Skipping under load

[blkfordsedan]

8* (one tooth) will still look good at the rotor position.

This is correct, my memory aint what it used to be. It tends to reflect my current thoughts and not reality! I believe this to be an evolved trait of self preservation...forged from years of marriage and honed by a wife that remembers every thing I ever said, did or incinuated that offended her.

[Christ]

I took the cap off a car that runs perfectly, put the engine at TDC via the spark plug hole, indexed the rotor to the housing, and the housing via the bolt location on the upper flange of the distributor. I then transferred that distributor to the blue car, set the engine at TDC by the hole again, bolted the distributor so the bolt was in the marked location on the housing, and the rotor was within a degree or two of the index mark, not more than a mm away from it.

I've done this about a thousand times, as a cursory check, and every time I do it, it works exactly for that. Even if you don't have a good running engine to bug parts from, you can check that the cam is in phase and lined up properly using the rotor by setting the distributor to the center of it's travel, unless it's infinitely adjustable. The rotor will basically line up within a few degrees of the tower on the cap, for most applications.

[blkfordsedan]

That makes sense...sounds to me like you're talking about setting the ignition timing (i.e. distributor position), correct? You're not taking the timing belt off, and therefore not messing with the actual camshaft timing (i.e. the position of the camshaft with regard to the crankshaft position). I think that's the reason for the confusion.

[georgeb]

The screwdriver method would not be acceptable to anyone serious about setting cam timing. First, there is 10 or 15 degrees of crank rotation at the top and bottom of the stroke that would be next to impossible to pinpoint the dead center point without a dial indicator. Second, using the distributor, which has 20-some degees of adjustability, to determine cam position is misleading. If your car only runs with the timing set at or near the end of it's adjustment, the cam timing is off and needs to be reset with the marks provided.

[FestYboy]

Christ, set the cam timing the right way before you go any further, this "i think i have it right" mentality is setting you back in the diagnosis of your drivability issue.

[georgeb]

After harping about setting the cam timing by the book, I thought I would peek at the marks on my '89 which I haven't done a timing belt replacement on yet. After wiping the scale clean, I noticed it was without any marks, perfectly smooth. My top cover is off so I shined a flashlight down at the crank gear. But I couldn't turn the motor because the a/c pulley is in the way of the crank bolt. This weekend I will lower the front of the motor, permanently remove the a/c pulley and redo all the marks with white paint.

[FestYboy]

do NOT use the marks on the lower cover for cam timing, they are for ignition timing ONLY. to check cam timing (as you should know), you need to set the crank mark to 12 o'clock (can be seen via a flash light on the inside edge of the crank sprocket), and then set the cam gear notches at 12 and 3 o'clock (there will be marks on the head and valve cover to match up.

[blkfordsedan]

No reason to even check cam timing anyway, its not like its adjustable. The only way it can possibly be off would be if it jumped a tooth (not very common) or if someone replaced the belt and got it off a tooth. If its off even one tooth it will run like dog doo-doo and be pretty obvious. If you're going to all the trouble to remove the covers, may as well put a new belt on it.

[georgeb]

do NOT use the marks on the lower cover for cam timing, they are for ignition timing ONLY. to check cam timing (as you should know), you need to set the crank mark to 12 o'clock (can be seen via a flash light on the inside edge of the crank sprocket), and then set the cam gear notches at 12 and 3 o'clock (there will be marks on the head and valve cover to match up.

I use the keyway on my late '93 to determine TDC for the belt replacement since it is visable (have to remove crank bolt). I was just looking for a way for an easy check of cam timing without disassembly for anyone suspecting there cam timing to be off. Since carbed car's ignition is set at 0, they could use the ignition mark to set the cam, backed up by the gear mark. But it looks like the mark on the pulley is never visable without redoing it yourself.

[FestYboy]

nope!, you dont' use the ignition marks for cam timing. you can see the crank mark with a flashlight by looking down betswwn the belts and against the oil pump housing.

[denguy]

Is it a random skip or an steady one? How is your coil?

[Christ]

Look up - problems already taken care of enough to drive the car. Now it just does it if I go hard on take-off, but I never do, cuz it's not like it's a race car.

I'll worry about it more if I decide to keep the B3 in it, but I probably won't. I'd rather have a turbo diesel in it, honestly, but am still considering grabbing a motor from an EGT and adding boost.

[Christ]

Not sure who mentioned it, but I didn't want to change the coil because it literally was, and looked brand new. Shiny brand new.

However, after swapping to newer injectors (one was sticking sometimes) and squaring that away, I swapped coils cuz it only took 10 seconds... and damned if the car doesn't run like new.

Now that I've got that squared up completely, I'm getting better mileage, too. Not sure exactly how much, but I went 240 (indicated, more like 260-270 actual) miles on just shy of 8 gallons. Before, it would have been closer to 215-220 indicated.

[Smedley]

glad you have the car running better. bring it up to the meet next weekend so we can see it.

[Christ]

glad you have the car running better. bring it up to the meet next weekend so we can see it.

Where is it?

I probably have nothing better to do anyway lol