Projects 1958 timing

Hey there all
i have a 1953 chevy 210 with a 1958 235 engine, and i am trying to time this old beast but i am having no luck whats so ever so i put the little ball bearing in the peephole and looked at the piston and it was on top dead center but the valve was on the intake stroke not the compression stroke so i move the crank to TDC on the compression stroke and put the plugs to line up to the NO 1 terminal on the rotor cap need i remind you i have a HEI distributor installed, so anyways i go to crank it over and it kinda hangs a bit but then starts then dies and puffs out smoke out the carb so i retarded the timing and now it starts and runs but if you don't have your foot on the gas it will die and i have the firing order correct which is 153624 and the rotor is now kinda pointing at NO 4 terminal. could i be 180 off or what i am lost and cant figure it out, my grandpa gave me this completely stock and original car so i am trying to tackle this timing issue to get it going and moving better then ever.

 

do you have a timing light?

 

You have a timing light?? Never gonna make it without one. I say that because you obviously don't have an ear for it. May have issues other than timing being off too.

 

bring no 1 piston to tdc and check where the rotor is on cap if not on no 1 fix it put dist to no 1, forget about the little bump on flywheel. till u get it running. now another problem with these engines is the intake to block and carb base to intake were notorious for coming loos causing a vacuum leak. now then when u get it where it will idle use the timing light and line up the little bump on the fly wheel with the mark on the bell housing. hope this makes sense. this is a pretty basic engine so good luck tom

 

What direction does the rotor turn? Not questioning your mechanical abilities but, I have seen guy put the plug wires in the opposite direction by mistake. Don't remember if the Chevy 6 has a gear on the dizzy. If so it sounds like it might be about one tooth off.

 

...ON THE COMPRESSION STROKE!

BOTH valves on the #1 cylinder must be closed. Take out the #1 plug and stick your finger in the hole. When you turn the engine over you'll feel the pressure when the piston is coming up on the compression stroke.

 

QUESTION--You have a timing light?? Never gonna make it without one. I say that because you obviously don't have an ear for it. May have issues other than timing being off too.

ANSWER--yes i have a timing light, i think it may be other issues then timing but who knows i only know newer cars like 70's haha not 50's and not strait six's but im learning to keep my grandpas car alive

QUESTION--bring no 1 piston to tdc and check where the rotor is on cap if not on no 1 fix it put dist to no 1, forget about the little bump on flywheel. till u get it running. now another problem with these engines is the intake to block and carb base to intake were notorious for coming loos causing a vacuum leak. now then when u get it where it will idle use the timing light and line up the little bump on the fly wheel with the mark on the bell housing. hope this makes sense. this is a pretty basic engine so good luck tom

ANSWER--i have brought it to TDC, and the rotor is pointing at 10 o'clock if your looking at it from the side of the engine

QUESTION--What direction does the rotor turn? Not questioning your mechanical abilities but, I have seen guy put the plug wires in the opposite direction by mistake. Don't remember if the Chevy 6 has a gear on the dizzy. If so it sounds like it might be about one tooth off.

ANSWER--the rotor turns clockwise, it does have a spiln drive on the bottom and a cut to fit on the oil pump, but with the HEI they only go in one way and i have to move the cap or plugs to fine adjust it.

QUESTION--BOTH valves on the #1 cylinder must be closed. Take out the #1 plug and stick your finger in the hole. When you turn the engine over you'll feel the pressure when the piston is coming up on the compression stroke.

ANSWER--both valves were closed, NOW my question is does the piston need to be at the bottom, or at the top of the compression stroke, because TDC is pistion on top of compression stroke, and i made a plug hose so i can manually turn the engine and put the hose near my ear and hear the pressure and also blow in it so i can see if there is any escaping to the intake or exhaust

 

and i do have it pointing to number 1 terminal on the dist cap

 

Both valves closed, #1 top dead center, rotor pointing at the #1 plug wire, and the reluctor teeth just leaving the pickup teeth. Trick is to turn on the key, and put the coil wire or the #1 plug wire on an extra spark plug, make sure the threaded part of the plug is grounded. With the timing mark lined up, turn the distributor housing clockwise a little, then slowly counter clockwise. When the plug fires, stop! and clamp it in place. That should get you real close.

Then use the timing light, with the engine all together and running, and disconnect the vaccum advance. See if you can find the little ball and line it up with the arrow by twisting the distributor housing just a little bit.

 

So you are saying run power strait to the cap and rotate the cap to find plug #1 and when it hits the terminal it will spark then put the plug back into the block at TDC and that will get me close to use a timing light

 

And i cannot turn the distrbutor housing the HEI distrbutor housing only goes in one way

 

Squirrel means to fine tune the timing you must rotate the housing a little one way or the other.

 

I need to see pix of this installation, you have to be able to turn the dizzy in order to set the timing.

If it can't be turned then something way screwed up is going on.

 

Often times the flywheel is removed and reinstalled in a different position so unless you know for certain that the flywheel was installed correctly, you can't depend on that B.B. to set your timing.
That is why before I installed my flywheel, I made certain that the engine was at TDC.

 

One of the dowel holes on a 235 flywheel is offset, you can't install it wrong without some effort.