timing issue

[NOSNotch]

just swapped my car to efi and got the tremec in today and i'm havin an issue with the timing. i turned the motor to # 1 tdc and dropped the dist in with the rotor pointing right at 1 on the cap. in order to get it to start i had to turn the distributor all the way towards the tstat housing. i tried moving it back to a normal spot and it dies out and wont start back up. hooked the timing light to it and with the distrib as far as it'll go towards the tstat i can only get it up to around 7 degrees. i tried pullin the distributor back out and dropping it one tooth advance and one tooth retard from where it was originally and it wont start.

i bought the distributor used so i dont know if it may be a problem internally or what but i dont wanna just start throwing parts at it. thanks in advance for any help guys

 

[HISSIN50]

After you restab the dizzy (to where you dont think you're 'one tooth off' anymore), try turning the dizzy to one side or the other to see if it will start.

Good luck.

 

[86bluecobra]

sounds like your 180 degrees out. You probably were not on TDC of the compression stroke. Try restabbing but get the compression stroke this time. Or just restabb the dizzy 180 degrees out from where it is now.

 

[jrichker]

Putting the distributor back in is fairly simple. Pull #1 sparkplug, put your finger in the sparkplug hole, crank the engine until you feel compression. Then line up the TDC mark on the balancer with the pointer on the engine block.

The distributor starts out with the #1 plug wire lined up at about 12:00 with you facing it. Align the rotor to about 11:00, since it will turn clockwise as it slides into place.

Align the distributor rotor up with the #1 position marked on the cap, slide the distributor down into the block, (you may have to wiggle the rotor slightly to get the gear to engage) and then note where the rotor is pointing. If it still lines up with #1 position on the cap, install the clamp and bolt. If not, pull it out and turn 1 tooth forwards or backwards and try again. Put the #1 spark plug back in and tighten it down, put the clamp on the distributor, but don't tighten it too much, as you will have to move the distributor to set the timing. Note that if it doesn't align perfectly with #1 position, you can turn the distributor until it does. The only problem is that if you are too far one way or the other, you can't turn the distributor enough to get the 10-14 degree optimum timing range.

At this point hook up all the wires, get out the timing light and start the engine. Set the timing where your car runs best. Don't forget to disconnect the SPOUT jumper connector when you set the timing, and plug it back in when you finish.

The HO firing order is 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8.
Non HO firing order is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8