which is the # 1 cylinder?
 

sorry for the silly question. i remember on my buick 350 the #1 cylinder was on the driver side closest to the radiator. my truck doesnt have any numbers on the manifold, plug wires or distributor.

its a 72 with a 350. also do i have to disconnect the vacuum when i set the timing?

#1 on a 350 is the drivers front.
And yes you have to disconnect the vacuum line going to the distributor AND PLUG IT.

Drivers--------Passenger
#1.............#2
#3.............#4
#5.............#6
#7.............#8


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Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada

1970 Chevy C20 Custom Camper
#s matching 402BB Turbo 400 trans.
Air conditioning, power steering, manual brakes.
73,600 Original Miles!!



[This message has been edited by REPO1 (edited March 27, 2002).]

Front ,drivers side....69 longhorn

the number one cylinder is on the driver side closest to the radiator

ok when i hooked up the timing light to that cylinder and flashed the little points on the balance no mark showed up. i turned off the truck and found the groove in the balancer.

so what gives? the marks completely not lined up with the little timing points. it seems to run pretty good so its not like it could be off that much. how do i go about finding out where the mark should be?

should i just set the 1 cyl to top dead center then make a mark on the balancer to point at 0 or top dead center

is your mark on the balancer white if not try using white-out on it and it will show up when you shine the light on it.

No do not remark it. Take the distributer loose and crank the engine and set it to about 6 degree's are 8 before top dead center. That should put you in the ball park. If you have a tach, you will want it to be around 6000, or 7000 with straight drive. If you have a automatic and air it should be around 8000, so when you turn the air on, it want die. You may have to reajust your idle speed to do this. Hope this helps. Andy

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Andy
71's Are for ever!!! or 67,68,69,70,72 http://geocities.com/chevy71tpi/main.html

always remember #1 is the head sitting farthest foward on the block

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70 short step from vegas woo hoo !!!Ken Lyons Slippery Rock PA yahoo messenger:mooneyes4b "things always look different from higher up" Clint Eastwood (fist full of dollars)

Take a zero off of andy's numbers up there... don't wanna put a window in your block. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/board/ubbhtml/wink.gif

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'69 G.M.C. 350/350. Trying to clean up the left over damage from the Dope-Smokin-Old-Man
I've been dubbed the Longhorn Freak/Fanatic/Expert, I just hope I can live up to it.
Need to pick up the one ton Longhorn with a PONTIAC 350/350soon.
Thanks every one!:)
Check out The Longhorn Webite.
If you need a pic posted, E-mail me at longhornmail@yahoo.com
Andy, in Columbus Ohio

You will not see the timing mark if you haven't disconnected the vacuum.It will be advanced too much.Marking the groove on the balancer with white is the only way this old fart can see the mark anymore.I got a great timing light with a dial back feature that lets me see how much advance I have at any given engine speed.(God Bless Great Wives.)

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Deland does Chevys 68Chevy panel(LIZ)
"A man and his truck,it's a beautiful thing"
"I have the body of a god,unfortunately it's Budda"

PanelDeland is right..If you buy a new timing light, get the type that has the dial on the back that allows you to adjust it to the amount of advance you want to run and set the timing to 0 on the balancer.

for example ( I run my drag car timing 43 degrees advanced. I adjust the knob on the back of my timing light to 43 so that when I have the car running and the timing light pointed at the balancer/pointer, the timing pointer is at 0 when the timing light flashes.) This way you can see the mark on the balancer when the timing light flashes..

67chevelle

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Current rides:
01 GMC 2500 SB HD CC 4x4 8.1 allison
67 Chevelle drag car
509 CI BBC,TH400
9.850 @ 134.55 mph
1970 C10 2WD PU being rebuilt
1967 El Camino 396, TH400 ( wife's drag car)
Jr. Dragster 5 hp B&S for the kids

http://community.webshots.com/user/mark67chevelle

lol, that got complicated in a hurry, i say just connect a vacuum gauge to the engine and adjust everything until have 18-22 Hg and then make sure you have no ping under load(acceleration in gear, caused by too much advance, turn distrib clockwise to fix) and no hesitation with hot restarts(caused by too much retard in timing, turn distrib counter-clockwise to fix)

good luck