i have a 1982 pickup with a1973 440 in it and I'm having trouble with the timing if I get the motor to tdc the rotor in the distributor either pints at the #2 cylinder or the # 7 cylinder and the timing mark on the balancer is way below the timing marks any help would be appreciated
Timing off
- Thread starter 440 ram
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Polara_500
Well-Known Member
Firstly, get a piston stop you screw into the #1 plug hole then rotate the engine both directions by hand until it stops - using this to verify that the timing mark on your damper matches up to TDC for #1. Once you've proved that you can proceed to make everything else match. If the damper is off, (wrong damper or slipped or whatever), all the rest of it is meaningless. (You'll have to average the differences in rotation to verify the mark as the stop won't let the piston get to the very top, but it's a mechanical stop so it will come to the same height from both directions and actual TDC will be smack between the two points you identify.)
Polara_500
Well-Known Member
It will have an effect on how well it runs and what it wants for timing, etc.. But if you don't know for sure what you're timing it to........... how do you know what you're doing?
If verifying TDC is too much work then just tune it by ear, find what it likes and call it good but don't worry about what you're setting things to - check where they are when you're done so you can duplicate it later if necessary but going by ear is just that, about all you may want for that kind of tune would be a vacuum gage.
If verifying TDC is too much work then just tune it by ear, find what it likes and call it good but don't worry about what you're setting things to - check where they are when you're done so you can duplicate it later if necessary but going by ear is just that, about all you may want for that kind of tune would be a vacuum gage.