Store bought or homemade tape for timing?

[GG-1]

frustrating reading through all this. makes me wanna just drive over there and fix it myself. probably take all of what, 15 minutes, half hour? beautiful car worthy of professional help. owner's worthy also for his efforts.

Hey Rags, are you a professional mechanic? Thanks for the good words.. and by all means, drive on over! I think you're right, that this may need a pro on site in person to remedy/guide. I greatly appreciate all the knowledge and experience offered here, as with many other texts and video, but when I go to put it all into practice.. specifically timing, I'm not getting my head around it no matter how calm and rested. I now know that it is no longer an issue with the car and that the car is functioning & responding to me exactly as it should.. it comes down to me knowing what I'm doing.

 

[rags]

read now that you spoke with bill for four hours. that's a lot. i've read enough of his material to know that he's a competent wrench and probably a good instructor. john's a smart fella and dedicated to ALL of this. my dedication is more about building my deck just now. maybe you could schedule some phone time with someone for the next time that you're on scene. also there's got to a bunch of guys following this thread. i'd like to think that someone local would volunteer. it is a beautiful car.

 

[traintech55]

to be successful with this format a person has to be a good mechanic, teacher, and writer. two of which i'm not. everyone who has contributed here has done a great job. i'll continue to follow and wish for success.

Thank you. I guess the 13 years I taught at the Railroad paid off.

 

[rags]

with the handle "traintech" i did wonder if it's short for drivetrain tech or was railroad related. with a railroad background you must have seen GG-1 and thought: pennsy? i did. read through and saw it was a paint code. d'oh.

 

[65sporty]

I have been following along and I know for a fact that between these 3 guy's your problem will get straightened out

 

[GG-1]

Yes, when I'm back on the scene (Tuesday) I am supremely confident that it will go a little something like this..

 

[GG-1]

Circles of Life:
The Mopar Mandalas

 

[rags]

tuesday afternoon the c-car world will be tuning in for the live blog. would be cool if you'd do the first entry as you're getting on the train.

 

[GG-1]

tuesday afternoon the c-car world will be tuning in for the live blog. would be cool if you'd do the first entry as you're getting on the train.

A live video blog? I subway from Brooklyn to Grand Central.. from Grand Central I train up to GG.
Dramatic & cinematic.

 

[rags]

just checked your brake thread. if you got that problem corrected, this should be a walk in the park. sorry, i don't know what the latest advances are in blogging, but with video and a conference call this could resolved in short order. is it something for serious consideration?

 

[detmatt]

That car must have been stored in a vacuum chamber judging by the pictures. Outstanding!

 

[GG-1]

just checked your brake thread. if you got that problem corrected, this should be a walk in the park. sorry, i don't know what the latest advances are in blogging, but with video and a conference call this could resolved in short order. is it something for serious consideration?

That's a great idea, and its come to mind several times.. I would really like to do that.. not sure how.. It would be such a great tool to have here if set up properly.

 

[Ripinator]

That's a great idea, and its come to mind several times.. I would really like to do that.. not sure how.. It would be such a great tool to have here if set up properly.

I've been watching this thread intently, but haven't contributed to it, because you are already getting great assistance from very knowledgeable members. The only thing I can say is that I think you are very close to a breakthrough on this problem. If I were you, I'd start again at the beginning: find top-dead-center, make sure the rotor is pointing at plug wire socket no. 1, and fire it up. Once it starts, you should be able to do all the remaining adjustments with ease.

 

[GG-1]

I've been watching this thread intently, but haven't contributed to it, because you are already getting great assistance from very knowledgeable members. The only thing I can say is that I think you are very close to a breakthrough on this problem. If I were you, I'd start again at the beginning: find top-dead-center, make sure the rotor is pointing at plug wire socket no. 1, and fire it up. Once it starts, you should be able to do all the remaining adjustments with ease.

Thank you. I had done all that after I uncrossed wires 6 & 7, and this little action revealed it was perfect as it came from the factory, even timing, remarkable. When I found TDC, the rotor automatically pointed to number one on the tower, points gap good, dwell good, put timing light on her and rpms were at 600.. so without touching the distributor yet, I raised rpms to 2000 by moving the throttle arm linkage for a couple of seconds.. and the gun display came to life.. degrees went up to over 30 on the gun at 2000 rpms, then when I let off the throttle the display showed 12.8 degrees at idle at around 675-700 rpms, which is what I was looking for. I don't know how that happened without touching/turning the distributor.. It seemed to be all to spec without any adjustments.. then I played with distributor/timing just a little bit to slightly affect idle speed and it dropped down to 450rpms and I got lost from there, trying to raise rpms solely through turning the distributor.. to no effect.. Sorry to repeat myself, I just want to go over what I did so I prevent it from happening again when I get everything "lined up". The car starts right up now, but rpms are so low at about 450 to the point of stalling out.. so my question is why go to TDC, How will that help?

 

[Ripinator]

Thank you. I had done all that after I uncrossed wires 6 & 7, and this little action revealed it was perfect as it came from the factory, even timing, remarkable. Found TDC, rotor to number one, point gap, dwell, timing and rpms.. It was all to spec without any adjustments.. then I played with distributor timing just a little bit to slightly affect idle speed. Sorry to repeat myself, I just want to go over what I did so I prevent it from happening again when I get everything "lined up". The car starts right up now, but rpms are so low at about 450 to the point of stalling out.. so my question is why go to TDC, How will that help?

Sounds like you just need to adjust the idle speed by turning the idle adjusting screw on the carburetor. Advancing the timing (turning the distributor clockwise) will also tend to increase idle speed, but since you say the timing is spot on, I would just adjust the idle as described above.

 

[GG-1]

Sounds like you just need to adjust the idle speed by turning the idle adjusting screw on the carburetor. Advancing the timing (turning the distributor clockwise) will also tend to increase idle speed, but since you say the timing is spot on, I would just adjust the idle as described above.

The timing WAS spot on(sorry, I just edited my last reply while you were writing this one).. until I played with it.. perhaps reread to see if you can make sense of it.. i surely can't!

 

[GG-1]

Sounds like you just need to adjust the idle speed by turning the idle adjusting screw on the carburetor. Advancing the timing (turning the distributor clockwise) will also tend to increase idle speed, but since you say the timing is spot on, I would just adjust the idle as described above.

I was also told that turning the distributor CCW is what advances the timing... either way it does nothing now. It was also strongly suggested by Bill/traintech and others that I do not touch the carburetor screws until I have timing dead on perfect.. I am very confused by all of this.

 

[Ripinator]

The timing WAS spot on(sorry, I just edited my last reply while you were writing this one).. until I played with it.. perhaps reread to see if you can make sense of it.. i surely can't!

Just try and move the distributor back to approximately where it was, fire it up, and adjust the idle speed (if necessary) at the carburetor. Then you can further adjust the timing (if necessary). If the resultant idle speed increases too much from the timing adjustment, back it off at the carburetor.

 

[GG-1]

I do agree that I am not far from getting back on track.. I just need to understand how️️️

 

[Ripinator]

I was also told that turning the distributor CCW is what advances the timing... either way it does nothing now. It was also strongly suggested by Bill/traintech and others that I do not touch the carburetor screws until I have timing dead on perfect.. I am very confused by all of this.

Please note that when I talk about adjusting the idle speed at the carburetor, I am NOT talking about the two little idle mixture screws. I'm talking about the big idle adjustment screw in the carburetor linkage. Also, note that the distributor rotor rotates in a counter-clockwise direction; therefore to advance timing, you must move the distributor in a clockwise direction.

Yer getting there. . . Just be patient with yourself, and don't give up.