Jumping teeth is pretty unheard of in y blocks, Chucks suggestion is closer to the mark, either work out TDC with plug removed and mark on edge of belt pulley and time it by ear or the new marks. Book timing is for new to engines in good condition and does not apply exactley with all the worn components running together. Why not bypass governer operation if possible. Just my view.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

There is a good chance that the damper has slipped. Especialy if it was gunked up. Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Well, I took some carb cleaner and scrubbed the harmonic balancer. Low and behold I actually found the timing marks buried under paint and gunk. tried to set at 4 to 6 degrees  as the manual says to but it run rough and back fires. I had to set it at 15 degrees and about 2300 rpm just to get it to run half way decent. I am thinking I may have jumped a tooth or two on the timing chain. that would explain why it suddenly started running very poorly. What do you guys think?

Good evening,

I have installed new plug wires. It still did not want to run . So, I move on to resetting timing. It's been about thirty years since I timed an engine by ear. I got it to run much better. But as soon as i hook the vacuum line back to the governor on the carb it starts to run rough and has slow throttle response. Could it be the vacuum advance failing?

Thanks again for the input. I will re-set the timing once my new plug wires come in. Had the wrong ones shipped to me. I have been reading in my shop manual about the vacuum governor on this 4 barrel carb. it may  be giving me some of the problem. The throttle operation feels odd. As far as the age of the gas its a daily driver so If I remember right I gased up last week  after pulling a load of wood down from the beartooth mountains. So now I wait for parts.

Thanks guys.

James

I think the guys are right about the change in timing due to the change in coil firing position between the points and the Pertronix spark module. It sure doesn't "have to be " the same firing point ..........use a 10° initial setting (vacuum line disconnected and plugged) and see how that goes.

This diagram below shows the location of the "starting jumper" that Ford and others used for many years. It provides direct battery power to the coil (+) terminal when the starter solenoid is engaged. You just don't want (or need) the ballast resistance in the ignition feed. So long as the coil has 1.5 OHMs in the primary it will lower the AMPs enough for the Pertronix module.

The (-) post goes back to the Pertronix module.

How old is the gas in your outfit - we've all been suffering lately from letting our toys sit with "modern" junk gas in them.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

I'm with Bill. I had to reset my timing after I installed the Pertronix II in my car. The unit sits in roughly the same place as the points but only good enough to start it. It needed timing after that.

BTW my system had the resistor removed before I bought the car it runs full battery voltage to the coil via the ignition. a Bosch GT40 transistor coil. 

Cheers

Warren  

Grizzly (Aussie Mainline)

Sounds retarded to me, advance distributor till engine revs increase slightly, retard dist till engine starts to die then set at middle rpm range, then see if it behaves itself.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

You didnt by some chance change the spark plug wires around and mess up the firing order or move the distributor changing the timing?

  

Well, I got it to fire. engine starts. I think that now I have a carb problem. i am getting fuel when I manually operate the throttle(looking down the throat). But if i give it any throttle when it is running it stumbles and backfires thru carb. It is a manual choke so I know its not the chock. The throttle feels spongy.