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pontiac timing

1K views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  BanditT/A 
#1 ·
my 76 400 is giving me some trouble? i followed the book and it said that the motor should be about 16 debgrees btdc. but if we put it there it wont idle unless it is at like 13-1400 rpm's. then if we try to play it by ear, we cant get it to run nice and smooth! what should i do? any and all help wanted thanks

daniel
 
#2 ·
achewwwww
 
#5 ·
when i got the car and motor, there was no distributor, so i ganked the one off of my other 400, reuiblt it and it put it in thisone. it is hei! i mean the car cranks up fine, but when we try to put it in gear, it just conks out on us. so we decided to time it yesterday. we hook up the timing light but i dont really know where to time it at. like what degree, i always thought between 5 and 12 was the proper place, but everytime we get in that range the car dies. and we have to have the idle up like around 13-1500 rpm so that the car wont die.

another thing i am worried about is my carb, i dont know if it is any good or not? because yesterday when u drove the car up to the front yard, my foot was going crazy on the pedal but the car was just putting up there, the whole time sounded like it wanted to die? what does that mean and it always dies when i put it in gear
 
#6 ·
Well, I would check the placement of the distributor one more time to make sure you're not 1 tooth off cuz it sounds like you're close. Was the car sitting for a long time? Maybe you have dried out gaskets at the carb and or intake. Get the car to idle as low as it can and then spray some carb cleaner around the intake and carb and see if the idle changes.
 
#7 ·
if i were to be one tooth off, how should i go about adjusting it? and yes the car has been sitting a long time. about two years i think? i am pretty sure that i am going to replace the carb, i wanted to anyways when i first got the car, but now i think i might as well. yesterday we tried spraying the carb down with the cleaner and it just kept wanting to die, the idle never changed. i already replace the gasket going to the intake so i'm pretty sure it aint that.
 
#9 ·
how will i beable to tell that it is in the right position? like is there a "special" grove or something? thanks for responding so quickly, this is todays task on the car and i would really like to get it running right. thanks
 
#10 ·
No, no special groove. Just the slot in the oil pump shaft that meshes with the bottom of your distributor. After you remove the distributor take a light and shine it into the hole. You'll see it. Just turn it a little in the direction that the rotor has to go to make it line up with number 1 plug wire on the distributor cap. Mark your distributor where #1 wire is to make this easier. You'll have to take it in and out a couple times before you get it right. Like I said before - only do this if you're not lined up when you bring it to TDC on the compression stroke. Chances are it's your carb. Either dirt or a dried out gasket.
 
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