Are there any kind of markings I should be looking for to find out witch year my motor might have come out of. I was looking at it in my book and the timing pulley does not look the same as the book and it had no timing marks on it what so ever. So now I can not even check the timing with out them. Any ideas. I am getting frustrated because the book is not much help when the motor and carb are not of the same year. Again any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

No marks. These are wonderfully and maddeningly interchangable.

Your pulley system sounds like a car setup. Generally it sounds like somebody swapped in a good block and bolted on an assortment of best parts from both the original and the donor.

If you run your finger aroung the outside shoulder of the crank pulley where the pointer is located you should feel a small bump. That is your timing indicator. Line that up with the pointer and you are where you want to be - either that or 360 deg's off. Keep in mind the crank comes past that point twice in the 4 cycles of the cylinder.

You can also find it by removing the intake and watching to see when both valves are closed on #1 cylinder (passenger side front) then check to see if your distributor is close to the #1 terminal.

 

I did see the small bump and just thought it was nothing because looked like a spark weld or something like that. Thank you very much for the info. So now another question, will the six volt system be strong enough for the timing light?

 

It's hard to say. Some will work on 6 volts and some won't. You can try it and find out. If 6 volts isn't enough, it won't damage your light. It just won't work. You could always do what I do and cheat it. I hook my 12 volt battery charger up to the power leads on the timing light when I'm working on one of the 6 volt vehicles. Works great!

 

Cool thanks for the tip.

 

If you have one of the cheap old timing lights that hooks up in series with #1 spark plug, they work on any voltage.

Just to clarify, the bump on the pulley is not TDC, it is where you want the timing to be with vac disconnected at idle. Lots of folks mistake it for TDC and advance from there.

 

If that's the case, Ross, how do you install the distributor without knowing where TDC is?

 

The dimple is 4 deg BTDC. Line 'em up, install the dist so the rotor points toward #1 (just in front of it) and it should run well enough to make final adjustments.

To make sure you're not 180 deg off, open the valve chest to make sure both valves are closed. Or, remove the #1 plug and block the hole with your finger, turn the engine over until the compression pops your finger off the hole. Then you know you're on top and the bump should be close to the pointer.

 

That's the thing I didn't know, and is a handy piece of information. Thanks.

It took 'til 9 pm tonight, but we really do learn something new everyday. ;-)

 

Thank you all. Now I can move forward with the info and tips. You all rock!