VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1930 4dr Sedan - Advancing the timing

Trying to advance the timing on my 30 sedan and I'm getting nowhere fast.

I have rotated the crank till the UC ( or 00) symbol shows up at the pointer in the window.
Then make sure the rotor is pointing at almost 6 o'clock almost aligned with the distributor tag screw, and the engine starts, runs a little rough but when I give it some gas it stumbles and will die unless I release the accelerator and then it will idle.

When I check the timing it's firing way before UC, retarded maybe 6 or 8 degrees... I put some marks on the flywheel as the UC starts to disappear out of the window and its firing in that neighborhood... When I try to advance the distributor I end up with the grease cap hard against the block..... What am I doing/ not doing ? Seems to me this is so simple, just follow the directions from some recent posts on timing and I should be set, steel balls and rubber mallets and one car funerals come to mind... help !

Move the distributor one tooth so the grease cup is away from the block. The retime the same as before. Advance timing at slow idle to fastest and smoothest. That will be close to the optimum. Later tweeking might make it run better.

I tried moving it one tooth, apparently failed there because I ended up with the grease cap back against the block till it would start... Will try again tomorrow, any tips, secrets, to getting it one tooth ?

remember that when you pull the distributor up the shaft/ rotor will spin some. the easiest way that i found was to remove the distributor cap, mark with a sharpie where it sits, then slowly pull up the distributor and NOTE which way it turns as you lift. do not have to take it all the way out. mark point two. then twist it slightly in the direct you need to advance, slowly drop it back it and watch as you drop it in, and note where it sits vs where it was originally, mark 1. only problem is that the slot in the shaft at the end of the distributor has to line up with the shaft at the end of the oil pump, so you will also have to turn the oil pump shaft the correct amount to line them up. i did this from the top, with my priming tool. it took a few tries turning the oil pump shaft to get it to align with the distributor shaft with it being one tooth off.

Time and patience :)

Need to rotate the oil pump shaft the same as one tooth. Or crank the engine slowly until the distributor fully drops into place.

With a hand crank I would recommend.

Thanks to all, I'll give this a try today.

Or put it in high gear and rock the car a bit.

Ted, thanks for the insight, did NOT even think of turning the engine via hand crank, duh!!

set the distributor in and dropped as far as it will go, then SLOWLY turn engine till it drops. figure Distributor should turn once per revolution of the hand crank. giving you 2 chances in aligning the slot and oil pump

And, make sure that you don't get the distributor 180 degrees out.

Fist off what condition are you trying to correct? Just the stumble and dying or pinging, hard starting, dieseling when shut down?

Andd.... was the car running properly and the problem developed all at once or did it develop slowly? Have you reconned the engine and this is the first run?

I'd go back to the beginning, install the distributor so it is oriented correctly. If some one has moved the distributor and re wired the cap set everything back to their stock positions. Reset the timing per the manual.

From your post(s) it appears you have set the timing static and verified the centrifugal advance is working using a timing light. Once everything is set start the engine and let it idle. spray some starting fluid into the carb as you increase the idle slowly. A couple of brief shots. Be careful of a back fire.If it transitions the problem is likely in the carb circuits, most likely the accelerator pump. THe stumble usually, operant word usually,wouldn't, be caused by the timing advanced too far.

It's the approach I would take if the problem you described developed in my carburetted cars.Consider the above suggestions, not dogma. There a lot of members who know a lot more about these cars than I do and will help you solve the problem.

Tony

Thanks to all for the suggestions, finally got it into the U/C to 18 degree range but it would wander back and forth. It was time to just walk away. I will try again this weekend and hope to have a positive report.

If your timing is going up and down, check your distributor.

JY Dog, what could be the cause (Distributor) that would make it bounce/ jump around ?? what could be done to correct/ fix the issue as well.

Just asking because i have seen this issue on another 1929-30 that i was looking at. timing was bouncing around.

If the distributor shaft is loose and moves around the timing will be effected.

Bent distributor shaft; distributor not seated correctly into the engine block; or the distributor manual advance arm moving back and forth with the motion of the distributor because the spark cable and/or the manual advance arm tension screw and spring are too loose.