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here are better photos from both sides. The car has ran great the last 10 so that makes me wonder how the wires can be on wrong disty posts. Any direction is appreciated,
The wire placement is not a/the problem. All the cylinders really care about is if the rotor is pointed at the appropriate cylinder plug wire terminal at the correct time. Time, not position, is the important factor, and yours have been doing that correct function for the past ten years. Something else is the problem, as the problem/issue is is a "sudden" happening.
Checking your cam timing (with affects your ignition timing) seems to be warranted, and possibly your distributor gear, but regardless, neither of those explain why your timing "doesn't" change when rotating the distributor.
Hey and oh my gosh, posted better pictures. Do you think my wires are on the wrong disty posts and I could swap them around to correct posts? That seems odd to me because car has ran so good last 10 years.
also is you wiring diagram correct for 350 / 270 1971 with points. If it is for that car then #1 is drivers side front. Someone is telling me that 1 is passenger side front??
oh yeah almost forgot, I couldn’t turn disty anymore counter clockwise because vacuum advance was being stopped by ignition shielding bracket. Not sure what to do next. Thank you
Hey and oh my gosh, posted better pictures. Do you think my wires are on the wrong disty posts and I could swap them around to correct posts? That seems odd to me because car has ran so good last 10 years.
also is you wiring diagram correct for 350 / 270 1971 with points. If it is for that car then #1 is drivers side front. Someone is telling me that 1 is passenger side front??
oh yeah almost forgot, I couldn’t turn disty anymore counter clockwise because vacuum advance was being stopped by ignition shielding bracket. Not sure what to do next. Thank you
What was the timing Before you tried to adjust it?
The diagram is correct for all C3 points distributors.
Hey and oh my gosh, posted better pictures. Do you think my wires are on the wrong disty posts and I could swap them around to correct posts? That seems odd to me because car has ran so good last 10 years.
also is you wiring diagram correct for 350 / 270 1971 with points. If it is for that car then #1 is drivers side front. Someone is telling me that 1 is passenger side front??
oh yeah almost forgot, I couldn’t turn disty anymore counter clockwise because vacuum advance was being stopped by ignition shielding bracket. Not sure what to do next. Thank you
The plug wires aren't the problem (the #1 cylinder is driver's side front cylinder as you've correctly mentioned). There's a reason you had to (suddenly) rotate the distributor CCW to increase/restore the timing: Something has caused the points opening point (and rotor position) to be retarded. Rotating/repositioning the distributor will not answer why the sudden timing/drivability issue. Unless you have somehow caused the points to open much later (large dwell setting) than is likely possible, then there is something mechanical causing the rotor and points opening position to be noticeably retarded. A timing chain slip can cause this, or a couple other almost impossible items might cause it, but you need to do some serious investigation into why things changed suddenly. It was NOT your plug wires.
Hello Lars, thank you and I am not sure what to do. The car is 1971 350 / 270 with points that has ran great the last 10 years. I attached better pictures of the disty for you to look at.
do you think the wires are on the wrong disty posts? Also the about all my research indicates #1 spark plug is drivers side front and even your picture shows number 1 wire going to drivers side. Anything you have that can help me figure this out is appreciated.
ill attach disty photos from both sides. Thank you.
When you finally discover the cause of your problem, the following link gives you the ideal position for your distributor, that gives you the best position for the tach cable.
Mine has been set this way for 54 years. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-position.html
Thank you, fyi I could not move the disty counter clockwise yesterday because the vacuum advance was stopped by the ignition shielding bracket
That's because the distributor is not installed correctly or clocked correctly. As 69427 correctly states, it's not a wire placement problem: You can install a distributor to make the #1 wire anywhere on the cap you want to - its location is irrelevant. However, if someone didn't pay enough attention to put the wire where it should be, they also, obviously, did not pay any attention to the actual installed clocking of the distributor, which is causing you to run out of rotational travel when trying to set the timing. Fix your distributor installation. It's not right, and it's limiting your ability to set the timing.
Done with this one...
Lars
In a "analytic trouble shooting" course I took, at my place of employment, back around 1972, when something goes astray, question #1 is always, "What changed"???
In this situation, it appears that the OP was driving the car, which was operating properly, and rather suddenly, it stopped running properly. To me, that means that the distributor position, and/or the plug wire orientation, while not necessarily correct, most likely aren't the problem. What I question, is when the OP says A) when he removes and plugs the vacuum hose to the distributor, and the dwell changes; and B) when he tries to rotate the distributor, the timing only changes by 2*, maximum. Right there, something is amiss,,,,,really amiss.
