QuestionI have mixed up the spark plug wire as they relate to the firing order of the car .This is a 235 6 cylinder in a 1955 chevy can you help. Thanks John
AnswerThanks for the kind words. I want to make sure you realize that the method you propose to find the location of the rotor for #1 cylinder depends on you getting #1 on the compression stroke - and the easy way to do this is to install a compression gauge in the #1 spark plug hole while you manually turn the crankshaft in the clockwise (viewed from the front of the engine) direction. Once you see compression starting to build in the cylinder, you know you are coming up on the compression stroke, and the rotor will be just before the spark plug wire socket for #1.
The reason I raise this point is that the crankshaft goes around twice for each rotor rotation (this is a '4 stroke' engine).
I suggested skipping this step, unless you know that the distributor might have been disturbed, because these cars were assembled with the #1 spark plug wire in the hole closest to the right (passenger side) of the car, and if it hasn't been changed, you could simply start there to install your wires, without having to determine which is #1. If you try this location, and it doesn't make the car run right, then you could go to the extra step of determining the rotor position for #1 cylinder by the compression test method.
If you decide to do it this way, and do not have a compression tester, you can substitute a tuft of Kleenex Tissue partly into the spark plug hole (DO NOT BLOCK THE HOLE - to prevent the tissue being sucked into the hole on the intake stroke!). When the tissue blows out of the hole, you are on the compression stroke. You need to turn the crank by hand for this procedure - the starter spins it too fast. To turn the crank by hand, put a wrench on the large bolt head in the center of the crankshaft pulley.
Dick
