anyone have any idea where the timing marks on a 92 3.o aerostar are ????

 

About 10 o'clock position looking aft. It looks like the Space Needle and very well hidden by all the hoses on top, impossible to see and totally useless.

 

thanks not sure what i need to do then .. had the dizzy out of the engine. while done head gaskets. and the motor got turned .trying to figure out an easy way to get the timeing right .. to much of a pain to get the #1 plug out .. is turning over and getting spark at the plugs just will not start

 

Did you remove the distributor when you did the head?

 

yes it was removed

 

If you over hauled the engine go buy a degree wheel, Your engine will run 5 times better and you cam and crank will be dead on for the timing.

The mark on most factory tabs and balancer are not perfect.

I don't even use a timing light anymore and it's a $300.00 Snap-On.

 

Tell me more about this degree wheel thing. Where to get, where to install. etc. Sounds like something that would help me out. Would it be the same for my '92 and '94 vans?

 

Muffinman my friend, what's a "degree wheel," and how does it work? I have to say, I'm a tightwad, but a sucker for gadgets

 

I used to get crank pulleys for VW motors with the Degree scale painted on. They were easier to read, but stock pulleys had a V @ TDC and another notch at the place the timing was actually set for. I think if I could find the mark on my van's pulley, I could read the timing fairly easily.

 

Degree wheels bolt to the balancer and the other to the cam shaft. You can set the cam and crank to the valve lift's profile and Distibutor or crank sensors, Which ever applys.

I also use a dial gauge that measures total lift of push rods on the intake and exhaust. it can measure at the lifter or the valve push rod, I measure at the lifter.

This $50.00 tool I bought 25 years ago is a must have for performance. I used to find cams "Mark with same lift and profile" and only one out of three was right.


I put away my timing light aftre I bought one.

Here is a link with the whole kit http://store.wpsracing.com/comcamcamdeg.html
Here is one showing how its done http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/51124/


P.S. Once you set up everything have the balancer remarked with a tape strip that wraps around the balancer with the true marks.

 

That notch can be as much as 6 Degrees off either way. That is alot of differance. The tooling at the end of a run makes all those some what suspect.

 

That thing is 136 dollars, Muffinman! And you must know by now how cheap I am But of course, I'll sleep on it a couple of nights before I buy it.

Thanks.

 

Look on Ebay they are everywhere, But I think mine was around that price because I had the Dail gauge already, So $50.00 plus a dial gauge is pretty close.

I used it to check lash and runout for Rearends, Rotors, Pistons and Gears.

You guys are lucky they come with videos now. I had to learn from trial and error till I ran into a real engine builder that made Cosworth engines for Indy Cars. That had me coming by twice a week with more questions. He even asked if I wanted a job.

These guys had more knowledge then my Brain could handle

 

Hi Tom:

Sorry about the digression. I didn't know you are only trying to use the timing pointer to align your distributor. If you move out of the way some of the stuff such as heater hose and upper radiator hose, you can look down from the top and find that pointer on the engine block.

You might have marked the distributor at the base before you removed it. If you did, it will make the job easier. If you didn't, look for an existing mark from the factory. Those are there (at least on my van), but they might be hard to see.

At any rate, align the pointer with 0 degree on the damper. You have only a 50% chance of success since half of the time the piston will be TDC on the compression stroke and half of the time on the exhaust stroke. Then put the distributor in so that the mark at the base lines up with the mark on the block, and the rotor points to number one cylinder. That number 1 wire is clearly marked on the distributor cap and I believe it's the rearmost one. The rest of the wire just go clockwise in the following order 1-4-2-5-3-6 (this is from memory so check your manual).

That should get you close enough to 10 degree BTDC to fire up the engine. If it doesn't fire up, that means you lost the 50% bet, and you have to line up the 0 degree mark on the damper again while observing the rotor, without touching anything yet. Make sure the rotor points 180 degrees away from the #1 position now. Then remove the distributor and reinstall it with the rotor pointing to # 1 again.

All this could be avoided if you remove the # 1 spark plug and ask someone to put a thum in the hole to make sure the piston is on the compression stroke when you turn the crankshaft. Then you know for sure the TDC corresponds to the compression stroke.

Good luck.