QuestionQUESTION: HI I LOST THE FIRING ORDER SEQUENCE ON THE DISTRIBUTOR CAP CAN YOU GIVE ME THE SEQUENCE WITHOUT HAVING TO USE THE VIBRATION DAMPER METHOD, THANKS
ANSWER: The firing order is 1-5-3-6-2-4
Remember that the rotor has to be pointing at #1 at TDC on the COMPRESSION stroke, and that only happens every OTHER time the engine comes around. You can find the compression stroke by putting your finger in the #1 plug hole while someone cranks the engine - when you feel pressure building, your engine is coming up on the compression stroke for #1. Then slowly bring the timing mark up to TDC, moving the engine only in the clockwise direction (viewed from the front of the car). At that point, the rotor will be pointing at the plug wire socket for #1 cylinder if the distributor is installed correctly.
Dick
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QUESTION: Thank you it didnt work the vibration pully is so old that i cant read it or see any indications, but i did crank the engine until the #1 piston shot pressure, and i turned the pully by hand until the roter pointed towards #1sparkplug then i set the points to .0020and engine still wont start.what do you recommend
ANSWER: OK, well, you had it on the compression stroke since you felt pressure, but it still may be too far off timing to run.
Let's first verify that your ignition system is working OK, then I'll help you get it timed right.
Take the high voltage "secondary" wire out of the center of the distributor cap and position it next to the engine block, so that the tip of the wire is within 1/4 inch of the block. You may have to use a clothes pin or some other wooden insulating device to hold it in position. Then, with the ignition key on, have a helper use the starter to crank the engine, while you watch to see if there is a stream of sparks jumping from the end of the wire to the block. This should be a strong spark, going at rapid fire as the engine spins on the starter.
If you see those sparks, we know your ignition system is working. If you do not see sparks there, we need to do some troubleshooting.
Step one is to verify that you have -6 volts on the side terminal of the distributor (the small wire) when the points are open, and 0 volts there when the points are closed. If you have access to a voltmeter, use it to measure the voltage there when the engine is stopped, with the distributor cap off to the side out of the way so you can see the points. You can open them by putting a tool on the movable point arm to move it away from the stationary contact. Use a wooden or plastic handle screwdriver to do this so you don't get a shock when you open the points.
If you do not have access to a voltmeter, try this: turn the engine until the points are closed. Now, with your insulating screwdriver, push the movable point contact away from the fixed point contact, and watch very carefully to see if there is any spark at all when you break the contact. If you see a spark there at the points, you have voltage to the distributor side terminal. If you do not see any spark, you are probably going to need a voltmeter to check further, or at least a test light. If you have no way to get a voltmeter, tell me and I'll tell you how to make a test light, or you can buy one at the auto parts store.
If you do not see any voltage at the side terminal of the distributor, something isn't hooked up from the ignition switch to the coil negative terminal. Does your car have a coil which sticks through the firewall, and which has an armored cable leading to the ignition switch? If so, we may have to substitute another coil temporarily for troubleshooting purposes. If your car has a stand alone coil, allowing you to get at all 3 teminals on the coil, you need to check the voltage on the negative terminal of the coil and find out why it doesn't have -6 volts on it when the key is on.
I've assumed in all of this that your car is still using the positive ground system which is the original setup for this car. If not, tell me and I'll have to revise the above.
If you do not have spark, we'll need to do some more troubleshooting, but I'll not continue with all the details until I know the results of the above testing.
On the other hand, if the result of the spark test we started with is that you DO have spark from the coil, next we have to get the engine at TDC on the compression stroke to set the distributor timing.
With this engine, I believe if you take out the #1 spark plug and use a long thin rod, you can feel the top of the piston through the spark plug hole, by slanting the rod through the hole toward the center of the engine. You'll first have to get it back on the compression stroke, so do the finger in the hole trick first, then put the rod in the hole and slowly bring the piston up to the top of the stroke, with one hand on the rod so you can know when you are at TDC (and to keep from trapping the rod in the hole!! Do not rotate the engine any more after this - we need to have it exactly at TDC to time the distributor.
Next, look to see where the rotor is pointed, and install the plug wire for the front cylinder at that location in the cap. Next, install the wires in firing order around the cap from there, in the direction that the rotor turns when you crank the engine (I don't recall whether the rotor turns clockwise or counter-clockwise on that engine, sorry), but you can now spin the engine with the starter and watch the rotor to see which way it turns, since we have identified the right hole for the #1 plug wire. Install the rest of the wires in the direction of rotor rotation. Now the engine should start - we still need to do some fine tuning but lets get it to run, then we'll finish up the fine details.
I'll stop here and wait to hear back from you.
Dick
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QUESTION: Hello Dick,i took your advice on what to do next on bringing up the #1 piston and turned the vibration damper until the roder pointed to #1 and then set the points to 20 thousands put the spark plug on the distributer cap starting with #1where the roter pointed and went counter clock wise from there , checked the points again for 20thousands and closed up the cap and it didnt want to kick over so then i pulled the secondary of the distributor, cranked the engine and im receiving week spark, im bumbed...I recently changed the coil to 12 volt because it was a 6 volt coil conected to a 12v system
AnswerI think you repeated the mistake you made the first time. Once you get the #1 piston on TDC on the compression stroke, DO NOT MOVE the crankshaft to make the rotor point at #1 spark plug wire. Leave the crankshaft right where you have it and look to see where the rotor is pointing. Where it is pointing NOW is where the #1 plug wire needs to be plugged in.
If counter clockwise is the direction the rotor spins when cranking the engine, that is the way to plug in the wires - that is what you did, but you may not have had the #1 plug wire in the right hole.
Once you get those wires in the right place, the engine should run - we might need to do some fine adjustment of the timing, but let's get it running first.
If it still doesn't start, check for fuel in the carburetor by looking down into the top of the carburetor while you operate the accelerator linkage - you should see a squirt of liquid gas each time you step on the gas. If you don't you are not getting fuel into the carburetor, or else the accelerator pump isn't working. To prove that, put about 2 ounces of gas down the carburetor and try again to start the engine. If it starts now, even if only for a second or two, your ignition system is not the problem anymore.
The engine should run fine on the 12 volt system. Did you also change from positive ground to negative ground? You need to wire up the coil so that the polarity is correct to the two small wire terminals also. If you are running 12 volt negative ground, the wire from the ignition switch to the coil should be on the + terminal of the coil, and the - terminal of the coil should be connected to the side of the distributor. The coil might require a ballast resistor in series with the ignition switch wire - see what the instructions are with the 12 volt coil. Some have an internal ballast so you don't have to bother with adding one.
You didn't mention before that you had changed the voltage (and the polarity too?), so what I wrote before about hooking up the wires and the voltage checks is backwards, and my voltage measurement are wrong. Where I said check for -6 volts, instead check for + 12 volts.
At this point, you can either put the car back the way it is supposed to be (6 volt positive ground system) or start over with the wiring of the primary side of the ignition system like a 12 volt negative ground car. It might run sort of OK with the wiring backwards, but it will be hard to start.
Dick
