Logo
FULL SITE MENU

1979 Mercruiser 228 / Initial timing

B

Barney96

Member
Ignition points system

I am unable to set the intial timing - distributor was just rebuilt
I put #1 cylinder at TDC on the compression stroke
Dropped the distributor in and married it up with the oil pump drive shaft
Positioned the points to where they are just beginning to open
Problem is the rotor points in between two posts

I have spent hours trying to get it right- namely the position of the oil pump drive shaft female end and the distributor male tang end
Nothing works - the rotor always points to in between two posts.

Am l doing this the right way and or is the engine timing out of spec

Again thank you for any help
 
I believe that l just discovered what my problem is
I do not need to be concerned about the points
The important thing is to have the rotor pointing to no 1 cylinder at TDC on the compression stroke - zero degrees on the harmonic balancer .

I also believe that l can rotate the distributor housing in aligning the rotor to point towards cylinder number 1- fine tuning

I appreciate your help greatly
 
It is not necessary to align shaft to drive.

Get timing mark on TDC AFTER INTAKE VALVE CLOSES. Then align rotor to number one plug wire location on cap. Install dist as far as it will go and if you can click engine over without allowing distributor to spin any until pump and shaft aligns and dist drops all the way down. Then tighten clamp enough to be able to adjust with hand and retry staring. You may need to move Cw or CCw to get to start. After starting, adjust timing to spec.

Points, set to propper gap when on high point of star on shaft. Do not worry about this at all whlie doing all above.the gap should be close enough if not exact and will/should be fine.

Remember, any change in point gap/dwell angle will change timing so if gap is changed or points changed timing must be checked and readjusted if needed
 
One last thing, The oil pump drive to distributor shaft envagement has nothing to do with timing. As long as the distributor housing and shaft is not allowed to rotate while allowing pump shaft to align you should be close. Then double check tdc on balancer and see if rotor is pounting to number 1 terminal. If not rotate housing until it does. It never should take much rotation. Maybe 15* ineither direction.
 
Back
Top