another tdc problem

[nater200]

i pulled the distributor out today to try to get it in right. i put it in with the vacuum pointed towards the firewall and the rotor pointing at the number one terminal on the cap while the pulley was at tdc. started it up after tweaking the timing so it would start. i let it warm up and hooked up the timing light and the marker was nowhere in sight. so i switched the wire clamp to the second plug wire. still nothing. went to the third and it was perfect tdc. anyone have any ideas?

nater

 

[pedal2themetal45]

HI NATER
Are you sure it was on TDC.. and not 180 out.... The timming mark on the dampner comes up to TDC twice per cycle you know.. Once for TDC of the compression stroke and once for TDC of the exhaust stroke..
Once you have vairafied TDC of the compression stroke. Look at the rotor and make sure it is pointing at the #1 wire.. Leave room for the vacum advance to move so you can adjust the timming right after it is running.. Start the motor put the timming light conector on the #1 wire and adjust the timming by leaving the bolt a little loose and move the dizzy c-wise or cc-wise while watching the timming mark and bring it to where you want it set.. If it don't run when you bring it to your sepecific timming then you may be 180* out.. They well run 180* out but no good at all.. If you need more help just scream...
Good luck
tim

 

[addo]

You can time off #6, also. That just uses the second rev of the crankshaft. Imagine your damper is divided into three segments, like pizza slices. The first third is your #1 (or #6) firing domain. The second segment is for #5 (or #2), the final piece represents #3 (or #4).

To see it triggering on #3 suggests either massively wrong timing, or the wrong mark on your damper. Check firing order, wires, timing light and TDC. The answer will be in there, somewhere.

 

[Anonymous]

when looking at the Dist. over the fender the vac adv port is towards the firewall or 3'o-clock and #1 wire should be nearly at 6'o-clock(towards fender). Number 1 cly.on TDC both valves are closed on compression stroke(push rods down) as dist slides down it will rotate some -so take that into consideration and rotate the dist shaft with rotor (use rotor as handle to turn shaft inside of dist houseing) so that when the gears mesh as the dist drops in rotor ends up at about 5-30 to 6'o-clock and vac adv is about 3'o-clock. then go clockwise with your wires around the cap 153624. A good method is to mark the dist where the cap meets the base with a marker. It sounds like you were on exhaust stroke and 1 or 2 teeth off.- note the firing order.
I once put a new cap on that had #1 marked on it 45* off. The cap had the typical square and round pegs on the bottom (Ford V6)and it drove me nuts for about 20 minutes. finally figured out that i was running the wires waaayyyy off. don't know if it was made wrong or just in the wrong box. finally ignored the markings on the cap and it ran fine.