Dist removal = have to retime engine?

[Jdub]

Dumb question: If I am careful in removing my dist at TDC and do not move the crankshaft, can I put the now clean dist back in without having to retime the engine, or will cleaning and R&R mean retiming to spec.?

I would assume a check on timing is in order at this point, but wonder if either the natural play in the dist. gear to shaft or the now-clean and functioning parts would affect the timing a lot; so much so that maybe I oughtn't even drive the car until retimed?

Useful distributor cleaning/other threads:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/ultimate/Forum3/HTML/009677.html

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8679&highlight=distributor+cleaning

Jw

[Clark Griswald]

Depends on what year car you have. SC or earlier and you must re-time.

Carrera and later, not required.

[Jdub]

Ah, it is an SC circa '78. I will be driving the car across town to JohnWalker to have him time it. My assumption is that the timing will not have changed enough to prevent driving. I do have a timing light but don't have an advance on it nor do I want to rev the car to 6K for this purpose.

Jw

[john walker's workshop]

scratch a line with a pointed instrument around the washer under the holddown nut, and match up the mark on reassembly. just get the rotor back in the same position it came out at.

[Olivier 3.0]

just a stupid question: when I take out my dist. I put the crankshaft at "Z1", and the dist. rotor on the notch, that is to say on the cyl.1... But, tell me if I'm wrong, the crankshaft can also be on "Z1" and the rotor on cyl.4...
If I put back the dist. pointing to cyl.1 ignition, whereas it was on the cyl. 4 at the taking out, would I mess up something? Or is it the same ? The dist.turns twice less than the the crankshaft, isn't it?

[Jdub]

I believe that hitting Z1 and having the rotor point to your distributor mark for #1 means you are TDC, firing stroke, for your #1. If I had any questions about this I would pull the spark plug and feel for compression at the hole or remove the valve cover and ensure that the rockers for #1 are both loose, indicating a seated valve.

Jw

[wckrause]

Your crank would be in the right spot, but your cams would not be.

[tmctguer]

i would re-time just to be on the safe side. what do you have to lose except for 5 minutes??

[rfix'n]

The only reason I can think of for not re-timing would be lack of a timing light. I'd be happy to loan you mine if that's the case. Like tmctguer said, it only takes 5 minutes.

[Jdub]

Timing is not a problem; it is cranking that purty engine to 6K, unloaded, that frightens me!

Am I being too nurse-like with my 3.0 here? Speak up, I am thick-skinned (I have a tough editor...)!

John

[Clark Griswald]

Yes you are being a pantywaist Your car is happy to run 6000.

However, you only need to set the timing at idle. You aren't doing anything to the advance mechanism (are you?). So just re-set the initial advance.

[Jdub]

At least you didn't call me a panty-wearing, sit-down-to-piss sissy

Really my concern is the 6K rev.; I will leave this to JohnW. I usually set my dwell meter (set to rpm) somewhere on the engine and check my rpm against the timing as needed, so I am good to go there.

But if I free up the mechanism or otherwise make the unit work "as it ought to" then I wondered if this might throw off my upper-rpm spec and thus cause some disaster to the engine. Probably just worrrying too much here, but I very much appreciate you folks bearing with me as I turn a simple job into a bizarre ritual!

John

[Roland Kunz]

Hello

Most engines can be setet with static timing ( mostly TDC or 5° bTDC. ) Then you warm then up and see where the ignition is at 6000. If its to far away then its the wrong distributor or something else is wrong.

Static timing on 6pt CDI isn´t possible with a simple bulb so you have to idle the engine and set the mark at idle to the TDC.

Grüsse

[jkeyzer]

When I was trying to be cheap and avoided buying a timing light. I did have to remove my distributor to install the pressure fed tensioners. I just made a mark as has been suggested and drove the car for several weeks like that. When I later bought a timing light I found that I was pretty much spot on.

It is however very easy to accidentally end up one tooth off on the distributor pinion as I have found through experience. You will notice as soon as you start the car. In my case I nearly had a heart attack because I had just put in the tensioners and was worried I had let the cams slip.

On my 72, to check the total advance you remove the vacuum line to the distrib and rev to 6k, then make sure the crank pulley notch for ~35 degrees matches up with the mark on the engine. If you assume that your centrifugal advance works, you don't need to bother with this step and you won't wake the neighbors.

[stormcrow]

Not sure what all the fuss is about. If you set your distributor to #1 and the z1 at tdc you should be good to go. Mark the shaft of the distributor to the housing before you remove it. If you want to check to see if the piston is at tdc, loosen the plug and rotate the engine by hand. you will hear air coming out of the cylinder when it's coming up to TDC.

When you reinstall the distributor, place the rotor back to tdc and realign up the marks on the housing. If either of these don't match, then you are not there yet. Remove distributor and try again.

Steve

[Superman]

The distributor drive gears wrap around the shaft in a spiral (probably) so that the rotor will turn as you remove of install the unit. You only need to make sure that when the unit is fully reinstalled, the rotor is in the original position.

I tend to be as finicky as jdub, so I understand. But I also hope you know, jdub, that if your timing is returned to its original idle spec, John Walker is going to peek at the advance timing and say "looks fine to me." If you really have doubts, just don't redline it all the way to his shop.

Further, I though full advance happens before 6000 rpm anyway. Also, 6000 is a walk in the park for your engine. It hurts you much more than it hurts the engine.

And finally, I pee sitting down when I get up in the morning. It requires no special balance skill and can be performed with eyes closed. But I almost never wear panties.