k. bunch of you have seen me asking questions about timing and accelerator pumps and such pertaining to a hesitation issue and stalling I'm having from a standing start. Accelerator pump looks good. I adjusted the timing and it helped ALOT! I only have a timing light and ears. No tach to get at the correct rpms for setting timing or vacuum gauge. My timing mark is now set all of the way BTDC on that thing with the marks on it (sorry, not thinking well today). All that for my question lol. How do you know when you've adjusted the timing too far? I still have a bit of a problem and want to adjust it more, but don't know if I'll be able to tell if I go too far before I break something. It idles a bit rougher now (alittle bit of a sputter noise) but I do feel a positive difference in power... thoughts?
A lot more to timing besides the initial which is what you are adjusting. I would say in a short answer to your question as long as it is easy to start, does not kick back against the starter and does not spark knock then bump it on up. When it starts to spark knock then back it off until it just barely spark knocks when you mash the gas hard or start climbing a long hill and hold steady on the gas. Clint
You do realize that initial timing depends completely on how much mechanical advance is built into the distributor, right? You can only have about 38 total advance (ignoring the vacuum advance) on the engine so if you have 28 in the distributor you can have up to 10 degrees initial. If you have 30 degrees in the distributor then you are limited to only 8 degrees initial. Find out what you have in the distributor (the advance mechanism is stamped with numbers of DISTRIBUTOR DEGREES) and then set your initial timing to make 34 - 38 total. You will have to double the number stamped in the distributor to get crank degrees.
right. I am only trying to set the initial timing. I have a feeling I threw it out of whack using the timing light the first time I set it. The first time I did not disconnect and clog the vacuum advance hose and did not have the engine at the correct rpms to be setting my timing with a light. If my idle is at too high of an rpm it will reflect on my timing mark, correct? The higher my rpms the farther the mark will move btdc. How I see it the mechanical advance that is stamped doesn't help me if I'm setting the initial advance at the wrong idle speed. I'm just trying to fix what I did without a tach and other ideal gauges and such without breaking something (if you couldn't tell I'm green at this). Didn't realize most of this until messing with it and reading up on it today... still learning. Did I get completely off somewhere in here?
Idle the engine as low as it will go without stalling in gear. Then set the timing at about 10-14* BTDC. This should increase the idle speed when done. Back the idle speed down then to where it'll idle in gear without stalling. Then adjust the idle mixture screws to where it idles best. The vacuum advance hose can stay connected if it's plugged into the ported vacuum port on the carb, as that will not affect the timing at idle. If the engine pings at this setting, either back off the timing or run a higher octane fuel. Don't worry about the total timing, as it cannot be determined from the marks on the balancer, they don't go above 30*BTDC anyway. You can determine the total with some timing lights but not all.
word. thnx. I think I just have a fast idle screw, idle screw and fuel/air mixture screw on my carb (carter RBS IV). You're referring to my idle speed screw as my idle screw and the idle mixture is what I call my fuel/air mixture screw right? I'll post a pic of my dist as soon as it shows up in my email.. I have 2 vacuum ports on it. Did a bunch of futile research and I think the one closest to my dist cap is where the vacuum advance hose goes... (that's the one off the carb right?). Don't know what the other port is for, but I do have a vac line running off the front of my engine where the radiator hose attaches that was plugged with a screw when I got the car. I'll post a pic of that too in a few. thnx again for the help.
k. sorry that took so long. email is slow. The first pic is the front of my engine (duh). the top vac line above my radiator hose in the pic is the line that had a screw clogging it when I got the car. (don't know where it goes... assumed it was supposed to be plugged.) Second pic is the vacuum advance port on my distributor I think. But there are two ports... idk which one the vac line from the carb is supposed to attach to, and then what's the other one for - should I plug it? As far as my timing goes... I don't think that was my hesitation problem. I think advancing my timing so much the first time simply increased my idle enough that I just had 'less' of a dead zone in the pedal. once I brought the idle back down and adjusted the timing for where the engine runs best the problem returned. I guess it's a carb issue... still wanna get the timing exact tho. I wish I had another carb to throw on to be sure... thnx for the help guys.
I didn't see it here, does your car have points an did you replace, check- adjust them? If you have points, start there first.
Will the car idle smoothly at a "normal" rpm level.I understand normal is relative since you dont have a tach.If so,adjust the timing with the engine warm at a smooth low idle.Then play with the carb.Sounds like you may have more than one problem...Carb for one. As for the vacuum hoses...the nipple closest to the cap gets the ported vacuum from the carb.The thing on the t-stat housing is called a PVS switch.It should have a vacuum hose to it from a manifold or carb vacuum source(bottom nipple).The other hose on the top nipple should go to a device like EGR valve or trans or to the dist outboard nipple.(this usually is for "spark delay"when its attached to the distributor) it retards the timing by pulling vacuum on the outboard side of the dist diaphragm. One hose ads timing advance,the other takes it away.Unless you have emissions visual and tail pipe testing in your state/area you dont really need it. The PVS is a vacuum check valve that is activated by coolant temp.As the coolant warms up the PVS opens putting a vacuum to what ever device it is attached to.Hope this helps you out some.Good luck!
yea. whole electrical system, plugs, fuel system, tank, everything new. Carb is original tho. Found this thread a minute ago. I'm gonna try it out tomorrow and hope it fixes the problem. Then I'll go back to trying the timing again.. http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=53980
k. I think I got the timing as close as it gets in my situation. The car idles smoothly at whatever rpm I set it at. It's like there's a dead zone in my gas pedal right when I begin to accelerate. As long as I step on the pedal slowly until it is alittle bit depressed it stays running. If I "step on it" it'll stall. I stall it alot trying to turn lol. I guess I'll just leave that PVS line plugged since I don't have emissions testing and no visible exaust. Thanks for the info. I didn't have a clue which dist port to put the other line one. was going nuts looking at diagrams and getting nothing out of it. I'll keep u updated.
What I am saying is that you can't just select an initial timing setting - the initial advance amount depends on the mechanical advance in the distributor. If you don't know what the mechanical advance is you don't know where to set the initial advance.
I think we're having a communication issue paul lol. I'm not blowing u off by not responding to your post specifically tonight. I'm gonna wait til tomorrow so I can formulate a well thought out and coherent response. It's hard to follow my own train of thought sometimes haha.
I just wasn't sure that what I said was being understood. Sometimes I am not clear enough when I post - I take too much for granted after 35+ years dealing with cars.
Hmm, I always thought the nipple farthest from the cap was the advance. Anyway, you can replace the vacuum pod with a single pod from the local parts house and ditch all the rest of the crap. Plug the PVS port on the T-Stat housing with a brass plug. The vacuum line to the carb needs to be plugged into a port that only sees vacuum with the throttle opened.
