... this with my advance on the light at 8.

 

That could be a worn distributor. Sometimes the lobes on the distributor shaft wear down and don't open the points consistently. Sometimes there is play in the shaft/bushing and then you don't get an accurate signal.
I'm sure there are some experts on here who could tell you how to check. It's been a long time since I worked on one and I wouldn't want to steer you wrong.
Larry the Wizard always gives excellent advice too.

 

Up & down dist shaft play, Or timing chain stretch.....seems would give you t-mark variations.
The springs may have effect on rock solid timing if they are not fully stretched.

 

If the bushings are worn out, fire up that lathe you have access to and make some new ones and rebuild your distributor.

Most guys say get a new one because they don't have a lathe to make new bushings.

If its the distributor cam then it would probably be a good idea to get a new one because of the difficulty to make or fix dis cam..

 

Thanks gents!
I'll check it all tomorrow. To be honest, I think, today, when I was hand cranking it to get the points on one of the lobes, I saw the shaft going up... can't remember exactly though.
I'll also try hooking up the dwell meter as explained above, see if that works.

I'll try make a video tomorrow afternoon of whats happening.

ref timing chain stretch, doubt it, its all brand new, only like 5k miles.

if it's worn bushings I can definitely get some made on my lathe, recently upgraded to a bigger one with screw cutting gearbox and all.

 

If your american friend is in town, $30 plus post for this. No lathe needed.

 

Unfortunately he is not there at the moment, but I have bike parts coming in a container and June, so I might get that off you, keep a spare here as no chance of buying one.
Or would you be able to find how much would be to ship to the UK?

I'm going to have to get it from Rockauto anyway and get it shipped over.

it's 9am here now, I'll be checking everything discussed here in a few hours, will try to make videos.

 

Right. I don't know what I was thinking before.
I didn't plug the vaccum before... I was plugging it on the dizzy but not on the carb. Today when I was doing it, I done the same again and then I thought to myself "what the hell am I doing?? I have to plug it at the carb as well!!"

So things felt a bit better today - obviously because dumb@ss here now plugged the line.
and to be completely sure I ended up taking everything apart, then going through the whole procedure of number 1 on compression, drop the dizzy in, etc, etc....

On the video, at some point you'll see 2 dots on the balancer, that's a very faint line I found today, and I marked it with 2 dots, judging by piston distance inside the cylinder, I'm saying this line is the BTDC line.
The dwell meter helped - had never used it, so it was a very good exercise to see the difference from adjusting gap with feeler gauges and then the accuracy of the dwell meter. - it fluctuates a bit... but is the amount acceptable?
On the last bit of the video I have the gun on 32, can't really see it, but the solid TDC line goes to the zero line and stops there.
On the video you can also see the up and down play on the dizzy shaft - is that acceptable amount?

everything seems better today. Haven't had time to take it out for a spin though, as sold my 1950 Panhead and have someone coming round tomorrow to pick it up and had to get that sorted too.

Please watch the whole video as there's several bits all glued together.





thanks!
JP

 

Guess what..?

taken it out today as it's a beautiful sunny day here in England and it's working well.
done loads of hills through the country side, some at full throttle, some at half.. the missfire never happened... BUT.... weird enough now it hesitates/ misfires at very low revs when accelarating slowly? how weird is that???
If i'm already moving and back off the pedal and then slowly accellarate... no problem.
If i'm almost coming to a stop and then slowly, just gently, accelarate.. it kinda hesitates, feels like a misfire... then it goes no problem. Seems to be related to very low revs/speeds.... but saying that it also doesn't happen all the time.

All the rest it's working fine. pently of power when I push it down... I'm still shocked I managed to rebuild a whole engine and it's still going, and couldn't have done it without all your help here.

This is my gauges, cruising at 50mph...

 

Hi gents, it keeps happening now, missfire at low revs... if I'm in traffic, if I then start to move and slowly accelarate, it hesitates.... what could be causing this?
moving and flooring it it's all fine... plenty of power. but that slow moving hesitation and what feels like a missfire is there.

Could it be HT leads? I noticed one of them has a cut on the rubber... could this be the cause? but then again wouldn't it missfire at higher revs?

 

Thanks Larry.
Would the accelerator pump be working at very slight throttle? or what you mean is maybe I don't have enough clearance on the actuator to the pump and therefore I'm chucking petrol into the carb, making it flood with too much petrol at such low revs?

 

Hi,
I'll check that.... and I just thought of something that might be of interest:

• When I start it first thing, if I keep the revs above 1k rpm it's kind of alright, but if I blip the accelerator, the revs start to drop and dies, no matter if I try revving it again to keep it alive.... this happens all the time. once or twice, till I start and then keeps revs steady at 800/900 to warm it up.

On the vaccum question, I just double checked and it's connected to the full manifold vaccum, not the timed spark port - as per the photo below. is that right? or should I change it?


The vaccum on the dizzy is brand new (well, 6k miles on it) and when I put my finger on the hose coming from the carb I can feel it sucking.

Check with the timing light.... hows that done? I guess it's when I rev it high, the TDC line moves up? if so yes, it does that, currently sitting at 32* when at WOT.

thank you!