Distributor TDC

Well I got the block painted this weekend as well as some misc parts cleaned and painted. I must say that it looks awesome. I will definitely post some pictures of the progress. Now I am at the point to put the distributor in. I have turned the engine several times as well as the distributor. I understand that the no.1 cylinder has to be at TDC. I have the 258 - Which cylinder is this? Also, pretty much, how do I put the distributor in correctly?

Matt.

 

1-5-3-6-2-4 on the rotor. #1 is the front cylinder closest to the grille.

Does matter which post is #1 on the rotor, just put them in order after that. Then play with the timing back and forth to dial it in.

 

Remember that the crank turns twice for each turn of the distributor - the number one cylinder should be on the compression stroke when the rotor is pointing toward its wire.

 

^^^ That too. Took 2 days and this board to figure out the compression stroke TDC.

 

here are the pictures....
(The last picture isn't a Jeep, it's a beer chicken. It was just that good.)

 

Don't know if this will help but it's how I install dist. on my chevy v8's.

When piston #1 is at TDC the line mark on your harmonic balancer will be/should be at the 0 (zero) mark on the tab(or very close) above the harmonic balancer. This will happen at two different points during a rotation:at the compression stroke and non compression stroke. How do you find this you ask?!?! One method I use is to take a cotton ball and put it in the #1 cylinder and turn the crank with a pull handle ( remember to start with the line on the balancer close to zero on the tab, preferrably before zero)with the appropriate socket on the crank bolt. When #1 comes up to the top of the cylinder if it is the compression stroke it will blow the cotton ball out. Once you've found #1 at TDC on the compression stroke install the distributor with the rotor button pointing physically at the #1 piston. This will get you very close to firing (assuming you have the spark plugs wired correctly)and from there it is just a matter of fine tuning the timing by moving the distributor until it runs smoothly or set it at what the FSM recommends. If you done all this and it backfires the the distributor is 180 degrees out, just pull it out a litttle and spin it 180 reinstall and you should be good to go.

 

Everyone else got you covered on the timing, so... That beer chicken looks YUMMMMMY! Makes me want to throw one on the grill myself!R)
Oh, OK... The motor looks great! Your gonna love it when you get 'er installed and fired up. Keep us posted with pics on your progress.