Trying to time my engine

[Michael L.]

Guys,

im trying to work out the kinks in my 350 L46 rebuild. Got the car running better and trying to set the timing. I set the dwell with a dwell meter at 30 and proceeded to set the timing. I pulled and plugged the vacuum advance and set up my timing light. What’s strange is that the car ran best with the timing indicator showing like 30-40’degrees retarded. I’m assuming that the A and B on the timing indicator means After and before TDC. The car runs ok if the timing is showing like 30 degrees on the A side (i.e. retarded) and if I try to bring it down to 8 deg BTDC the car stalls. What am I missing? I’m certain that I timed the car off the number 1 cylinder because I went through the hassle of pulling the ignition shields off to
make sure I had the correct wire.

Mike

[Stephen L.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

You're connected to the wrong wire. #1 Cylinder is the front left cylinder.
Maybe it would be prudent to recheck the location and firing order of ALL the wires in the distributor cap and trace them to the appropriate plug.
Insure that you are in the #1 cap wire tower and are following the proper rotation firing order in the cap. LEAVE the shielding OFF until you get this problem solved.....

[Michael L.]

[Loren L.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

Call your Uncle or whatever relative lives closest to you and get the name of a professional mechanic and get the car to him, tell him what you want done and pay him.

[Frank D.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

The "A" on my 63 timing tab means A)dvance; can't say on later years...

Do you have a "dial back" timing light ? If so make sure you're using it correctly...
Of course you have to be on the #1 plug wire - and how sure are you that the distributor was "stabbed" correctly after the rebuild...?

If you know how to get the engine to Top Dead Center on the compression stroke you should be able to just remove the center ignition shielding and distributor cap and the rotor should be pointing very close to the #1 plug tower and you can clip your inductive lead onto the wire at that location. It doesn't have to be right at the plug end.

[Michael L.]

[Duke W.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

Look at your CSM and make sure the #1 wire on the dist. cap is indexed properly and that the distributor installation is correct by observing the approximate angle of the VAC relative to engine centerline.

This is a common problem on C2s, but I think C3 small blocks have a different installation angle. Also on C2s the dimple on the dist. gear must be pointing the same direction as the rotor tip if the camshaft have a properly indexed gear per the GM camshaft drawings, and I believe this applies to C3s, to, but not sure.

Duke

[John F.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

You know that the drivers side is the left side! Right?

[Patrick H.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

If this had been just some average shop I might understand but this was a full on restoration shop with a total bill for only the body and paint of 80K.

Mike

REALLY?!?
Ouch.

[Michael L.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

Yes really. I can tell you that I had four cars that I did over the last several years and if you go to a high end shop that specializes in restoration and charges by the hour that is very much what you can expect to pay. Now, granted, my car needed to have the nose clip replaced for some minor collision damage and I also had them restore the underbody of the car, but if you had an intact car and you went to any of the highly regarded restoration shops and you asked for a top restoration of your car your going to pay 50-60k easily just for the body and paint. I have a 69 AMX I am also restoring and on that car I already did 80% of the body work myself including hanging new quarters and replacing all the floor pans so all they needed to do was complete the body work and paint the car and that work was done at a different shop and it cost 40k and it required MUCH less work than the corvette did. Not saying you can't find guys who will do it for less but the last time I went with one of those guys he disappeared for 6 months and I had to hire a lawyer and call the cops to get my car back, and when I did it was in buckets and boxes but at least I got it all back.

[Patrick H.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

I had a high end Corvette shop say $25k to strip and repaint to NCRS standards.
That did not surprise me.
$80k surprises me unless you're a certain Corvette shop out east, or your car has a prancing stallion on it.

I would hope they install your VIN tag for free at that rate.

[William F.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

Yes, but you're aggravating yourself and can't get car to run. We're talking mechanical things, not paint. Swallow your pride , get help, get it running and enjoy.

[Michael L.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

I think a quality shop can do an already very clean and complete car for 25k but it has to be simply a strip and paint. Once you start lifting the body and having to re-gap panels and restoring the underbody it will go up fast from there, easily approaching 50k, even if no body panels need replacing.

William, It's not (strictly) a pride thing. I'm choosing the path of least aggravation. As I said, if I send it to a shop it will be there for a month, cost a fortune, and something will be broken or damaged when it comes back. It never fails. If I had a crystal ball and absolutely knew that someone could sort it out in two days, charge me a several hundred dollars, and return the car without breaking anything I would do it.

[Stephen L.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

Hang in there Michael. This is not rocket science..... Look at as a learning experience about troubleshooting an ignition system. I only hope you learn from this experience for future reference. I always say "you learn by your mistakes". If this was your only means of transportation then you might enlist some help.

[Frank D.]

Re: Trying to time my engine

I found one of these off the shelf in an Autozone near me:
https://www.amazon.com/Actron-CP7677...Q0SQ07MF2X338C

Measures dwell along with a dozen other automotive analysis functions...