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V · 07-17-2010, 10:14 AM

whoa...hold it right there.. lol

did you change/move the rotation of your distributor?

by just removing wires and cap, you can not affect the timing of the motor, just the firing order.
If the dizzy itself never moved, just put the wires back on in the proper order.

heres the standard sbc firing order ...

However, if you pull the wires off the cap and you don't remember where the original #1 plug wire went to, thats a little different story. In that case you'll need to find TDC top dead center on the #1 cylinder, on the COMPRESSION stroke.(when #1 piston is up and ready to fire). After you find that, then which ever terminal the rotor in the dizzy is pointing to, is the #1 terminal and youd put the #1 plug wire there. then continue around the cap clockwise in the proper firing order as shown above.

To find TDC easily, many people have different ways i think, First make sure you can see the notch/line on the balancer and the marks on the timing tab. TDC is when the balancer notch matches the "0" on the tab, however, putting it just to zero isnt good enough, because it could be exhaust or compression stroke. So, you take the next step which is i would just remove the #1 spark plug and with a breaker bar or similar, turn the motor while holding your finger over the spark plug hole. ( it may take effort to crank the motor manually, but you could loosen the other plugs to make it easier) As the piston comes up for compression. youll feel the pressure build and push on your finger. That is the compression stroke (the exhaust stroke wont build compression as the exhaust valves are open and bleed the pressure that way) Once you feel the pressure, the notch should be very close to the "0" on the timing tab, so now just put it to "0". and like i just mentioned above, the motor is now at TDC now, the rotor will point to #1 terminal.

Now... if you did happen to move the dizzy, then you still need to find TDC compression stroke as i mentioned before. Once you get it running then you can set the timing by using a timing light and slowly adjusting the dizzy to where you can see the balancer mark set at the proper timing mark on the timing tab.

07-17-2010, 10:14 AM	#2
V Stalker Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 12,077 iTrader: (12)	whoa...hold it right there.. lol did you change/move the rotation of your distributor? by just removing wires and cap, you can not affect the timing of the motor, just the firing order. If the dizzy itself never moved, just put the wires back on in the proper order. heres the standard sbc firing order ... However, if you pull the wires off the cap and you don't remember where the original #1 plug wire went to, thats a little different story. In that case you'll need to find TDC top dead center on the #1 cylinder, on the COMPRESSION stroke.(when #1 piston is up and ready to fire). After you find that, then which ever terminal the rotor in the dizzy is pointing to, is the #1 terminal and youd put the #1 plug wire there. then continue around the cap clockwise in the proper firing order as shown above. To find TDC easily, many people have different ways i think, First make sure you can see the notch/line on the balancer and the marks on the timing tab. TDC is when the balancer notch matches the "0" on the tab, however, putting it just to zero isnt good enough, because it could be exhaust or compression stroke. So, you take the next step which is i would just remove the #1 spark plug and with a breaker bar or similar, turn the motor while holding your finger over the spark plug hole. ( it may take effort to crank the motor manually, but you could loosen the other plugs to make it easier) As the piston comes up for compression. youll feel the pressure build and push on your finger. That is the compression stroke (the exhaust stroke wont build compression as the exhaust valves are open and bleed the pressure that way) Once you feel the pressure, the notch should be very close to the "0" on the timing tab, so now just put it to "0". and like i just mentioned above, the motor is now at TDC now, the rotor will point to #1 terminal. Now... if you did happen to move the dizzy, then you still need to find TDC compression stroke as i mentioned before. Once you get it running then you can set the timing by using a timing light and slowly adjusting the dizzy to where you can see the balancer mark set at the proper timing mark on the timing tab. Last edited by V; 07-17-2010 at 10:26 AM.