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Can't get my ignition timing right.


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Let me start by saying that I only bought the car a year ago and I'm still trying to get it to run right. I don't know what was done before I bought it, but it didn't run when I got it. It runs now, but poorly. It's a '72 240 with the L24 still in it. I am trying to get my ignition timing dialed in but running into some trouble. At full advance (distributor dialed in fully clockwise) I'm only at the first mark on the crankshaft pully (0 degrees). I also tried shifting all my plugs over 1, but then even at full retard it's way too far advanced. Am I missing something? I've done some searching and the only thing I can come up with is that I may need to pull the oil pump and adjust a gear that drives the distributer there. Thanks in advance.

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Sounds like you are on the right track... When you pull the oil pump, there is an oil pump shaft with a gear which spins the shaft and distributor. It sounds like you may be a tooth or more off. At this point, you may be better off resetting the timing from scratch. This requires setting the engine at TDC, pulling the pump/shaft, making sure the dot on the shaft lines up with the oil hole on the oil pump (hard to describe) and then inserting back into the engine. You want the half moon on the top of the oil pump/distriubutor shaft to be pointing at 11:25 when its installed. Maybe someone has a picture of this that they can post. Also, you can pull the pump without draining the oil. Hope this helps.

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there two bolts to adjust the distributor. the 10mm right there on top and another under the distributor plate (8mm) that hold the distributor to the plate. It sounds like you need to adjust the plate screw which you can't see very well from the top.

 

 

furthermore. balancers will slip over the years. You need to check for true TDC with a piston stop to check if the balancer has slipped or not.

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Thanks for the tip, but I already had both adjustments maxed out. I did check the balancer and it seemed to be dead on TDC.

 

I reset the pump shaft and now it's in worse shape than before. The spindle looked like it is in the right place according to the Haynes manual I have. At about 11:25 or 5 degrees clockwise from the bolt holes. I put the distributor back on and the plugs had to be shifted further than I though they would. Now it will hardly run at all. While it was chugging along for a few seconds before dieing I checked timing and the timing looks right.

 

I don't know what to do now. Guess I'll mess with it some more when I get home from work today.

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