Hmm, the old one came out and was replaced, but the locator marks are, of course, useless. Does anyone have advice on how to find TDC and re-install the distributor so I have a semblance of timing? It's about 240 degrees off now...


-Chris J.

At TDC, piston #1 is fully at the top, and rotor is directly at spark plug wire #1.

You can tell the position of the piston by removing the #1 spark plug (nearest to you and putting in a long screwdriverto get it to the highest point, by turning the crank by hand.

Pull off distributor cap to adjust distributor to point to spark plug #1.

See FAQ for more details.

Greg

Put the timing marks at zero on the crank ck the cam mark to be sure it is up. On the dizzy there is a notch that indicates #1 the rotor will turn as you install the dist make sure that the rotor lines up with the mark in the dist case when you have the dizzy in and it should run there then set the timming with a light...

From 18yr240t:

"1) Put the timing marks at zero on the crank ck the cam mark to be sure it is up.
"2) On the dizzy there is a notch that indicates #1.
"3) the rotor will turn as you install the dist
*4) make sure that the rotor lines up with the mark in the dist case when you have the dizzy in
*5) and it should run there then set the timming with a light...

On item #4, I've found that with timing set to the usual 12° advance, the center line of the rotor will be a bit more than 1/4" beyond the notch mark (when crank and cam are at 0°). By setting it there, with crank and cam at 0°, it should be timed pretty close.

--
Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Many thanks, guys. With luck I'll have this junkyard refugee back on the road this weekend!

--Chris J.