Whoa dude, hold on.
You cannot set timing by ear. Period. And that's what it sounds like you need to do because what you describe sounds like it's retarded.
What you need to do:
Get under there with a brush and brake cleaner, and clean that balancer to see the timing lines and NUMBERS, not the line or the groove because that has nothing to do with the base timing. You clean the balancer because the lines you need to see can be covered by rust.
Grab you a 1/2 inch wrench for the hold down bolt.
Drive to Auto Zone and use their timing light for free, you can set the timing there in the parking lot.
Base timing is 10 degrees, you should be able to go up to 13-16 or so, depending on your particular engine. If you don't know how to do this, get one of the guys there to help you. You pull out the SPOUT connector to set the timing, then reinstall after tightening the distributor.
You cannot set timing by ear. Period. And that's what it sounds like you need to do because what you describe sounds like it's retarded.
What you need to do:
Get under there with a brush and brake cleaner, and clean that balancer to see the timing lines and NUMBERS, not the line or the groove because that has nothing to do with the base timing. You clean the balancer because the lines you need to see can be covered by rust.
Grab you a 1/2 inch wrench for the hold down bolt.
Drive to Auto Zone and use their timing light for free, you can set the timing there in the parking lot.
Base timing is 10 degrees, you should be able to go up to 13-16 or so, depending on your particular engine. If you don't know how to do this, get one of the guys there to help you. You pull out the SPOUT connector to set the timing, then reinstall after tightening the distributor.
