look if your only installing a distrib after a manifold swap,
watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdIGZ-tVuZA
ITS not complicated, pull the #1 plug and put you thumb over the hole tightly, turn the engine in the normal dirrection of rotation, with a breaker bar and scocket untill you get compression in the #1 cylinder, as the damper TDC line approches the TDC timing tab, drop the distributor in with the rotor facing the #1 cylinder,compensate for the way the distrib gear causes the rotor to rotate as in seats,so its seated pointing where you intended, if it won,t fully seat turn the oil pump drive with a very large flat blade screw driver untill it will,with the distrib removed and try again, once it seats,facing the correct dirrection, install and tighten the distrib clamp so its difficult to spin the distrib easily by hand but still possiable to spin the distrib by hand, re-install the #1 plug and wire, install the cap and all ignition related wires, use your timing light and set the ignition timing,per the shop manuals instructions, tighten the distibutor hold clamp so it can,t move, IF it takes more than 10 minutes your in need of more practice or nearly hopeless as a mechanic.The CLOYES true roller style is vastly superior to the factory link belt design
how come its 180 degs out of phase?
I get this question all the time, well here’s something I see lots of guys don’t understand, ONCE YOU'VE INSTALLED A CAM WITH THE TIMING MARKS YOU MUST ROTATE THE CRANK 360 DEGREES BEFORE DROPPING IN THE DISTRIBUTOR, while its true that if the, timing marks are positioned so the crank is at 12 o,clock and the cam gear is at 6 o,clock that the cam lobes will be in the position that fires #6 cylinder that HAS NO EFFECT AT ALL (on finding TDC,) for aligning the degree wheel with TDC,or THE timing tab pointer, for degreeing in the cam, the piston passes thru TDC TWICE in every firing cycle once on the firing/power stroke and once on the exhaust stroke, the cam rotates at exactly 1/2 the speed of the crank so to make it easy to line up the marks they install it with the marks at the closest point 6/12 for easy indexing, rotate the engine 360 degrees to the #1 TDC power stroke and the crank gear will still be at 12 o'clock 12/12 but the cam will be at 12 o,clock also, rotate another 360 degrees and your back where you started. its simply easier to index the cam at the point where the index marks align closely. look at how the cam lobes themselves open the valves when the cam is just installed the #1 cylinder valves are slightly open and the #6 are closed per "Lunati" ‘’YES YOU ARE RIGHT - WHEN CRANK IS AT TWELVE AND CAM IS AT SIX THEN #6 CYL IS FIRING AFTER YOU LINE UP YOUR MARKS AND INSTALL GEAR THEN ROTATE YOUR CRANK ONE REVOLUTION AND THEN DROP THE DIST. IN - AT THAT POINT
http://boxwrench.net/specs/chevy_sb.htm
drop the distributor in with the rotor pointing at the #1 cylinder, and YEAH! it physically possible to get the distributors rotor to point at any place you want it too by changing the oil pump drive shaft alignment with a large flat blade screw driver while the distributors out of the engine and thats easily changed, but to do it correctly,you want the rotor to point at the #1 cylinder on the compression stroke, so pull the #1 plug, get a large ratchet/socket on the damper and put your finger over the open plug hole and slowly rotate the engine by hand in its normal rotational direction until you see pressure build under your finger as the rotor approaches #1 cylinder location on the distributor base which you should have marked as its supposed to be in direct alignment between the distributor and the number 1 cylinder on the engine, remember the distributor and cam gears are helical and the rotor turns as it seats so compensate slightly. and the rotor should be just coming into alignment as pressure builds under your finger, once that's done re-install the distributor cap and plug and use a timing light to set the timing, you normally want about 6-12 degrees BTDC at idle and watch it advance to about 37 degrees as the rpms build to about 3000rpmok, then have you checked the distributor to oil pump drive shaft length?,
IF YOUR DISTRIBUTOR LEAKS OIL AROUND THE BASE GASKET..
