Thanks to all for your responses to my problem (Car won’t start/Timing
questions) I posted yesterday PM. At 5 pm today, I closed down the valve
cover and punched the starter button, and the car turned over nice and sweet.
Here are some of my thoughts and suggestions, in case any of you run
across
the same problem:
--180 degree off problem. If the car cranks, but will not fire--and
occasionally lets out a big bang--you are probably 180 degrees off. The
timing mark should come up to TDC on compression. Watch the inlet valve.
When it opens and closes you are on compression. As the pulley comes around
on compression, set the mark about 1/4 inch before the arrow on the block (as
viewed from the right hand aside of the car). The pulley mark will also come
up to TDC as exhaust stroke begins. If you start timing the engine form this
point you will be 180 off.
--Positioning the distributor: At the point where you have set the
pulley
mark, the point should just begins to open. Put the cap back on the
distributor and mark the number 1 firing point. That’s where the rotor
should point after the distributor is installed. But there’s a trick, and
thanks to David Nock of British Car Specialists (Healeydoc@aol.com) for this
vital piece of information: the points have to begin to ,open on the leading
edge of the distributor cam, not the trailing edge. Hook up a light between
the LT terminal and ground. With the distributor is in place with the rotor
pointing towards number 1, turn the distributor counter (anti) clockwise
until the light goes on (points open) then goes out (points close). Now turn
the distributor clockwise until the light comes back on. You are now on the
leading edge of the cam. I had been turning the distributor counterclockwise
until the light went on--that put the points on the trailing edge of the cam,
and probably was responsible for 99.99 percent of my problem.
--Misc: Mark Lambert of Lambert Auto in Nashville told me this one:
Do
not tighten the distributor clamp down onto the block, despite the temptation
to do so, until the distributor ins in place and fully seated. Without the
distributor in place the clamp can be tightened down quickly using a socket
wrench. With the distributor in place you have to use an open-end wrench and
one-quarter turns.
I left the distributor mounting bolt loose and used a timing light once
the
car was running. Move the distributor using the vacuum advance unit--don’t
grab the wires. I think I lost all hair on my right forearm.
While I had the distributor out I pulled it apart to make sure I hadn’t
dropped a washer down in the weights. I also checked out the vacuum advance
by sucking on the end and seeing if the point plate moved (it does). The I
put in a new set of points and a condenser. BTW, the spark plug gap was set
to 0.025 as specified, not 0.125. That was a tpyo.
Last year I made the mistake of buying one of Moss Motor’s wheel
wrenches
for my knock offs. The device proved to be totally unusable--until now. Put
it on the right front wheel and you can easily move the car forward and back
with the car in gear to get the timing marks set up. Sure beats pulling on
the fan belt, pushing the car or trying to move it by turning the front
wheel. At the same time you can see how much the car is being moved.
So to all my many many thanks. -- John Trifari 1955 BN1 (now
running)/1980 MGB
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