New Series 3 dist. install question.

[1973series3]

Hello,

I installed the series 3 dist. from our host the other night.

I have it very close to right but the old girl is a little weak on acceleration. The timing marks are( 6|||||6) on the harmonic.

Would anybody tell me your exact procedure for timing this machine so I can get it back to exactly right? I am having trouble getting it just right. I have not been able to get it so far. I am guessing it is a 7.1 not the 8.1 engine from what I have read.

It is a right hand drive and a 73 so I think I am right here in regards to the timing. I set the points at .014 then up to .016 and it seemed to get better. The idle is at 800 the weber carb was perfect before I swapped the dist. I have the dist adjusted maxed out at clockwise on the hold down bolt and it seemed best there so far.

No pinging at road speed.

But I am missing something and really need help. I may have gotten a step in the sequence wrong or something.

Thanks for any input you have,

[warrenperkinson]

I have found that setting the timing according to the manual is just a starting point. These old girls (mine's a '71) have their own foibles.

So now you've got a starting point start fine tuning by ear and experimentation. This sounds a little vague, but worked really well for me.


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[triumphtr7guy]

As said, the timing marks are a baseline, and every vehicle has its quirks, especially as the get to be over 40 years old, hmmm, that sounds like some of us!! Engine wear, piston wear, all those pieces add into where the timing should be, get it close, go for a buzz around and try tweaking a little this way and that, see what works, and when you do get to where it is at that "sweet spot" where it is very happy, use a paint pen and mark the spot so when you have to take it out/service, you end up pretty close to where it should be, even then, it might still need some fine tuning, but should be pretty close. Good luck.

[1973series3]

Adjusted dist. with vacuum advance off, then connected it again and continued turning clockwise. I ran out of movement but it sounded very good.

After I opened the points up from .014 to .016 it seemed to get a little better.

We were doing this at 0200 on backroads, timing light and all.

Anything you guys have to add to what I have done?

I am a little perplexed that it is not there yet to be honest.........

[SafeAirOne]

It's my understanding that most people don't use the timing light on these as the myriad of variables that influence timing have changed drastically since the procedure in the book was written.

[lumpydog]

Here is a link to my post in a similar thread: http://forums.roversnorth.com/showth...ht=#post102473

I'm concerned that you are maxing out the distributor's range of motion. You really should be able to spin it enough in either direction to stall out the engine at the extremes. Focus on figuring out what's limiting that. What kind of distributor do you have? It will be a Ducellier or a Lucas. What octane fuel are you running? Really high octane will require more advance.

[SafeAirOne]

Here is a link to my post in a similar thread:I'm concerned that you are maxing out the distributor's range of motion. You really should be able to spin it enough in either direction to stall out the engine at the extremes.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own a distributor, so I don't really know, but I was thinking the same thing--Just wondering if the skew gear is a tooth off.

[warrenperkinson]

Usually there is a pinch bolt that when you slacken it off allows you to move the adjuster plate around so you can get a further range of motion.

[stomper]

You might want to check your plug leads as well, and move them all counter clockwise/clockwise by one spot if you are running out of spin.

[1973series3]

Here is a link to my post in a similar thread: http://forums.roversnorth.com/showth...ht=#post102473

I'm concerned that you are maxing out the distributor's range of motion. You really should be able to spin it enough in either direction to stall out the engine at the extremes. Focus on figuring out what's limiting that. What kind of distributor do you have? It will be a Ducellier or a Lucas. What octane fuel are you running? Really high octane will require more advance.

89 octane,it had the duceillier, replaced it with a new model from our host.

It does stall if I turn it counter-clockwise, slows it down a LOT.

SOunds like I need to loosen the clamp to allow more clock-wise adjustment. The light is showing the middle or the range while the dist. is maxed out that direction.

[1973series3]

You might want to check your plug leads as well, and move them all counter clockwise/clockwise by one spot if you are running out of spin.

We marked them and them matched the rotor position during the switch and then installed the cap the same so this should be fine.

It does not feel like it is missing anything, just like a non-turbo diesel now.

This engine runs really well and purrs like a kitten.

Well, it ran really well before I swapped parts, now it is a little flat.

When I get off work someday, and will finish tweaking on it. Seems like it needs to allow more movement with the pinch bolt.

I probably underestimated what I could accomplish with that............

Glad you guys are so forgiving of us newbies.

There is a lot of great info from you all.

[lumpydog]

Another thing to consider here when setting up a brand new distributor from scratch: Vacuum advance setting. You need to check/set this and you can actually use your timing light to test when the vacuum advance kicks in - but, you need a vacuum pump/gauge.

Vacuum advance is supposed to kick in at 102mm (4in.) HG. When I setup my new distributor, I attached a vacuum pump/gauge to the vacuum port on the distributor and used my timing light. I used the pump to slowly create vacuum and watched where the vacuum gauge was when the timing mark started to advance. My distributor did need some adjustment to get the advance to kick in when the vacuum was at 4in.