I put my distributor in 180 off. OK, figured that out as soon as it back fired through carb (no timing marks on painted balancer). I pulled the distributor (anyone know of a keeper for the oil pump drive shaft?) and placed it back in the right way. Now, my only problem is that I run out of advance (distributor hits the intake). All the way advanced is the only position that the engine will start in. Could a worn timing chain cause the distributor to be this far off?

 

almost forgot. The engine is a 73 390.

 

Simple!
Just pull the distributor back out, rotate it a tooth or two counterclockwise, and then re-insert it.
Do it this way:

Note the position of the vacuum advance nipple, where it is pointing to.
Notice the position of the rotor inside the distributor housing before you pull it out. See if it points to a screw, or something similar. Make a mental note of it.

Now, remove the distributor. Note where the rotor is pointing to after you have pulled it (with the nipple pointing to the same position!) This is important because the gear's worm teeth will cause the rotor to turn about 1/16th of a turn, the rotation of 1 tooth.

Next, rotate the distributor counterclockwise (the entire body, NOT just the rotor and center shaft!) the same distance the rotor turned while pulling it out.

Now re-insert the distributor into the block and see if the the rotor points to the same spot such as the screw. If you have done this correctly, the rotor will point to the same spot, but the vacuum advance nipple will be pointing to a more retarded spot.


There is an oil pump driveshaft keeper. It is a spring steel washer, and will slide only in one direction: up. This keeps the shaft from coming out when you pull the distributor.

Rebuilders often discard them, or move the washer into a wrong position, rendering it useless. It should be set so that the shaft has some upward play, just enough to allow motion, but not enough to allow the shaft to come out of the oil pump.

 

You likley have the dist out by one tooth. An easy way to set timing...Set the motor at 10 deg btdc. With the cap installed on the dist, Note where #1 plug wire is on the dist cap, and with a pencil mark it on the dist housing...Remove the dist cap, and Re install the dist in the motor. When its in the right tooth on the cam, the rotor will point at the mark you made on the dist housing. In order to get the dist to drop down on to the oil pump shaft, you may need to turn the motor over by hand (easier with all the plugs out)...Then make sure you turn the motor back to 10 deg btdc.

Once you have the dist installed lightly tighten the hold down clamp, and re install the cap. Put a spark plug in the #1 plug wire and set it on a suitable ground (bare metal). Then turn the key to the on position,and rotate the dist, counter clockwise as far as it will go. If its a points dist, just slowly turn the dist clockwise and watch the attached plug. When it fires, you have static timed it to 10 deg btdc...If its electronic It still works, but you need to turn the dist quite quickly to get the same result.....Then check with a timing light...Can save a lot of backfiring and carb fires

I havent seen a balancer without timing marks, but with a little rust, or too many coats of paint, they can sometimes be very hard to see......