Distributor issue can i see yours plz

[HOMES1030]

I have a 1972 240z been working on it for about three years. I was going to

try and start it soon but when i was putting the distributor in had some

problems.

I put eng at TDC then find numb 1 cylinder spark plug wire and line cap and rotor up. When i do this the bottom plate does not line up as seen in pic. And if i line up bottom plate it is no longer pointing at number 1 cylinder on cap.

 

The car did have some stuff changed before i bought it. It has a 280 eng

L28 block,N42 head thinking its between 1977-79 engine.Dont know what year exactly.

 

Was thinking mabe the guy mixed some parts around, as for the bottom

plate goes. Looks like the dizzy is from the 240z and the bottom part that the dizzy bolts to is from the 280z.

But the thing is the car ran when i bought it,drove it about 2 hours home. So i dont know, hopeing to get some pics or info.

 

thnaks

[josh817]

Everybody freaks out about aligning the distributor properly on the L motors, its simply not a problem. Whether the dizzy is points or electronic it doesn't matter at what position the rotor is in according to the position of #1 piston. The dizzy doesn't care if the rotor is at 11 o'clock position or 7 o'clock position, the only thing it cares about is at what point its firing. So for instance I think the manual calls for 11:45 position at TDC or something? If your rotor is pointing at 5 o'clock, leave it there and then make sure that your wires are all placed on the correct "prong" or whatever you want to call it on the dizzy cap. 1-5-3-6-2-4 counter clockwise.

 

Examples can be:

 

Or:

 

As long as the rotor is on a point at which a cylinder is firing, just move #1 wire to that point so that #1 @ TDC is firing at that time, then obviously move all the wires to their respective positions.

 

Another good example is like on my motor. I placed #1 @ TDC when building, and my dizzy rotor was way down at like the 5 o'clock positon. We went to start it but we were getting ridiculous amounts of advance to where the motor wouldn't start so what we did was move all the wires clockwise one prong over. This essentially retards everything but put us in the right ballpark. Like I said, as long as you have #1 firing when the dizzy is at a firing position. Even if its in between prongs (not firing) when #1 is at TDC thats fine, it just means you will have excesive advance or retard in your timing according to that little plate on the bottom of the dizzy. Just like on mine, the rotor was between prongs but I still achieve my desirable 35º total advance, however it shows up like this on my plate:

 

If I were to make it so that the plate was at the "A" I would have like... 80º of advance... This doesn't matter though, the plate is a visual but for me its just a distributor lock down. I don't look at the plate to ASSUME what my timing is, I use a timing light so I KNOW what the timing is. So basically for your case do this:

1. Set motor at TDC FIRING (take of valve cover and make sure both cam lobes for #1 are pointing up)

2. Take off the distributor cap, line up your plates and get it all bolted down

3. Check at what position the rotor is in keeping in mind that the rotor will spin counter clockwise

4. Whatever the FIRST prong the rotor is at/fixing to reach when turning counter clockwise, make #1 that prong

5. Go ahead and place all your wires in the proper firing order on the cap

6. Start the motor up, as usual twist it to give it more or less advance and leave it there when it starts up

7. Check your timing, if you find that you are making way too much advance to the point where you can't twist the dizzy enough to fix it, move all your wires clockwise by 1 prong and then check. If you are making way too much retard to the point where you can't twist the dizzy enough to fix it, move all your wires counter clockwise by 1 prong and then check.

 

Also, the bottom and top plates have slots in the so you can twist it, the slots will not line up if one is from a 280 and the other is from a 240. I have a '75 dizzy I think it is with a 240 top plate and the '75 bottom plate. Had to get a file and line up the screw to the slot. Finally, if you're really anal and want everything to go by the book, then plan on pulling your oil pump and rotating the shaft so that the crescent side that goes to the dizzy is in the right position to allow for the "proper" rotor position according to TDC.

 

Hope this helps.

[HOMES1030]

thanks i was thinking of just doing that but was not sure.