When you say you felt for number 1 TDC, do you mean you felt for compression with your thumb over the hole? YES, manually cranked and found 1 with my thumb over number one plug.
good blurb to read, this is when i did my 1929 : https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/281335/ getting the distributor set right and fully seated with cylinder 1 at top dead center under compression is key to timing.
AACA - VCCA - Stovebolt - ChevyTalk Love the Antique Chevrolet's from 1928-1932 The Beauty, Simplicity, History, and the Stories they Tell
It suddenly occurred to me last night as I was falling asleep that I posted something really ambiguous (or down right wrong) above.
When I said it's easy to be 180 degrees out when installing and timing the distributor... that's 180 degrees of the DISTRIBUTOR, which is of course 1 full turn or 360 degrees of the CRANKSHAFT.
Sorry if that caused any confusion, and hope you got it started!
Finally got the car back running this evening. I retimed the distributor by watching valves and watching where the rotor was pointing when 1 was ready to fire, both valves closed and compression stroke. While idling and putting a timing light on the flywheel the timing was jumping around. Can someone verify that my distributor is seated properly? Good news I got oil pressure when running. Thinking maybe the screw spring may not be tight enough? I did add a thrust washer per instructions on replacing pump but did not have one when I took the old pump out. I plan on tackling this timing jumping but didn’t have time tonight.
are you using a 6v timing light ? and solid source of power, as well as have the pick up close to the spark plug and facing the correct direction. I know the one i have is 6v and if it the pick up gets close to another plug wire it will pick that one up as well and make the light/mark JUMP around.
I pull plug wire for plug 1 out of hte loops, and ten put my pickup a few inches form plug 1, then use some string or zip ties to hold the pick and wire out and away from the rest of the wires. i pull the wire up and over the radiator support bars and tie them near the radiator. keep them from moving. I have also at times used my 12v mower battery for power on the timing light for a clear sharp light. and can run a ground from car frame to mower battery if needed.
AACA - VCCA - Stovebolt - ChevyTalk Love the Antique Chevrolet's from 1928-1932 The Beauty, Simplicity, History, and the Stories they Tell
Bearsfan that was it, I needed to make sure the clip was on correctly and not near the 2 wire. Looking back at my video it wasn’t in the correct position.
Oil pressure was at 12 once car was warmed up just above normal on the gauge.
