Steve Zitelli

My 76 Euro was running a little rough and rich so I decided to treat it to tune up.Installed new Bosch rotor,cap,plugs and points.According to the owners manual I set the points to .012 and the plugs to .022.I adjusted the timing with the vacume hose off the dist ,engine warm and idling around 950.Took it for a test drive ran really bad with no power.With the vacume line on and reved to 4000 thr car backfires,disconnect the vacume line and it doesn't backfire.I'm not sure if I'm using the right timing mark.All my manuals shows #s and marks on the crank pulley( 5,21,Z1) I have the marks but not the #s.This is how I set it,there are 4 marks on the pulley going clockwise on the pulley I used the 4th or last mark which I thought was 5 ATDC and I thought was right.Also when I tried to check the dwell grounding the dwell meter and hooking the lead the the electrical lead to the dist the car stalls out.What mark should I be using and why would the dwell make the car die?Also I did something really stupid.I had the wrench on the pulley turning the pulley to check for the marks, I spaced and started the car,forgetting I still had the wrench on the pulley,shut it down right away.All the happened was the pulley nut lossened and came off.Would this cause damage to anything other then my ego?

DGaunt

working from memory, the pulley turns clockwise. The second last mark is TDC and the one to the left of that (in other words the next mark to hit the mark on the fan shroud) is the 5 deg ATDC mark.

Set the timing with the vaccum line hooked up (ya I know, but this is the right way) and set to the 5 deg ATDC mark. Then check advance @ 6,000 RPM and ensure it does not exceed about 37 deg BTDC. If you want, you can go a little advanced from 5 ATDC as long as the engine doesn't kick back on starting AND stays under the 37 deg total advance.

Hope this helps.

Steve Zitelli

Dave,
Thanks for your answer but I'm not sure what mark your talking about.Without the car running looking at the pulley I have 2 marks close together and then further to the right
2 more marks spaced the same way.Are you talking about the last mark to the right? Also why would my dwell meter make the car die?I have it grounded and the lead going
the electircal line to the distributor,for some reason it seems to be shorting out the points and making the car die.

BartB

You may have already checked this, but it sounds a lot like one of the plug wires is mixed up. If it is the timing, can you tell which notch is Z1? 5 ATDC should be the notch to the left of Z1.

BartB

I just looked it up for a 74 2.7 (don't have a scanner to post the pic). As you look at the pulley, the two marks that are close together further to the left of the other two marks that are close together are 5 atdc and Z1. 5atdc is farthest left of the other two marks and z1 is closest. It sounds like of the four marks you may have set to the mark farthest right or clockwise. At idle you should set to the mark farthest left, but the important setting is at 6000rpm when you should be at or slightly beyond the 35 btdc mark which is the mark farthest left of the 4. hpe this make sense. I will try to scan the pic if it doesn't

Noel

Here is a visual for you:

Steve Zitelli

Thanks for all the help.I did have two plug wires reversed. I corrected that and set the timing to the mark before Z1 which I finally figured out by everyone's help and the diagram on the fan housing. I wish I had the #s on my pulley like Noel's pict would of made it alot easier.The car is still popping but I think the air mixture is off.According to my manuals you need a CO2 tetser to adjust that.If anyone has any suggestions about adjusting it without a CO2 tetser let me know.Thanks again.

Paulporsche

You are running lean. Richen the mixture by turning the screw in the control unit clockwise about 1/8 turn (as viewed from above). Then drive the car. You should be able to get the ratio to the point that you do not pop, but your idle does not hunt. Always work in 1/16 or 1/8 turn increments. If your car is like mine, you will eventually have a very dark brown (not black) tailpipe.

Good luck.

Paul

BartB

Take some red paint or nail polish and mark the Z1 notch. That will make it easier to read in the future. You can adjust the mixture without a tester, but it a little more trial and error. You will eventually want to get a tester, or find a shop that will test it for cheap, but you can make some progress on your own.

Noel

This is strange. I just checked my engine and the 5 degree mark is to the right of the Z1 mark. THat must be 5 degrees BTDC instead of 5 degrees ATDC. I wonder when they changed this?