timing Q...

[magnethead]

Ok, am I seeing things, or is my engine running 180 degrees out on timing? Just a forewarn, the images are big...The engine happened to stop at 6 degrees after TDC...the yellow dot on the dizzy base is #1 cylinder when cap is on.

I hooked the timing light up, and it was VERY erratic...I could see the line but it bounced between off the chart BTDC and off the chart ATDC..and pretty much every place in between.

I unhooked the vacuum advance and tried again, and i never saw the mark, at all. And I tried the shut the motor off with the vacuum advance off, and it kept running...it all but never tried to shut off..it wasn't the dieseling pinging like i have when it's warm with the advance connected, but a mellower (but still shakey) continuous run, as if the ignition was still on but with a misfire (it ran for 10 seconds before i clicked the ignition back on, no backfire, and used the P/S pump to kill the motor). What the...?

The plugs are 45 degrees apart on the cap...It looks about like the rotor is 135 degrees from the #1 plug. I can't think of any mathematical way that it could possibly be running the way it looks like it is?

*ok, my internet won't let me upload pics right now....so post if you can provide input until i get pics up*