it seems the distributor is not seating fully against the intake ring gasket and the distributor to oil pump drive is suspected of being a bit to long, there should be about .050 slack MINIMUM between the oil pump drive shaft and the distributor gear
Ive used moly grease for decades as a internal shaft lube
don,t confuse distributor end cam gear clearance (usually set at .007-.010) (how far the distributor gear can move on the distributor shaft and the clearance between the end of the oil pump drive drive shaft and the inside of the gear drive (usually set at .050) set when the distributor seats over the shaft and is clamped in the intake manifold
READ THIS THREAD ALSO
viewtopic.php?f=70&t=1015
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=329&p=401&hilit=installing+intake#p401
watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdIGZ-tVuZA
ITS not complicated, pull the #1 plug and put you thumb over the hole tightly, turn the engine in the normal dirrection of rotation, with a breaker bar and scocket untill you get compression in the #1 cylinder, as the damper TDC line approches the TDC timing tab, drop the distributor in with the rotor facing the #1 cylinder,compensate for the way the distrib gear causes the rotor to rotate as in seats,so its seated pointing where you intended, if it won,t fully seat turn the oil pump drive with a very large flat blade screw driver untill it will,with the distrib removed and try again, once it seats,facing the correct dirrection, install and tighten the distrib clamp so its difficult to spin the distrib easily by hand but still possiable to spin the distrib by hand, re-install the #1 plug and wire, install the cap and all ignition related wires, use your timing light and set the ignition timing,per the shop manuals instructions, tighten the distibutor hold clamp so it can,t move, IF it takes more than 10 minutes your in need of more practice or nearly hopeless as a mechanic.The CLOYES true roller style is vastly superior to the factory link belt design
how come its 180 degs out of phase?
I get this question all the time, well here’s something I see lots of guys don’t understand, ONCE YOU'VE INSTALLED A CAM WITH THE TIMING MARKS YOU MUST ROTATE THE CRANK 360 DEGREES BEFORE DROPPING IN THE DISTRIBUTOR, while its true that if the, timing marks are positioned so the crank is at 12 o,clock and the cam gear is at 6 o,clock that the cam lobes will be in the position that fires #6 cylinder that HAS NO EFFECT AT ALL (on finding TDC,) for aligning the degree wheel with TDC,or THE timing tab pointer, for degreeing in the cam, the piston passes thru TDC TWICE in every firing cycle once on the firing/power stroke and once on the exhaust stroke, the cam rotates at exactly 1/2 the speed of the crank so to make it easy to line up the marks they install it with the marks at the closest point 6/12 for easy indexing, rotate the engine 360 degrees to the #1 TDC power stroke and the crank gear will still be at 12 o'clock 12/12 but the cam will be at 12 o,clock also, rotate another 360 degrees and your back where you started. its simply easier to index the cam at the point where the index marks align closely. look at how the cam lobes themselves open the valves when the cam is just installed the #1 cylinder valves are slightly open and the #6 are closed per "Lunati" ‘’YES YOU ARE RIGHT - WHEN CRANK IS AT TWELVE AND CAM IS AT SIX THEN #6 CYL IS FIRING AFTER YOU LINE UP YOUR MARKS AND INSTALL GEAR THEN ROTATE YOUR CRANK ONE REVOLUTION AND THEN DROP THE DIST. IN - AT THAT POINT
http://boxwrench.net/specs/chevy_sb.htm
drop the distributor in with the rotor pointing at the #1 cylinder, and YEAH! it physically possible to get the distributors rotor to point at any place you want it too by changing the oil pump drive shaft alignment with a large flat blade screw driver while the distributors out of the engine and thats easily changed, but to do it correctly,you want the rotor to point at the #1 cylinder on the compression stroke, so pull the #1 plug, get a large ratchet/socket on the damper and put your finger over the open plug hole and slowly rotate the engine by hand in its normal rotational direction until you see pressure build under your finger as the rotor approaches #1 cylinder location on the distributor base which you should have marked as its supposed to be in direct alignment between the distributor and the number 1 cylinder on the engine, remember the distributor and cam gears are helical and the rotor turns as it seats so compensate slightly. and the rotor should be just coming into alignment as pressure builds under your finger, once that's done re-install the distributor cap and plug and use a timing light to set the timing, you normally want about 6-12 degrees BTDC at idle and watch it advance to about 37 degrees as the rpms build to about 3000rpmok, then have you checked the distributor to oil pump drive shaft length?,
IF YOUR DISTRIBUTOR LEAKS OIL AROUND THE BASE GASKET..
it seems the distributor is not seating fully against the intake ring gasket and the distributor to oil pump drive is suspected of being a bit to long, there should be about .050 slack MINIMUM between the oil pump drive shaft and the distributor gear
Ive used moly grease for decades as a internal shaft lube
don,t confuse distributor end cam gear clearance (usually set at .007-.010) (how far the distributor gear can move on the distributor shaft and the clearance between the end of the oil pump drive drive shaft and the inside of the gear drive (usually set at .050) set when the distributor seats over the shaft and is clamped in the intake manifold
READ THIS THREAD ALSO
viewtopic.php?f=70&t=1015
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=329&p=401&hilit=installing+intake#p401