Posted by Old Guy (216.152.14.78) on January 24, 2001 at 11:03:33:
In Reply to: cold timing 302 4 barrel posted by Larry in Westy on January 24, 2001 at 07:14:55:
: I have a 74 Mav. grabber w/ 302 & 600 cfm Holley. It appears to have jumped time I think. I can't remember how to check and set valve timing when the motor is cold. I bought 2 Mav's for a hobby and it's been probably 20 years since I've been able to play with cars. Any and all responses will be appreciated.
Just curious as to why you think it jumped time? The way that I install a distributor in the 302 is as follows: Remove #1 spark plug(first one on right side of engine) now there are two ways to find TDC. Either take off the valve cover and crank engine over by hand until both intake and exhaust valve rockers are closed or crank engine with finger over spark plug hole (#1) until you feel compression or whoosh pushing on your finger. Either way check timing mark on harmonic balancer, TDC on pointer should line up with scribe mark on balancer. Trace #1 spark plug wire to cap, if distributor is still in place, mark where #1 terminal is on body of distributor. Remove cap and see if rotor is pointing to that position. Basically you do the same thing if you are installing the distributor. Check for correct wiring sequence from cap to plugs etc. You can also use timing light and have someone crank engine and then watch marks on pointer to see if TDC--6-8degrees advanced is regestering. If you are running vacuum advance, disconnect it first. You can check how bad the timing chain is by pulling off fuel pump and using a short piece of dowel or a screwdriver, push on the chain see how much slack is in it. Should be no more than 1/8 of an inch. Have seen some with 3/4in and still run, not very good and are real pain to start. Hope this helps, let us know what you find with your problem, might be something else we should know about.