I shipped my damper to Damper Doc yesterday. The timing mark had not shifted, but the rubber was old and brittle. Another damper which I had planned on using because it looked so good, did have the mark shifted after checking it with TDC.

 

Matt, Have to ask what type transmission are you running? If it is automatic are you blaming the engine for what could well be a torque convertor problem? A bad sprag or roller clutch on the stator of the convertor takes the torque multiplication out of the unit and makes for poor take off. the other thing is if it is a two speed auto (Fordomatic) the only way you get low gear on take off is to pull it into low manually.
kotzy

 

my 56 292 or 312 has a dampener that reads from 0-30 which doesnt jive with my 56 shop manual many because its not a 272. but what could it be?

 

It sounds like the same damper I have with shifted mark, which also reads 0-30. It came off a 62-64 pickup.

 

My damper also has 0-30 and the front motor mount is definitely not from my model year of 1958. So it looks like the previous owner swapped out the engine and front crossmember from a 62-64 truck. My damper shifted so that the timing light from the #1 cylinder flashes about 30 degree AFTER the TDC mark. But again, this motor is now running great, so I'm not going to mess around with now.

 

No I've got a 3spd standard. But I found the problem I was having recently. Here's the post I made explaining what I found:

Okay, I just went through a pretty big revelation. My 292 had only been running on 6 cylinders ever since I got it started (about half a year ago). After I discovered the problem yesterday, and realized what I had to do to set everything straight, I got it pumping gas on all 8 pistons today.

Let me explain.

A very very long story made short: Spark plug wires #1 and #4 were reversed on the distributor cap, therefore it wasn't igniting the gas anywhere near the appropriate time. This also explained why I couldn't time the ignition off of cylinder #1, because the rotor wasn't anywhere close to where it should be, screwing up everything. I got so frustrated because I could never figure it out.

I finally realized the problem after I sat back, and decided to start from the very beginning. "Okay" I said to myself, "let's start with the firing order." Sure enough, my firing order was 1-8-6-3-7-2-4-5 while the manual (and everybody I've ever met) said it was supposed to be 1-5-4-8-6-3-7-2. I then decided to be absolutely sure that my order was messed up by checking the location of each piston every quarter of a turn of the crankshaft beginning with TDC on #1. I confirmed that it was correct, and that I wasn't imagining things (as it was getting pretty late). I swapped #1 wire with #4, turned the key, and after properly timing the ignition and tuning up the carb, I was off to the road for testing.

All I can say is HELL YEAH! The truck is a LOT more "punchy" and accelerates a hell of a ton faster. I was shocked at how much of a difference 2 cylinders made. Now they were being dragged along by the engine, but were instead contributing to cranking over that crankshaft. The engine sounded loads better, and I had ZERO issues with backfiring or popping/clicking through the carb. The truck can really bolt off the line now, and it is also quite a noticable bit faster, as compared to previously, where the engine (with the help of a LOT of gas) could barely get the truck rolling.

Goes to show how much engine maintenance and understanding can really pay off. Two cylinders really makes the difference.

Let me just say that I am one happy camper right now. The truck starts quicker, idles smoother, revs faster, and doesn't make any problem noises!