Timing Fixed Or Not?

[DUCKY]

If you have no reference point from which to read timing, that needs to be repaired before anything else. If all else fails you can re-verify TDC by using an air adapter, removing the spring from the exhaust valve on the number one cylinder and using a dial indicator on the valve stem to watch the piston movement. Obviously you need to be very careful when rotating the engine (by wrench of course) Disconnect the battery cables, and don't let the valve fall down into the cylinder. Anyways, the EGT monitor is a great tuning tool, but useless if you don't have a baseline. If you did rig up an EGT monitor, you would have to kill the water injection while testing.

[H20MOFO]

Thanks For The Help Ducky. I Try Not To Be Too Dense Here. I'm Not Sure What An Air Adapter Is,and Don't Own A Dial Indicator, I Guess I Could Go Buy One (or Both). Is The Plan To Remove The Spring,set The Valve On Top Of Ol #1 (does This Air Adapter Deal Keep It From Falling In?) If I Put An Egt On There I Assume The Water Wouldn't Ruin The Sending Unit? Also Confused About 1 Other Thing. When I Picked My Motor Up From My Machine Shop. He Told Me When He Fired My Motor Up He Initially Had The Timing Too Far Retarded And Made The Headers Glow(street Headers For Run In). I Told Him I Would Have Thought That Would Mean Too Much Adv. He Told Me With 110 And Too Far Retarded The Fuel Was Still Being Burnt As It Was Exiting. What The? I PUT SOME SLIGHTLY USED BASSETTS ON AT THE FIRST OF THE SEASON AND THERE TURNING GOLD. THINK SOMETHINGS UP.

[shaun]

locking out the dist confuses me as to why it would be done, i know when i first fired up my motor i had the wrong advance stop in my dist.. Required me to run around 20 deg of initial timing to get to 36 deg of full advance. When at 20 deg the motor ran like a lawn mower, raping the throttle sounded like the motor wanted to hesitate in the mid range.. I put the stock adv stop in the dist, got the timing down to around 15 at idle and it ran great... I think I'm going to go one stop smaller because at 15 I'm still only at 36..
I also had a bug as my first car (about 9 years ago), the motor always ran like shit, backing up at low/mid range.. i hunted for the problem forever thinking it was the carb.. Finally one day in auto shop i found this old machine in the corner that nobody ever used, it was a tool that you put the dist in and it spun it up and showed the timing curve. After talking with the shop teacher and doing some research about it (when i discovered that a dist actually changed the timing during the rpm range) i stuck my dist in there and found that somebody had put the wrong springs in it, basically locked it out because it would never advance up to 5K (didn't try higher than that because that motor never made it over 4k... anyway long story short, the bug ran like shit too...
I'm confused as to the purpose of locking it out, unless of course you are locking out the dist because another source is going to control advance?

[H20MOFO]

I Was Thinking About It Because I Read About It In Hot Boat A Few Months Ago. Said A Lot Of Blower Guys Did It. And A Good Portion Of Higher Horse Jet Guys Do. It's A Little Off Thread But How Many Of You Just
' Power Time" A Motor. Right Now Thats All I Got Except A Reference Mark Where My Motor Was Set When I Blew It Up And Where It Is Now.

[DUCKY]

Don't get me wrong, generally a motor that has the timing locked out runs great. They idle well, and pull hard through the mid range, etc... not to mention one less thing to go wrong. In a drag boat, or any application where the throttle is "on or off", locked out is fine, other than the hard cranking. Where locked out doesn't belong is in an application where most of the use in in the midrange. Locked out timing, plus a high load and part throttle is a prime recipe for detonation.
Anyways, to "MOFO" if you don't have the tools I mentioned, you are probably better off pulling the head off and finding your TDC with a piston stop which can be made with a piece a steel strap and a bolt. If you aren't comfortable with that, then take it to someone who is. Anyways, the air adapter is to pressurize the cylinder and keep the valve from falling in while you get the the spring hardware off (and back on) but yes you have the idea correct. You hold the valve stem and roll the motor over by hand until the piston touches the valve and then watch it. When it rises and stops, roll it back a little and setup the indicator so you can see exactly when the piston reaches it's peak set the indicator at zero then roll the motor back .025" and mark the balancer. then roll it past zero .025" and mark again. Split the difference and you have your exact TDC. Regardless, I wouldn't go buy the tools I mentioned for a one time use. I also wouldn't go spend the money on a pyrometer setup. A pyrometer (EGT) is for ultra fine tuning. You need to get the thing in the ball park first. I don't know your skill/experience level, but if you don't know how to read plugs and piston tops, a pyro will only confuse you and the water in the exhaust can damage the sensor. Hope this helps!

[H20MOFO]

It Does. Thanks.

[396_WAYS_TO_SPIT]

outrunning jets at 6500 RPM. .
why ya gotta hit below the belt

[Moneypitt]

This whole thread is flirting with disaster. Take your boat to someone that knows what they're doing, regardless if they've ever owned a K boat...MP

[Sleeper CP]

This whole thread is flirting with disaster. Take your boat to someone that knows what they're doing, regardless if they've ever owned a K boat...MP
"Yeah, what he said!":jawdrop:
Sleeper CP
565" Ford Lover

[H20MOFO]

Ouch. You Guys R No Fun. By The Way R - U Fixed R Not And What Da Ya Got.?