I went to do my timing after the HEI and spring swap but whats wierd is that I cant see the timing mark on the balancer at all? o No: I adjusted it to where the engine is idling the smoothest and i even tightened it down and starts right up, took it for a drive and the recurve opened it up like crazy, better performance than my headers!! But I still cant see the mark. It makes a wierd little clicking sound for a second or two before it starts if that helps at all too...? (but it may just be cause the battery is a little low...)
You can't see the mark because it is beyond the tab. That means your timing at idle is probably 20* +. What is the total timing? Did you set that?
No I didnt. I havent made the other mark (the one 1 3/4 inches over) yet because I thought I would just set it normal first. Im looking for the factory mark
There is no normal, you are using a non stock distributor with unknown specifications. You can set the timing where the engine runs the smoothest, but as soon as the RPM's climb, the timing advances an unknown amount. That is the point of setting the total timing, so that you know where it maxes out, and how much that is. Have I taught you nothing young Adrian?:laugh:
Try retarding the timing until you see the mark. Without a dial back light, you won't see the factory mark if it very far beyond the tab.
Ahhhh I see! I didnt realize that it would make a difference at just idle, so Ill make the mark 1 3/4 inches, try to set it there (on the 2* mark on the tab for 32* initial) and see what happens, then that should probably be good. Would this new timing be making that weird clicking noise in the beginning before starting?
Try setting the idle higher before you retard the timing. After you make your 30* mark, you must slowly rev the engine and watch that 30* mark. It move up with increasing RPM, and it will stop at some RPM. That is the RPM you need to set the total at. With the RPM held constant at that level, that is when you match the 30* mark with the 2 on the tab if you want 32* total
Might sound dumb but i dont know how to adjust the idle. Right now the spot that its at is how it runs best, I just wanted to make sure that there wasnt an exact spot that it is supposed to be lining up with at idle and that the distributor just stays in place once i adjust it for the 32* total timing.
You can leave it where it runs the smoothest for now, but I wouldn't be hammering on the car until I knew exactly what the timing was topping out at. For a Q-jet, there is a screw on the linkage, near the throttle cable that you can adjust the idle. If you look closely at it, it should be obvious.
Old timers trick... keep advancing it and beating on it until it finally pings, then back it off a little. Of course, by the time you hear the pinging it has already been pinging for a while, but you just need to back it off until the performance begins to suffer.
That's a good way to trash a motor:laugh: Don't encourage young Adrian to do this, the results will not be pretty.
Haha nice. I've gotta take stupid family pictures right now but I'm going home to make that mark and then set it. I'm also gonna take a video so you guys can see if you think anything is wrong. What does pinging sound like?
