timing and distributor

[907itr]

Does the distributor end and the camshaft end have to match to be installed correctly?
#1
My old distributor went dead and i took it out but i forgot to mark the distributor end.

i notice the distributor end has a line mark on one side, which i can turn and spin around. the camshaft end does not have line mark, so i dont know which way it to turn it to.


#2
also before my old distributor went out, i tried timing the car, and the red mark is not stable. it keeps on moving back and forth. what could be the problem? makes it very hard to set timing.

#3
i have a digital timing gun where i can set the number to 16.
when setting the gun at 16 degree, do i go by the white line?
and when setting the gun to 0 degree, do i go by the red middle mark?



ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

[Splitime]

Does the distributor end and the camshaft end have to match to be installed correctly?
#1
My old distributor went dead and i took it out but i forgot to mark the distributor end.

i notice the distributor end has a line mark on one side, which i can turn and spin around. the camshaft end does not have line mark, so i dont know which way it to turn it to.


#2
also before my old distributor went out, i tried timing the car, and the red mark is not stable. it keeps on moving back and forth. what could be the problem? makes it very hard to set timing.

#3
i have a digital timing gun where i can set the number to 16.
when setting the gun at 16 degree, do i go by the white line?
and when setting the gun to 0 degree, do i go by the red middle mark?



ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

#1. You should set the motor to TDC (white line) and then align the lines on the Distributor and install it. Thats basically 'indexing' the dizzy and allowing it to fit nicely... and also not 180degree's off. (trick for doing real TDC with valve cover and cam cover on.... pull sparkplug 1 and put long extension in it... Proper TDC is when its at its highest.)

#2. Could be your timing gun... the mark does wiggle some.... but shouldn't do enough to cause issues. Try another timing gun maybe.

#3. when the gun is at 16... use the White TDC mark by itself... you are basically dialing. When it is at 0, its default and the white TDC mark gets ignored and the 3 lines become usefull, (front of car)18/16/14(firewall) respectively.

That info should be on target...
thank bbasso for sending my lazy ass over here... unless the info is wrong... then u can blame him.

[Bbasso]

Thanks for posting the info, I was thinking the same but did not want to mis-lead anyone.

[Dave_B]

Good info for all.

[norway]

why should the engine be in TDC when installing a new dizzy?
the dizzy can only be installed in one way (the correct way ) since the tabs on the mounting "spline" is offset so ic cant be installed 180 degree`s off.