Baffling Dauntless Timing

Tough crowd here.

 

He has an HEI. The engine has been determined to be a 1977. If it still has the original intake...no grinding necessary.

 

Found one in all of my junk, just happens to be in great condition, probably the one that was in there before I started this journey. lol
I'll have her in my jeep later today.

Why would you have to remove the ballast resistor?

I have several points distributors, but for now will play with the HEI.

Thanks
Jim

 

The HEI requires a full 12V power supply at all times. Use a 12-gauge feed wire.
HeiConversion (autorewire.com)

If you still have a ballast resistor in line with your coil, or HEI ignition circuit, that may be part of the running problem.

 

As I'm sure you guys have figured out, I am no mechanic, even though I like playin with this stuff. lol

We've established that it's an odd fire engine, by removing the oil pan.

I have removed the ballast resistor.

I have been reading everything I can about HEI ignitions in an oddfire v6 engine, now I'm so confused I don't have a clue what to do.

I'm reinstalling the odd fire distributor.
I pulled the plugs.
Turned the crank till I feel compression on the #1 cylinder.
Kept turning until the timing mark is on the zero on the indicator pad.

Where do I go from here?
About the only thing I'm sure about is where the #1 plug wire goes on the distributor cap.

When you look in the Haynes manual it shows the location of the #1 cylinder at the 7:30 position.
The pics on here show it at about the 10:30 position.

How do I determine exactly where the bat/tach housing should be
Once I have that, should the rotor end up pointing directly at the #1 tower when I reinstall the distributor, with my timing mark on zero?
Or will it be before, or after the tower?

If there's some trustworthy info on the net, and you guys have a recommendation, I'll quit hassling you, and read it, but half of what I read contradicts what some other guy said, so it is very confusing.

I know, go back and play in my wood shop. LOL

Jim

 

Are you re installing your point’s distributor?

If yes, then correct. Get it to TDC compression on number 1. Install your distributor with the rotor pointing appropriately 6:30. This should have your vac advance can pointing about 7:30-8 ish. Cap only goes on 1 way. Time it!

I learned on this forum to use a vacuum gauge to set timing. Since then my oddfire has run like a champ!

If you’re still talking about HEI, I don’t know. The extent of my knowledge is posted above

 

https://www.teambuick.com/reference/225_v6_engine_specs.php

Pull off the #1 side valve cover and make sure both valves are closed so its not 180* out. Follow firing order using the instructions for the HEI
http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/136836/#post-1488301
http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/81488/
http://members.toast.net/rbuchholz/heiexp.html

 

If you are sure you have the #1 cylinder at TDC on the compression stroke and the timing mark is at 0 degrees, then stab in the HEI so it looks like this. Yes the rotor needs to be under #1 position. Since yours was set up this way from the factory then you should not have to modifiy any of the bolts on the intake manifold. This position will get you close enough to get it started. Then warm up the engine, then use a timing light to dial it in. If you look closely in this picture you will see the cylinder number marks over the spark plug wire positions written with a sharpie. Sorry the camera flash kind of washed it out. There are only 2 wires going to the HEI, one is the 12 volt coil input, the other is the tach signal out.

 

This picture shows the hook on the primary side. Red is the 12 volt in, green is tach signal out.

 

Perfect, a pic is worth a lot.

 

And Partsdude
https://stores.partsdude4x4.net/buick-225-odd-fire-hei-distributor/

 

WOW, I finally got her runnin.

I decided to run every wire in my jeep from start to finish, and see if any were shorted out, there are only about a dozen so it shouldn't be that hard. lol
Lesson learned: this should have been the first thing that got done, would have been cheaper. lol

Ended up being that little plastic plug where the wires go into the distributor.
The red wire was broken right in the middle of that little plastic piece.
After I repaired the wires, she fired right up.

I've been pulling my hair out for over a year on this one, sometimes you have to slap me upside the head twice, before I get it. lol

Thanks for all the help guy's.

Jim

 

Whoohoo!