Mechanical timing adjustment?

jakesbackyard

jakesbackyard

Member
I have loosened the screw until the plate is loose, but can't get the plate to move up or down. I'm trying to advance it a little. What is the trick? I'm afraid to take the screw too far out or out completely. Help would be appreciated. Thank you.
 
Ol' Ron said:
It's stuck, wack it with a hammer.
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Ya' wack it with a hammer:)
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Yes it'll move without the engine running. Better that way anyway you don't want to get hung up in the belt or fan. I assuming it's a crab or divers helmet dizzy?

I have a hammer with one plastic end and on the other side rubber. I use it quite a bit.
 
Plastic is better,move plate and screw up 1 line on a helmet dist up to 41 and down 1 line on 42 and up for crab type dist. ken ct.
 
Jake,

Aside from not telling us exactly what distributor you're working on (appears you have a '35, but that is only a hint), why do you want to advance it a little?

I understand fooling around with stuff, but what are you trying to fix?

Who worked on this distributor last, and how long ago?

Messing with the advance won't hurt anything. It may not help either.

(Answer to question: The '35 distributor is one of the tightest to get to. Without the engine running, TAP the loosened screw maybe with a wooden dowel and hammer. Many are a little hard to move which isn't bad since that moves the point plate and you want that a little snug.

There are 7 marks on the little index plate. Usually one below the center is good as a guess ... that's the 3rd mark from the bottom. I have a '35 distributor that I just rebuilt which has been set to spec on a fixture and it's on the center mark. So, depends.)

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Thanks for all the replies guys. Much appreciated.

It's on my '35 stock (to my knowledge) flathead. When I got it, it ran so nice that all I did to the engine was clean it up, paint, rebuilt the fuel pump, carb and water pumps, points, wires, plugs, had the radiator flushed, and put on one of Skips 3# valves.

It still runs like a dream, but runs hot. (not to mention the blowby I asked about in an earlier thread). I decided to give it the tune by vacuum and have a steady 16". According to flatheadv8 vacuum gauge reading chart it should be 17 to 21 and it suggests late ignition timing. So I want to advance it slightly and see how high it will go and back it off 1". It has 75# compression down all four cylinders on the left side and 80# on all the right.

Right now the timing is on the center mark.

Thanks again for the help and any other suggestions any one might have.

I'll give it a "wack" in the morning! Jake.
 
These flatheads run the best when the timing is pushed all the way to the top. If it pings on acceleration, back off a little till the pinging stops. You can't get any closer than that.
 
I think so Ken, but I did the points two winters ago...CRS. I did the body and interior since it ran so nice and now I'd like to drive it more. Thanks for the info on the points.
 
I got it advanced this morning and have about 18" of vacuum. I could only get it to go to the second lowest notch on the dizzy. Adjusted the "94" a little and just finished taking it for a ride. Seemed to cool better, especially on the highway, but did get a little warm again while maneuvering it back into the shop. Of course it's 94 degrees here today with an index of 110. What a state I live in! I'll maybe try it again tomorrow...it's only going to be 75.
 
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Thanks to Ken CT. I took out the dizzy last Fri. I must have set the points without the coil on...they were .011. Reset them at .014, spun and rechecked a couple times and put back together. Now has a constant 18" vacuum. Took for a 5 mile drive yesterday and the most it got up to was 190*. out on the road it was about 170*. Plugs now look brown instead of black. So looks like timing was most of my problem. Now I need to get new left exhaust pipe bent so not so close to gas line. The old '35 is becoming a better driver each day. Thanks for the help.
 
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