Cascade Crew

[GREG DAVIDSON]

now to put the dist in i need to have #1 cylinder at tdc but on what stroke ? intake , exaust or compression ?

[Twilightoptics]

#1 TDC of Compression stroke. Meaning 0ºBTDC (Before Top Dead Center) means if your timing was set at 0, it'd fire with the piston completely at the top. Obviously of the compression stroke.

Think about how the motor works :O)

Intake Stroke; piston goes down to draw in the charge.
Compression Stroke; piston goes up to compress for combustion.
Power Stroke; piston goes down to drive the crankshaft
Exhaust Stroke; piston goes up to expell exhast.

So the plug should fire between the compression and power strokes.

Easiest way to set TDC for timing is to have the drivers side valve cover off. Turn the engine until the intake valve closes. Continue turning the engine over until the timing marks on the balancer and timing marker line up somewhere in the 0-6ºBTDC range.

Put your distributor in and note where the rotor is pointing. Put the cap on, and put your #1 plug wire on the terminal that the rotor is pointing at.

Then put the rest of your plug wires on clockwise in the firing order:
1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2



Now if you have plug wires that have been cut to fit a certain length for looms like I do... you have to put the distributor in with the rotor facing a certain direction. To do this, you turn the oil pump drive with a big flathead screw driving to the position that will allow the distributor to slide in and point the rotor the right direction. The distributor can go in 360º but only two ways on the oil pump each 180º apart. Thus if you turn the oil pump you can put the distributor in wherever you want :O)


Hope this helps!
-P