someone please help!!! i\'m going nuts!!

[sk8ordie]

ok, so truck wasn\'t turning over, figured it was timing problem, realized when i put new timing chain and cam in, i used the wrong slot for keyway on crank sproket. i\'m dumb, oh well. so i used the old timing set and got it on the right one, but now, when i line the marks up on both sprokets, my rotor is not pointing at my #1, it\'s pointing at #5. and if i point it at #1, it\'s 3 teeth off to the left on the cam sproket. if i\'m not mistaken, when #1 is at TDC (it is) the rotor should be pointing at #1, but it\'s not. any thouhts? i\'m going crazy trying to get this thing going.

[ZR1BLAZER]

if #1 is at TDC and the timing sprocket on the crank is pointing up with the dot then all you have to do is rotate the cam till it lines up with the dot on the sprocket on the crank. just slide the sproket on the cam and rotate it where you want it. then slide it back off (make sure not to move the cam) then put the chain on the sproket and line it up and slide the chain onto the crank sproket and then put the top sproket on?? i hope i understood what you were saying. there is really only one way to do it. i have never seen them not line up unless the cam wasnt in the right position. good luck and i hope i helped.

[sk8ordie]

i can get the sprokets on and the marks lined up and the chain on and everything. my concern is, when eveything is lined up properly, and the chain is on, the rotor on my distributer is not pointing at my #1 cylinder. i always understood it was supposed to,but it\'s pointing at my #5 cylinder. if it\'s not an issue, and i can just set my cap on and put plugs on accordingly, then i\'m ok.

[ZR1BLAZER]

OH ok. DUH i misunderstood everything you said. to a point it doesnt matter where the rotor points. i normally point it at the #1 #3 or #5 just make sure you put the plug wires where they go. starting #1 plug wire at the point the rotor points at. if you try and set #1 plug wire closest to the #1 cylinder of course the motor wont fire because you will be out of time. sorry about that. hope i helped this time. LOL

[sk8ordie]

my bad, i tend to write like i think, which is not usually a good thing. but that answers my question. if the rotor doesn\'t really matter, then i\'m good to go. just gotta watch where my rotor is when i start pluggin wires in. hopefully i can get it put back together and fired up tomarrow. thanks for the late night help zr1blazer! i appreciate it! i\'ll sleep better tonight knowing what i have to do tomarrow

[dirtnut99]

why dont you just pull the distributor and reset it in so #1 is where it is supposed to be.. that would be alot easier than rerouting all of your plug wires and make them fit in a different spot, and it would make life easier for someone else later on if you got rid of it.. line the marks up on your gears, pull the dist, you may have to turn the oil pump drive a bit for it to set in properly, then reinsert the dist with the rotor pointing in the right spot for #1, which is the front right post on the cap-second one to the left of the coil connector on an HEI dist..

[Scotty_S-15]

Yes, like the other guys said, the dist. timing is totally unrelated to the cam, don\'t pay any attention to the dist. Setting the distributor/timing is a separate job.

........... In fact, even when the engine is running, there is no real reason the rotor has to aim in any particular direction, except for the convenience of proper spark plug wire length. That is, you can plunk in the distributor any place you like, see where the rotor is aiming when the engines is at #1 TDC compression, and call that spot #1.

............... But if your spark plug wires are already tailor fitted, of course THEN you need to have the rotor aimed at your existing #1 wire, because a lot of the wires wouldn\'t reach if it was all changed.

[dynlub]

Hi, the fireing order of a chev.v8 is 18436572,when the timing gears are lined up dot to dot you are set to #6 TDC.rotate the crank 1 revolution so the cam gear dot is at 12 oclock and the crank gear is at 12 o\'clock you are now at #1 TDC.Now you can correct the rotor position. TOM

[Scotty_S-15]

A crude but effective way to quickly tell if the cam is timed somewhere near right:

......... bring #1 up to TDC, but not compressions stoke. As you cross TDC, the intake and exhaust valves should be crisscrossing, that is, one just opening, the other just closing. Depending on the cam overlap, sometime the valves are open exactly the same amount at TDC. One or more teeth off, and it should be noticeable.

........... BTW, if the cam timing was off, and if you were turning it with the starter, I hope you didn\'t tweak a valve or two....

[sk8ordie]

yea i hope i didn\'t tweak a valve too!! well, i got it runnig today (finally!!!) still have to play with the timing and investigate a couple minor leaks, but it\'s running!! YAY! it sounds alright, so i don\'t think i wrecked anything too bad with the off timing chain, but it is a little hard to tell cause i just have straight headers right now, so it\'s freakin loud, but i guess we\'ll see.

[ZR1BLAZER]

well good luck. glad you got it going. glad we could help.