She's harder to start cold than I'd like, but fires off immediately when warm; She's stumbles on rapid acceleration, backfires from a dead stop. RPMs come up quickly after the initial hesitation.
I just adjusted the 2V carb by the Ford book, and have not again road-tested the beast. I wanted to check the timing ... Pandora's box, man. I just checked it and was shocked at what I saw. Folks, the timing marks are way off, but it's running OK enough that I drive it all over. Specs are TDC for the engine with TE set-up (San Jose car, TE hacked out long ago by previous owner), 6 degrees BTDC without. The timing, according to the marks, it is something like 20 degrees after TDC. I loosened the locking bolt and can retard the distributor to the point the engine falters badly, but I cannot advance it to anything near that level of flatering - due to water hoses, fuel line, etc. blocking further physical movement of the distributor. Within the range of distributor adjustment, it does "run smoother" in park when I advance it what might be 4 degrees. I wonder three things:
1. Could the crankshaft pulley be put on teh crankshaft off-rotation? The timing marks (TDC and -6 degrees) appear "to the right" of the timing mark on the timing chain cover by something like 70 degrees.
2. Can the distributor be dropped a tooth off on the cam shaft? I had a new distributor installed at a shop. But it runs OK.
3. Might the timing cover be the wrong one, placing the reference point in an inappropriate place, making the timing only "appear" to be incorrect?
Any help would be appreciated. However, since it cranks, runs and drives well enough, I'm not going to lose a lot of sleep over it. The timing indicator looks like the one pictured in Figure 24 on page 9-16 of the Ford manual.
Hello blacknail,
What I would do is this.
1. - Pull the number 1 spark plug.
2. - Put the car in neutral (apply e-brake etc. )
3. - Pull the coil wire
4. - Put a straw in the hole that the plug came out of
5. - Rotate the motor by hand or use a remote starter if you have one.
6. - guide the straw and let it get pushed to the top. Remember you want the compression stroke so it may take 2 revolutions to get it there. The compression stroke will push the straw out the highest.
7. - Now look and see if your mark on the damper is pretty close to 8 BTC
8. - Now remove the distributor cap and notice where the rotor is pointing.
Then determine is the rotor point is under the #1 plug wire on the cap.
If the rotor is point 180 off, that just means you are on compression stroke.
With the #1 at TDC and the cpa off, the rotor should be under #1 on the cap.
it is possible someone wired the cap off perhaps because the distributor was placed in wrong. This is no big deal as far as running, but you need to remember that the cap may be off 1 plug .
In other words, instead of #1 being at 1 oclock on the cap, they could have it at 2 o'clock.
As mentioned not a big issue unless you forget to rewire the same way leter on in the future.
1. Could the crankshaft pulley be put on teh crankshaft off-rotation? The timing marks (TDC and -6 degrees) appear "to the right" of the timing mark on the timing chain cover by something like 70 degrees.
2. Can the distributor be dropped a tooth off on the cam shaft? I had a new distributor installed at a shop. But it runs OK.
3. Might the timing cover be the wrong one, placing the reference point in an inappropriate place, making the timing only "appear" to be incorrect?
1) Unlikely. Its keyed to the shaft.
2) Very likely. It will go in any way you want to orient it.
Thank you very much for the great responses. I appreciate your time. I do wonder if it is off a tooth. Here's more to think about before I try to move it around. The distributor plug wire order is as noted in figure 27, page 9-17 of the Ford manual (18736245), and I wondered whether the wires could be off by a position as suggested. With the engine rotated to #1 TDC, the TDC timing mark on the crank pulley aligns with the post on the timing chain cover and the rotor is pointed at what looks to be between the connections to plugs 1 and 5 (moving CCW, this would be "past #1). This is shown in the photos (FYI, the carb is an Autolite 2100). Please note – for reference, the distributor cap hold-down clamps on my car are between wires 1 & 8 on the back and between wires 2 & 6 on the front. Where should they be? The single-point distributor is Motorcraft part No. 12127. I moved the plug wires up one position and back one position and the engine would not start – at all. With them where they are now, it starts a little hard when cold, but absolutely fine when at temp. I had this distributor replaced about a year ago, I didn’t do it. Does what I write and show make you think the distributor was drooped off a tooth? The most interesting thing, I think - is the location of my cap hold-down mexhanisms relative to the numbered plug wires. How would I know if the distributor was dropped off by one tooth? Would it fire? In addition, I put liquid paper on the TDC mark and the 6 BTDC marks so I could see them easily. With the distributor cap off, I can rotate the engine from TDC to 6 BTDC without feeling the rotor move – worn timing chain?
Looks to me like the Rotor is at 11:00 not 1:00. I would move a tooth or two to 1:00 and see how it runs... But like you said, depending on hhow many miles are on this motor the chains o the bottom gear are a problem aea after many years on these motors. My 289 had such a worn chain the slack side had almost enough slck to see 2 teeth if i moved the slack up.
Sounds like I ought to replace the timing chain before I go any further. Long ago, when I was a mere child and dinosaurs roamed the earth, we used to also replace the gears at the same time as the chain to make sure everything was good and tight. Is that still done? Seems like I remember some older Chevy's having fiber gears or some such nonsense. Would y'all recommend replacing the gears, too? Any recommendations for a good timing chain brand?
-Now, let me get back home and see what all has to come off the front of the engine to get to the timing gears & chain. I do remember, line up the dots on the two gears and do NOT move the crankshaft until the new gears and chain are installed. I'll consult the Ford manual, too.
There will always be some backlash that can show up in the distributor rotor not moving if you rotate the engine back and forth. How much? I can't really say. You might need a new chain but usually those last longer than the rest of the engine. The manual doesn't really give you much help on assessing the chain except that if you replace the chain the sprockets should also be replaced. The original timing gear was phenolic and you surely don't still have one of those. I don't know of any coming apart in use but that could happen I suppose. New ones are all steel, cheap and such a commodity that no one pays any attention to what brand they might be. The bill from my Ford specialist machine shop for a timing chain set was $18.
It seems to me your real problem is the distributor was dropped in on the wrong tooth. An easy mistake, easily corrected.
What I need is more quality time with the pony. I do wonder, though - where are most folks' #1 plug wire relative to the hold-down clamp. The rear clamp on my distributor is between the plug wires for #1 and #8.
I have been on jury duty so not in the garage lately.
Looking at my distributor I think tells me your problem. The tube on the vacuum advance unit points almost directly forward which I will call the 6 o'clock position. (Yours is way off to the battery side.) The #1 wire plugged in the hole marked "1" is at about 1 o'clock. The rear catch for the cap is between the wires for #1 and #5. The hold down clamp on the base of the distributor is directly under the #7 plug wire.
It can be made to work with #1 in other holes as long as the distributor was engaged so it all aligns correctly. However, mine is a marked Ford cap so its how the factory intended it to be. To advance the timing you rotate the distributor CW and yours can't since the vacuum advance units hits the hose.
I also just noticed your vacuum advance unit is not the original one. They used a steel vacuum line which would never allow installation at the angle yours is currently sitting. The rotor in your picture is also sitting about where the #4 plug wire should be relative to the distributor body if it were all hooked up like Henry's heirs intended. Swap all the wires one hole CW, rotate the distributor about one wire hole CCW and try timing it again. The gear may be engaged OK with that change.
1966 C-code distributor off a tooth? 
