hello everyone. ok so i took off my intake manifold to do some cleaning and change the gaskets; in order for me to do that i had to take out the distributor. I put everything back together, i even made a map of where the spark plugs go, but i forgot to mark my distributor. I know dumb move (2nd time i did this) *hits head on desk* lol. i tried just moving the distributor a little here and there to see if i could get it going but no luck i couldnt get it to turn over. i really dont want to get it towed and take it to a shop so im hoping you guys could help

 

You will have to retime the motor. Rotate the crank untill #1 cyl is a the top of it's stroke, I take out the spark plug and stick straw in the hole to appoximate it(i know, low tech but it works for me). I dont go off the balancer because the outter ring slips. Pull the dist. mark #1 location on the base for reference. install the dist. so that the rotor is inline with the mark when it is fullty seated, you may have to move it a few teeth or turn the oil pump drive w/a screwdriver to get it to drop in right.

 

thanks for the reply v8, im not sure what or where the crank is; would you mind if i asked you a million questions so i can learn what the crank is, where my cyl are and what they look like...ect....

 

wow, this is gonna be fun. Kind of like taking apart the vcr when you were a kid just to see how it worked. Neat. No worries tears, there are plenty of folks here to help out. First, go out and buy a chiltons manual. ebay, craigslist, wherever you can , just get one. Most of your questions will be answered there. The crank is inside the engine, you can see it if you remove the oil pan. STOP. dont do anything. The crank pulley is what you want. First, find the number one spark plug. Open your hood. stand in front of the car. look at the engine. The plug the is closest to your right hand is number one. Pull the plug out. Get a straw (I use a wooden spoon, dont use metal , like a screwdriver, you could scar the piston) and put it in the hole. Now, find the crank pulley, its probably attached to the big fan thingie by some belts. The crank is the one all the way at the bottom. The fan is actually attached to the water pump - anyways, that is what you want moved. rotated. turned. Somehow find a sockett to fit the bolt and turn the belt, turn it clockwise untill the spoon starts to come out of the plug hole. Once you turn the pulley enough the spoon will stop coming out and start to go back in. you want to stop turning when the spoon is as out as it can be, this is known as TDC or top dead center. Halfway there. Now you have to decide where the wire coming from the #1 plug is supposed to go on the dizzy (distributor) and where the dizzy is supposed to be located on the engine and in what position. On top of the dizzy is the rotor, it goes under the cap. when you put the dizzy in the motor the rotor should point to the relative location of where plug wire one will be once the cap is on. follow? This position will allow the coil to shoot power into the dizzy cap, touch the rotor (as it is rotating under the cap) which will rub against the inside of the cap which has a connection to the plug wire to fire the plug. I hope this helps.

 

A few other things if you are using the above method, when turning the engine over using the damper bolt take all the plugs out it will make turning easyer you do not want to break off this bolt. You need to make sure the piston is on a compression stroke otherwise the timing will be wrong. You can either take off a valve cover to make sure the valves are closed at tdc or feel the air being pushed out the plug hole while turning to tdc. The best way to do what you are doing is to use a piston stop..

 

I usually just take off the coil wire, (so the car won't start). Then take out the #1 plug and putmy finger over it while someone 'bumps' the starter. When it blows your finger off the hole it TDC (top dead center). Follow the #1 plug wire to the distributer, like Thomas said, and the rotor cap should be pointing to it when you drop it in.

Good luck--[]

 

Thanks Griff, I was getting brain farts and left some things out. It actually took me about 4 hours to finish the reply, I started typing then the wife... thel the ****... then the kids... So I left some stuff out.

 

hey thanks for all your help...and thanks for not making me feel dumb by using words like thingy....i really enjoyed that it put a smile on my face...anyways good news its running

 

Thanks Griff, I was getting brain farts and left some things out. It actually took me about 4 hours to finish the reply, I started typing then the wife... thel the ****... then the kids... So I left some stuff out.
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I know exactly what you mean I get " I need to feed my web kinz pet.. or it will die" that usally works...........