As others stated, if marks are wrong on balancer in relation to crankshaft problem is with balancer... Assuming no other issue that won't keep one from running, just won't be able to accurately time engine... When chain jumps, cam and dist are out of time in relation to crankshaft...
Okay, so i shouldnt pay any attention to the balancer marks? I did check them a couple times and they were always way off. So To more accurately check the timing i should only pay attention to TDC in cylinder #1 and where my rotor on the distributor is? And if my timing chain is the culprit, whats the procedure to fix this? Remove the water pump, timing chain cover and replace both sprockets and chain?
Procedure for you, will be to Remove water pump/ balancer/frt cover...Examine chain and gears...Turn crank and see if the marks on the gears line up or not...If they do...Well...You still have an issue but at least the bad balancer is off the engine so you can replace it...Replace gears and chain while you are in there regardless...Get a good one if you get a roller. The cheap offshore ones are not made with one piece rollers and will fail dramatically. Be gentle and patient with the two long water pump/cover bolts on each side of engine. They go into water jackets and tend to rust in place. Potentially can break off in engine block...Good luck !!!
So tonight i decided to do one last verification that my timing was actually off before i took the time and hassle to replace the timing chain. Since i didnt have a helper, i stuck my digital inspection camera into the #1 cylinder and could actually watch the piston come up to perfectly TDC. Checked my rotor and the balancer marks....dead on (rotor actually jusst past #1) . I did it four more times and each time same results. I dont know what the hell i was doing wrong yesterday to think everything was so off. Maybe we were feeling the puff from the cylinder the first inch of its compression stoke and saying "stop, that should be TDC" I have no idea. I attached a couple pics of where everything lined up at TDC. The little black dot to the right of the rotor is the #1 contact
Looks like im back to head scratching and wondering why the hell this thing wont run. Ive got the carb off as of last night, ill pull it apart again and just double check that nothing went wrong in there
Check to see if points are opening around 10* TBC, that's approx base timing... Easy enough to use a test light on neg(points) side of coil to verify... Rotate crank slowly, the instant light comes on is when points are open and spark occurs... If it way off the chain has probably jumped...
Did you get it figured out? You are definitely getting spark at the plugs? Sounds like the same problem I just had except I did not have anything on the plug wires. I replaced the condenser and points set and that did the trick.
Also make sure the wire connection to the coil is not holding on by a few wire strands. Check wire from points back to the neg. side of coil. You may try to start it with a jumper wire from the battery to the positive side of the coil, that will tell you if the power to the coil is thwarted somewhere. I know, I know.....how many multitudes of things to check!!! Just do the easy stuff first. Things can spark in static situations and not spark under a load...
Finally figured it out this weekend. Replaced the points and condenser and it fired right up. Not sure what was wrong with the old points, they were delivering spark to all the wires and the gap and dwell time were good. Anyways... shes up and runnin like a champ now. Ready to enjoy the summer. Thanks for everyones suggestions and help with trying to figure this out.
Forgot how much I disliked points until I had to work on them again. One of the best updates to the 72 was electronic ignition.
Having any spark likely means points were OK... A bad condenser causes weak spark, was probably the problem...
