Hey Guys,we have been trying to put a tune on the motor, its running pretty good but not great-so we have been trying to fine tune the motor with no real results. But I noticed the other day that the dizzy is not moving when I rev the motor, is this normal??? I have seen other 216/235s that the dizzy twists towards advance when revving the motor, i tried to twist while not running and it will not move-is this a problem?? Also I am running the vacum for the advance off the front carb, but it seems that its not getting enough vacum to do anything, what could the problem be and is this normal?? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Little info if needed: 53 235 full pressure/probably a PG motor dual Rochesters with Fenton intake/header 3 speed 12v conversion & completely re-wired w/ Rebel Wire 9+3 kit stock points gapped and dwelled correctly car runs and idles pretty well, little hesitation on idle I am planning on switching to either HEI or Pertronix and going with a pair or Carter W-1s next year, but I am trying to get this thing ready for the Hunnert and don't want to possibly damamge what I have or hate driving the car because it's not "right"- so any help would be geatly appreciated!! Also while adjusting the 2 screws on the carb, the only real change has been with the idle, not really any change to vacum through the carbs, and the car pulls around 12 lbs ov vacum at idle!! Any great thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated, or if anybody in the Chicagoland area has a bit of time and wants to take a peek-please let me know & Thanks again!!!
Take a photo of the base of the distributor with the Vacuum servo linkage so we can see what you are dealing with. Is this a 6V system or a 12V system?
I set the timing with a vacuum gauge on my 235 set to max vacuum (about 22" on a stock motor) and retard about 2" on the gauge runs good and no popping. A vacuum gauge would help you trouble shoot other problems you might have.
I dont see a servo linkage, it just has a line going from the vacum advance to the carb, and we ran a vacum gauge and it was reading around 12 lbs at idle. I have not found any leaks from the obvious spots and since changing out to eletric wipers I might have even more vacum....but I blocked the only port and havent checked the vacum since. The car does not pop at all, so i think that the timing must be real close, but i keep thinking that with more carb and better exhaust it might need some adavnce. But I am kinda concerned about the dizzy not moving, I dont know if it needs to come out and check for rust or gunk or??? Anybody else out there experienced the same problems?? Also the dizzy I have has the octane dial and I have it all the way closed, the motor seems to like that the best, and I am running plain old 87 octane. Any suggestions would be great!!
If the dizzy is not moving, the vacuum advance is toasted. You can get a new one from any of the catalog places for around $30.
I don't think it's the vacuum advance - dimebag said: "i tried to twist while not running and it will not move-is this a problem??" That is a problem - you should be able to turn the distributor manually when the engine isn't running. Something is holding it up. I'd start checking on that first.
Depends on whether it is mounted with the proper clamp / vacuum advance linkage. Post a photo of the base of the distributor - typically there is a clamp that holds onto the distributor and attaches it to the adjustable base and then there is a bolt that goes into the block for fine adjustment that often has "octane selector" marks on it. Without a photo - too many variables to troubleshoot over the internet.
I have a 235 in my 55 Chevy and it twist to advance. Oh, does anyone know what the timing is supposed to be set at?
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