Distributor Question?

[N2FHL]

All I'm trying to do is reseal the cam carriers and covers- they are leaking.

 

I've got the timing belts off and removed everything on the right (easy) side. I'm now working on the drivers side and getting ready to pull the distributor. I notice that with the mark on the cam sprocket straight up, the rotor is pointing between the 2nd and 4th cylinder wires. I would expect it to be pointing to the #1 cylinder wire. What gives? I believe the dizzy is driven directly by the cam on this side and I haven't touched anything yet. What am I missing?

 

This car was running fine (just passed emissions) before I started this project. Most of the posts that I looked up on installing the dizzy assume that the timing belts are allready on. It seems to me that the dizzy could be installed (before the timing belts) simply by turning the sprocket so that the mark is straight up and making sure that the dizzy rotor is pointing to the #1 wire.

 

Given the fact that this engine was running ok and the arrangement is not what I expected, I must be missing something or just don't understand what I am doing. Any help woud be appreciated. Tnx.

 

Steve

 

87' GL 3 door w/ EA82 and carb.

[TahoeFerrari]

Why, exactly, are you pulling the distributor???

 

Anyhow, you remember when you moved the flywheel to the 3 timing belt marks instead of the 0 degree (top dead center) mark in order to get the cam sprocket mark pointed straight up? That is why the distributor is pointing where it is. With the flywheel at the zero mark (or top dead center - TDC), the distributor will point to #1 (or #2 if 180 out - the firing order is 1 3 2 4). With the flywheel at the timing belt marks, the dist. will point to where it is now.

 

If you must pull it, mark the distributor and housing so you can put it back the same way. If you screw it up, you can move the flywheel to TDC - AFTER YOU FINISH with the timing belts and then set the distributor with the rotor pointing to #1 wire. I think there is a post or 2 or 3 describing how to do this if you need help. And you'll need a timing light to do the final adjustment on the timing - which should really be rechecked after installing timing belts anyhow.

[N2FHL]

Bingo. I ASSUMED that the rotor should be pointing to #1 with the cam sprocket mark up. As you pointed out, the ignition timing and the belt installation are really separate procedures (using different flywheel marks).

 

You are also correct that I don't need to remove the distributor. I thought it would make the job easier, but it came out easy enough with the dizzy attached. The worst part was getting the cam cover off. There is NO room for fingers, wrenches, etc. I think next time I'll just get the self-installing parts.

 

Thanks for the quick response. I get it now.

 

Steve