Timing and ignition

Hi,

I'm trying to time my engine (1.8 8v) it has a kent cam fitted but the revs seem to be pretty high and it back fires even on tick over.

I've lined the groove on the flywheel to the point on the bell housing screw threads using my timing light on no.1 ht lead. Is this the correct way of timing the engine???

Also, it feels and sounds like there is a miss fire/ not firing on all 4. The exhaust gases splutter out and when i excellerate it doesnt seem to be very responsive and it's rather slow. It sounds like a v6 or something. I've fitted another new coil pack, new dizzy cap and rotor and new plugs. any ideas? the firing order is set to 1342?

(Got TDC on cyl 1, checked where the rotor arm was on the dizzy and went clock wise on each ht point on the dizzy cap with ht lead 1,3,4 and 2.???)

Cheers for your time.

Do a static check first - check the cam timing sprocket against the top of the cylinder head (inside dot on cam wheel) against TDC on No1. Look at the crankshaft notch and make sure it correctly lines up with the 10degree pointer on the lower cover. Remove the dist cap andcheck that the rotor is pointing towards No1 plug lead. Depending on what profile your cam has may make the engine tick-over faster in order to obtain a smoother idle.

Just advance the engine until it starts to pink under heavy acceleration then back it off until it stops and a little more for safety ;-) It is unlikely the book advance settings are correct for your engine as you have a different cam, sounds like it is too far retarded, do the exhaust headers seem to get exceptionally hot under running as that is a sign of not enough advance, also check that the dizzy advance pipe is connected to the throttle body and not the vacuum hoses by the servo take off.

hi, I've checked the timing again. Here's what i found.

Crank pulley has a groove on the top and is lined with the other pulleys dot, the cam (vernier pulley) is alined with the rocker cover bolt, flywheel marker is lined with the point on the bell housing thread and the dizzy rotor arm is on ign cy 1. I'm at a loss now. i put the timing light on the fly and the marker is lined with the point on the bell housing thread.

I'm checked the vacume hose and that is on the tb.

Cheers guys,

i'm going to try another dizzy and some new ht leads but i dont think this is the fault as it has a really good spark..

sounds like timing is at 0 degrees by the way you describe it, just advance it a few degrees and see if it helps!!!!

So how do I do that? Do I just turn the dizzy till the revs pic up slightly? It seems to tick over pretty high anyway even with the high lift cam.

Dizzy on Cyl 1 lead


Cam aligned to head


Crank to TDC and aligned to oil pulley


Throttle body tickover screw is all the way in, and when the engine is running the mark on the flywheel is set to the arrow on the bell housing thread.

Does anyone know where i'm going wrong because i'm lost now, It ticks over far too high especially with the Kent cam.

There are no air leaks and the idle air controle valve is fine.

Do you think it could be the fueling as it runs like a dog when you drive it?

What size allen key do i need toadjust the mixture?

Thanks again

that pic / position of the dizzy looks  to be wrong to me , take your dizzy cap and rotor arm  off and  remove the dust cover , you should see a line in the  edge of the dizzy , put your rotor arm so that the connecter on the arm (moving clockwise ) is just moving into line with it … that should then be taken as number 1 ….then re ccheck all the other marks are linedup ….that should be staticly set up , then when it runs rotate the dizzy either anti clockwise or clockwise to suit …

Hi matey, thanks for your help,

The pic i have up of the dizzy has no dust cover. If you click on the picture then click on it again it should zoom in. If you wouldnt mind having a quick look and describing to me where the line is i'll go and do it now. thanks again

Is that it just under a 1/4 turn anti-clockswise?

Yes, thats the mark. If the crank is dead on TDC and the cam wheel mark is level with the top of the head, the centre of the brass section of the rotor arm should be roughly central with that mark, the lead for No1 should be there aswell. You may have to loosen the belt and rotate the intermediate shaft to get it to line up. Is the rotor arm located on the shaft correctly?

Ok, so I need to crank cyl 1 at tdc, cam lined to the rocker cover bolt and the centre of the brass section of the rotor arm on the line of the dizzy? Ok, I'll o and do this again and let you know what happens. Hopefully were getting somewhere cheers

how did you get on ?     been out all day , sorry for late reply ……

Something else, when you line up your TDC the lobes on the cam at No1 should both be looking up at about the same angle.

Hiya, I'm going to do this tomorrow after work, I did what you said and it did drop the revs but I don't think the rotor arm was in the centre of the line, I'll do it again tomorrow and take some pics to show you all what I've done, I'll try and add a video too!!
Thanks

Hi all, this is the update.

I've set the cam (note there is a retard and advance marker on the pulley, could this help with the idle?)



Then i undid the belt, tool the dizzy out and re-lined the pulleys with Cyl 1 at TDC



I repositioned the rotor arm on the dizzy and refitted it.



I stuck the cam belt back on and re-jiggled the firing order 1,3,4,2 (clock wise) cyl 1 being the top left lead on the dizzy cap.



I then stuck the timing light on the flywheel when the engine was running and adjusted it till the mark (painted in white) was in line with the mark on the bell housing



It does sound like it idles better but the revs seem to be pretty high and i believe there is a missfire? see what you think of the video…

http://yfrog.us/j3img0716z
http://yfrog.us/j9img0715z

Shared with ImageShack http://stream.imageshack.us/redir.php?sl=img687/2360/img0716.mp4

The exhaust splutters as though there is a missfire, i did notice i was getting a little bit of a shock when i touched the engine or one of the oil pipes (metal covered ones). Only a very slight shock to my arm!!

Just had a thought….. is there a rubber gasket that goes between the engine block and the dizzy? maybe it is loosing a bit of voltage throught the dizzy?  maybe i'm being daft!

Have you checked the valve clearances with the new cam ? If anyone's messed around with the throttle valve that can upset your idle, slacken the butterfly stop screw, there's usually a bit of yellow paint on it, put a piece of paper in the gap and do up the screw until the paper is just grabbed, take the paper out and wind the screw in a further half turn, tighten the locknut.