1974 Chevy Monte Carlo wierd timing

FIREBIRD DAVE

MEMBER
1974 CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
50 MILES

I purchased this motor. It had been rebuilt by a shop. The guy who I bought from didnt like the cam. So he swapped it out. He had money issues so he sold it to me. So I put it in my 79firebird. Put in a new distribitor. Tried to set timing where its suppoose to be. I position the rotor in the direction of #1 cyl. And ran it but it ran poorly. So I moved one tooth clockwise. So the rotor was pointing at the fan.[ 6:00 posion]. It ran a little better then but not like it should. So after I scratch my head and had a buddy over to help me out. We checked the wires [order] everything several times. So just for fun we went one more tooth clockwise. Towards #2 cyl. Then it ran almost perfect. This blew our minds. Now does that mean the timing marks under the timing cover are off a tooth? And is running it damaging anything?

1 Reply

HMAC300

MECHANIC
48,601 POSTS

No the timing is off someplace but it's making the car run. The cam could be advanced or retarded due to an offset key being in there or a variable timing rig in there. Also youmay not have had #1 up to TDC when you timed it. But it's runningso leave it alone. When a small block is on TDC #1 then the rotor should actually point to abou 11:30 so you aren't that far off. Just make sure it's set at the right tiiming. Which when you change cams to one for more power you can pretty much throw the stock settings out the window.