[Tigers] Timing deviates - advice needed

[Jerry Mo Christopherson]

The first thing that  comes to my "alleged"  mind is the possibility that
the gear at the bottom of your distributor has sheared the 1/8th  inch pin
and the gear is turning slightly on the shaft.   When you first start up,
the oil is cold and the shaft is harder to turn, causing the gear to rotate
slightly on the shaft throwing the timing off.

To check this, take the distributor out (be sure to remember to mark the
position) and take an 1/8th inch punch and try to push out the pin holding
the gear (with a small hammer).  If the pin slides out without much effort,
then it hasn't sheared.  Put the pin back in because that's not the problem.
However, if you can't get the pin out, you will have to pull the gear off.
These gears are pressed on and only fit one way; so, make a small mark on
the gear and the shaft so you know the proper alignment (clocking) when you
put it back together.  It's almost mandatory that you have a press to put
the gear back on.  Alignment of the two holes before pressing on is
mandatory, because after the gear is on you CANNOT rotate the gear to align
the holes.  I've had to remove the gear several times to get it to align
properly on some distributors.

Hope this helps.

Jerry Christopherson
9473187 

-----Original Message-----
From: tigers-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:tigers-bounces at autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of Pointers
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2012 9:09 AM
To: tigers at autox.team.net
Subject: [Tigers] Timing deviates - advice needed

I put out a list MayDay a year ago when suddenly, upon starting, the car ran
absolutely brutal. Undriveable. Adjusted the timing, replaced the fuel pump
& fuel filter, drained the fuel. Nada. Barely running. (Tony, and others,
thanks for the input). Then I finally get a guy I know (not a mechanic, but
good problem solver and mechanically knowledgeable) to look at it. Car
starts and runs not too bad (no changes made), he moves the distributor, and
voila, runs perfectly. Start it a few times, drive it around, set the dwell,
all's well.
 
Some time later I get a bad result again, and my mechanic buddy moves the
dist to full lock, and it's running 90%. We move the dist wires one position
so we can move the dist, then set the timing correctly.
He checks everything: float bowls, condenser changed, dwell set (got some
strange readings tho).  Runs awesome.
 
Some time later I get a bad result. I check the timing and I'm at zero
degrees. I move the wires one position in the opposite direction, adjust to
16 degrees and voila!
 
Some time later...well, you get the picture.
Something seems to throw my timing out substantially. If I make adjustment,
my timing goes out the other direction.
This does not occur while I'm driving. Only upon a subsequent start-up.
Someone highly regarded thought timing chain, but I checked (observing
degrees of movement when manually reversing crank direction) and it would
appear to be well within spec.
New coil, points, wires 1000 miles ago.
I'm running a Mallory dual point. I want to keep it (not the LAT Ford dual
point, but historically similar).
It doesn't appear to be worn, the points are clean, rotor is good. Swapped
out condenser.
Cannot seem to source new points (though they are shiny, not burnt).
Tried to start it in the fall to go park it for the winter, and it would not
even fire; suspect the timing might be way out this time. I verified there
is spark and fuel. Covered it up for the winter.
 
Mallory won't help. Completely unsupported and no parts avail.
Couldn't find a shop that'll just take in the distributor and bench test it.
Any ideas? Would prefer a remedy to existing. 
Should I take the leap to electronic? If so, what would you recommend?
Spring is coming, and I've got to have a more trouble free summer this year.
All suggestions appreciated.
I will queue up your thoughts and likely be able to get after it when Spring
shows up in 3 weeks.
 
Appreciated! Please solve the riddle!
 
Gary
St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
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