Thread: 327 timing

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Excuse me Johnauto, but your wrong. The distributor can be off as many teeth as you want, and as long as the plugwires are arranged in the cap, or the distributor is turned so that you are getting a spark when number one cylinder is at top dead center, the engine will run fine.---but----there are limitations on how far you can turn the distributor, because the vacuum advance will hit the firewall. Additionally, there is only one "location" where the mesh of the gear is correct in relationship to where the timing pointer is located.
The correct way to do this, assuming that you have the correct timing pointer on the engine, is to pull number one plug out (front of car drivers side plug on small block chev), nudge engine with starter (coil wire disconnected) untill you feel engine starting to blow air out the plug hole, then turn engine with socket and Johnson bar on crank pulley untill timing mark on harmonic balancer is lined up with timing pointer. Take the cap off and see which contact inside the cap the rotor is pointing to.---That is where your number one plug should be wired to. On most small blocks, that will be the terminal closest to the front of the engine, slightly towards drivers side of center. If you find that the rotor is pointed more than about 10 degrees either way from that position, then your distributor may be out by one or two teeth. The car will still run that way---but your timing marks will never line up when using a timing light.