Reply to "Quit Running"

JeffS,

Just a note:

Before you remove your distributor, take the cap off and mark on the dist body where the rotor lines up to. Make another mark at the base of the dist and the engine block. Make sure the the bottom mark starts on the dist and continues right onto the block.

If your roll pin is intact, and the shaft did not spin, then the top mark will insure that you line the rotor back up with the cam and the engine will stay timed. The bottom mark will insure that your actual timing setting will remain the same.

If your roll pin did shear and the shaft did spin, the the bottom mark will still hold your timing setting, but you'll have to get your #1 piston back up to top-dead-center on the compression stroke (both valves closed), and drop the dist back in lining up the rotor with the #1 spark plug terminal on the cap. (You can start your timing with the bottom mark, but I'd chuck a light on it just to verify and/or adjust the timing.)

At this point if you were to mark the exact position of the rotor as it lines up to the #1 cylinder on the dist body (erase the old mark), you could tell if the roll pin had sheared again just by bringing the #1 piston up to top-dead-center on the compression stroke. If the marks don't line up, or are significantly off, you know that the pin sheared. Just keep in mind if you've adjusted the timing after making the mark to compensate for that amount of twist, or make a new mark.

Michael