Timing issues

[BSB67]

Yesterday I was tuning on my carburetor and figured I would see where my timing was since I hadn't messed with it since I bought the car. I was pretty surprised to see it sitting at 35-36° at idle. Figured the damper had slipped alot and rolled the engine over both ways and sure enough it pretty much on plus or minus a degree or two. I hooked a vacuum gauge up and its pulling 16-17, it bounces between the two. Just to do some testing I dropped the timing down to 12° initial and took it out. Down on power, repeatedly backfired and barely idled. Checked for vacuum leaks and didn't find any, it did have a msd6 box with a converted distributor that I replaced with a msd 8387 that I dropped right in and ran the same as the other ignition. It's a lopo 77' 440 so I doubt it's got anything more than a factory RV cam in it.

Any ideas? I searched but didn't find anything on here.

How exactly did you determine that it was at 35 - 36°

 

[mopar 3 B]

If marking the dampener that circumference/360x36= distance at 36 degrees

 

[BSB67]

If marking the dampener that circumference/360x36= distance at 36 degrees

I was asking the OP how he did it.

 

[MO.RR]

77 damper has notches every 90*. I measured the flat surface of it and did the math. Used a piece of 20g wire cut to length and marked it.

 

[BSB67]

77 damper has notches every 90*. I measured the flat surface of it and did the math. Used a piece of 20g wire cut to length and marked it.

Just getting down into the weeds. What is the length you used for 36°? And are you sure you have the "zero" mark on the tab?

A picture would be helpful.

I think its worth the effort to make sure this was all done right before we start pulling the entire engine inside-out.

 

[MO.RR]

I’ll pull the fan off in the morning and take pictures.

 

[BSB67]

I’ll pull the fan off in the morning and take pictures.

The length is 2.25" Can you measure your wire?

 

[MO.RR]

The length is 2.25" Can you measure your wire?

2.34 by my calipers. So it is off but not by that far.


Wrong, 2.33 sorry fat fingered it.

 

[mopar 3 B]

I was asking the OP how he did it.

I knew that. So you made your point happy now?