TIMING THE DISTRIBUTOR
November 17, 2007
by: jovial_cynic
by: jovial_cynic
Oh boy.
For the longest time, I've had trouble getting my engine to start up easily, and just figured that it was a problem with my carburetor settings. I'd spray some carb cleaner into the engine, and the engine would kick over, but it would take forever to get it really going.
I chatted with my brother-in-law (a VW mechanic) he suggested that my ignition timing might be WAY off. He was skeptical of his own answer at first, since I mentioned that I could eventually get the engine running, but he recommended that I take the bolt off the distributor and turn it clockwise past what the housing typically allows you to go. Sure enough, it fired up right away.
After asking some of the folks on the datsun mailing list, that means that the distributor spindle coming up from the oil pump is off, and that I can simply pop off the distributor, grab a hold of the spindle, drop the oil pump, and lower the spindle and rotate it and bring it back up.
Well, it sounds easy. We'll see.
For the longest time, I've had trouble getting my engine to start up easily, and just figured that it was a problem with my carburetor settings. I'd spray some carb cleaner into the engine, and the engine would kick over, but it would take forever to get it really going.
I chatted with my brother-in-law (a VW mechanic) he suggested that my ignition timing might be WAY off. He was skeptical of his own answer at first, since I mentioned that I could eventually get the engine running, but he recommended that I take the bolt off the distributor and turn it clockwise past what the housing typically allows you to go. Sure enough, it fired up right away.
After asking some of the folks on the datsun mailing list, that means that the distributor spindle coming up from the oil pump is off, and that I can simply pop off the distributor, grab a hold of the spindle, drop the oil pump, and lower the spindle and rotate it and bring it back up.
Well, it sounds easy. We'll see.