[ucmung]

After 14 months of redoing my 79 nova I am having a problem with the distributor and timing. I took picures of the car before i took everything apart and so i put it all back together as it was in the pictures. Now, the base timing of the engine is showing 60 degrees when before it was set at 18 degrees. I took the number one spark plug out and turned it over until the compression stroke then brought it to top dead center and put the dizzy in just as it was when i took it out. what the hell did I do wrong? The engine is a SBC 383 that was not touched during the restore, anybody have an idea of what is going on? thanks, mung I should also say that i took out the vacuum advance, but I didnt think that should matter.

[Blazin72]

Do you have an advance timing light? If you do then verify that the timing knob is set to zero. If that's already done then disconnect your vacuum advance and adjust the distributor until is reaches the desired advance. It's possible the distributor was bumped a bit (it doesn't take very much) or it was installed a tooth off...

[T-bucket23]

Originally Posted by ucmung

After 14 months of redoing my 79 nova I am having a problem with the distributor and timing. I took picures of the car before i took everything apart and so i put it all back together as it was in the pictures. Now, the base timing of the engine is showing 60 degrees when before it was set at 18 degrees. I took the number one spark plug out and turned it over until the compression stroke then brought it to top dead center and put the dizzy in just as it was when i took it out. what the hell did I do wrong? The engine is a SBC 383 that was not touched during the restore, anybody have an idea of what is going on? thanks, mung I should also say that i took out the vacuum advance, but I didnt think that should matter.

you sure you are one #1 plug and not a different one. I am guessing you are saying it wont run unless you set it at 60. Can you turn the dist to acheive 18 degrees and still have it run.
We need more info

[ucmung]

blazin, Im not using an advance timing light. bucket, Im sure Im hooked up to #1 wire, and if I try to bring in down to the 18 degrees it was running at before it dies. Does this sound like the dizzy is off a tooth or 2? Can I move the distributor back a couple of teeth to get to the right numbers?

[Blazin72]

Do you have the correct timing tab for the balancer? Did your balancer spin on its hub?

[ucmung]

yea, the timing tab is where its supposed to be and the balancer was new before I took everything apart.

[Cody_71]

I've never heard of 60 degrees base timing. I would take the distributor out, and find top dead center again on the compression stroke. This can be done by taking the plug out of No. 1 and putting your finger over the hole until you can feel it pressure up but don't go past the zero mark on your tab. Now you can position the timing mark on your balancer to what ever your initial timing should be, 8-16 degrees. Then you can set the distributor in with the rotor facing No. 1 cylinder (The metal tab under the cap should be facing No. 1 cylinder. Not sure if your cap only goes on one way.) Then your can put your wires on with No.1 starting on the tang that is pointing at No.1 cylinder. Go in the clockwise direction around with your plug wires. (18436572). This should get the motor fired and then you can use your timing light. Turn the distributor counterclockwise to advance and clockwise to retard to get your base timing. It only take a very small amount of rotation to change the timing. Also I would plug your vacum advance to do this. If you have spark this should work. Hope it helps let me know if you get it working.

[ucmung]

yea, ive never heard of 60 degree initial timing either..... anyways, thanks for the help guys, the problem has been solved. In my infinite wisdom , I think that when I attached the timing light onto plug wire #1 it was touching #2 as well because when I went back today I was able to set it at 18 degrees...... lesson learned, pay attention and dont rush.