Ok, I borrowed a tack/dwell and a timing light and was going to dial this old girl in but when I went to do so I had a hard time with the timing marks. At first I thought there were none but then I notices very faint markings. The markings start with what appears to be a C on the left followed by 16 small marks to the left. This is on a '58 f100 292 and the pointer is there and in the proper location. Has anybody seen this before and if so can you help me figure it out.
Thanks
Cbass

 

Sure, this should be fairly easy.

The lines may be faint because there is 30 coats of paint on the balance.

I might be tempted to take a scraper or wire brush to the side of th ebalance and get the paint off of it, then use a utility knife to get the paint out of the lines.

I would venture to say that the center of all the lines is where Top Dead Center (TDC) is. Perhaps your balance is just marked with a "C" for center.

But at both ends of th elines you should be able to find BDC and ADC for Before Dead Center and After Dead Center.

But here's how to check. Remove your #1 spark plug. Put your thumb over the spark plug hole and turn the balance in the engine rotaing direction until you feel compression on your thumb. Then and drop a 1/4 inch dowel at least 2 feet long down in the spark plug hole. Turn the balance with a socket and breraker bar until the dowel starts to move up then turn slowly and watch for the dowel to stop. When it does, you are at Top Dead Center, and the center of the lines on the balance should be aligned with the marker. Cahnces are good that each line represents an offset of 1 degree. So, if you need to time to 5 degrees before top dead center, mark the 5th line AHEAD of the marker in direction of travel with a THIN line of white paint. That should be what you want to time to.

But now that I've told you that, I'll tell you to forget it.

Time your truck with a vacuum gauge to the proceedure I outline in this link:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...e-trouble.html

It will be much more accurate, once you get the timing set with the vacuum gauge, paint a line on the balance over the correct scribed line for quick timing next time with the timing light time time.

If I've confused you write back and let me know.

 

Ok Julie and everybody esle, at risk of sounding dumb do I have to do anything to the distributer to get it to turn because mine doesnt seem to want to turn and I have to lean over the hot engine to do this and I dont really want to burn myself?
Thanks
Cbass

 

did ya loosen the bolt

 

no I didnt, but I did figure it out with googles help. My new problem is that when I tried to do what julie said I could not advance the distributor because the vacuum canister was hitting the block. The second I turn it in the other direction it loses vacuum and starts to die. How do I continue to advance the distributor past this point?
Thanks
Cbass

 

my guess is if you cant turn it its a tooth off. ck tdc like Julie said and pull the cap and see were your rotor is. i would try and get it to line up in the middle of were you can move the distributor evenly both directions.

 

Well, it could actually be one (or two) tooth off in it's installation, OR who ever set it up decided to bump around each plug wire to get the distributor in a better position for timing - and you can't do that. It's also very possible that the thing is 180 degrees out. It's tough not being there to see it.

Yep, I'd start with static timing as I described and you may have to pull the distributor out and reposition it to get it to turn correctly. BUT if you do that write to us first because there are some pretty important do's and dont's yo uneed to know about before yo upull out a distributor.

 

Julies I had some big problems that you can read about in my thread good to bad, fast. Please take a look at that thread an let me know what you think.
Thanks
Cbass

 

Hokey Dokey!