QuestionI recently took the distributor out of my 196 straight-six cyl. engine and had it rebuilt. After replacing it, I worked on getting the timing reset. I have been working on it for a while and still can't get it to work out. Do you have any suggestions?
AnswerYes, there is a multi step process to sort this all out. Most likely, when you took the distributor out of the car, you didn't mark the location of the rotor, right? Or else somehow, the engine got turned while the distributor was out? Not to worry, you can get everything back in synch by doing the following:
Remove the front spark plug. Stuff a bit of Kleenex into the hole so that a puff of air will dislodge it. Turn the engine by hand (pulling on the belts, or if you can't move it that way, use a wrench on the crank pulley bolt). Turn it clockwise, viewed from the front of the car. Turn it until the Kleenex is dislodged by the puff of air coming out when the piston comes up on the compression stroke (remember, these are 4 stroke engines, so you might have to go around twice before this happens.) Now, without backing up the engine at all, continue in the clockwise direction while you watch for the timing mark to come up to TDC. Now stop, and don't move the engine again. Don't back it up to center it on the mark, just slowly approach the TDC mark and stop it right on!
Now, your distributor has to be installed so that the rotor is pointing at #1 plug wire, and the other 5 cylinders are plugged in sequentially until all 6 are in place. Now your car is timed close enough that the engine can be started. If you have a timing light, set the timing to spec after you first set the point dwell to the right reading (setting the dwell changes the timing, but the opposite isn't true).
I hope this was detailed enough, if not, post a follow up question and I'll make it as detailed as you need.
Dick