But I'm a little off track, here. Back to analytic trouble shooting, WHAT CHANGED??
OP, were you simply driving down the street, and the car started running poorly? Did you just fill up with gas, and the car started running poorly? Was the car sitting overnight, in your driveway/garage, you got into it to go for a ride, and it started running poorly? Were you giving the car a "tune up", and after you were messing with it, it started running poorly? There's a lot of knowledge here at CF, but you need to be more specific with details.
I'll take a wild guess....the float in the carb either has gone bad, or some crud got into the needle and seat, and is causing erratic fuel flow. I had that happen to me, once, about 40 years ago, on a Pontiac Firebird that I used to own....
In a "analytic trouble shooting" course I took, at my place of employment, back around 1972, when something goes astray, question #1 is always, "What changed"???
In this situation, it appears that the OP was driving the car, which was operating properly, and rather suddenly, it stopped running properly. To me, that means that the distributor position, and/or the plug wire orientation, while not necessarily correct, most likely aren't the problem. What I question, is when the OP says A) when he removes and plugs the vacuum hose to the distributor, and the dwell changes; and B) when he tries to rotate the distributor, the timing only changes by 2*, maximum. Right there, something is amiss,,,,,really amiss.
But I'm a little off track, here. Back to analytic trouble shooting, WHAT CHANGED??
OP, were you simply driving down the street, and the car started running poorly? Did you just fill up with gas, and the car started running poorly? Was the car sitting overnight, in your driveway/garage, you got into it to go for a ride, and it started running poorly? Were you giving the car a "tune up", and after you were messing with it, it started running poorly? There's a lot of knowledge here at CF, but you need to be more specific with details.
I'll take a wild guess....the float in the carb either has gone bad, or some crud got into the needle and seat, and is causing erratic fuel flow. I had that happen to me, once, about 40 years ago, on a Pontiac Firebird that I used to own....
His timing before trying to adjust it was 0. He cannt advance more because the distributor is not correctly clocked and the vacuum advance hits other parts on the intake. No engine runs properly at 0 advance. He has been given instructions on how to check if the timing chain has slipped. So far the OP appears reluctant to even remove the distributor cap.
His timing before trying to adjust it was 0. He cannt advance more because the distributor is not correctly clocked and the vacuum advance hits other parts on the intake. No engine runs properly at 0 advance. He has been given instructions on how to check if the timing chain has slipped. So far the OP appears reluctant to even remove the distributor cap.
I understand your point, but the OP claims that it was running, OK, prior to "something happening". I'm sure that the performance of his car would be "flat" at 0* BTDC, but I would think it would at least run somewhat smooth.
I understand your point, but the OP claims that it was running, OK, prior to "something happening". I'm sure that the performance of his car would be "flat" at 0* BTDC, but I would think it would at least run somewhat smooth.
Yes and the something could be a tired chain. He had it idling for 30 minutes while trying to make adjustments so not flooding.
The 1971 distributor, if correctly installed, does not have the #1 wire on the forward driver's side. That's the HEI location. The 1971 distributor has the #1 wire on the forward passenger side.
Originally Posted by jbakyy
If it is for that car then #1 is drivers side front. Someone is telling me that 1 is passenger side front??
I interpreted what Lars was saying had to do with the plug wires on the tower positions. Someone else commented that the #1 wire should be one more tower to the left, clockwise. Moving it won't fix your movement limitation of the distributor.
OP, before I also give up on this thread, please answer one question clearly. During the 15 years that your engine ran well, and prior to "something happened", was the distributor set/clamped in a more clockwise position than it is in the pictures with the vacuum advance hitting the intake manifold?
And just for amusement I'd like to see a clear picture of the points and their adjustment on the breaker plate.
Thank you. I was driving the car for a hour running great and then motor started missing and even shut down a couple times. Then changed coil set dwell to 30 and began working on timing but could not get more than 2 btdc. Idled good while moving disty until timing got to far out of whack from me adjusting moving disty.
I’ll remove disty cap but trying to understand and try all options prior. Can the disty cap be moved, couple people mentioned clocked which I have no idea what that means. Could the car be wired incorrectly and plug wires be on wrong disty posts? A couple people looked at the disty pics and indicated something is not correct immediately. So I am trying to make sure the disty cap in in right place, understand clocked, and wired correctly before removing cap. Thank you
04-14-2024, 02:17 PM
