Dauntless Hei Swap, Timing Is All Over The Place!

Need help! I put a hei distributor from a 76 buick skyhawk in my 69 jeep dauntless and cannot get it to run. The spark is consistent, but timing appears to be all over the place. i am putting the dizzy in correct and have done it many other engines with no problem.

What i noticed is with the timing gun, the mark will line up for one rotation then dissappear for several. When the mark lines up, the motor fires, then dies until the mark lines up again, several rotations later.

Cant figure it out what would cause this. Wrong distributor? Does the odd fire cap literally have a number one cylinder orientation with the different size tangs? I dont think it matters because i cant find any documentation online. I know i am putting the distributor in at 10 degrees before tdc compression stroke.

 

Are you sure the that the timing is actually wandering? Or is it possible the spark is intermittant, and the mark is not visible when the timing light is not firing?

 

Distributor fully seated? Rotor not physically broken? Correct wire order? Bad module? Bad ignition connection to the coil? Bypass the voltage ballast resistor? Faulty ignition switch? Bad ground to coil? Bad ground to block?

Start with checking wires and grounds. Pics. I like to look at engines.

 

Odd-fire HEI is the only hei that actually matters exactly how it is installed. Many a seasoned mechanic has lost there minds because "of course I know how to install a hei" A search should bring up several "how tos".

 

Agreed! I always pull the drivers side valve cover to be 100% certain what stroke of the motor I am on. I have had my share of odd-fire HEI snafu's. I actually ran my CJ5 for YEARS with an even-fire HEI and could never figure out why everyone thought the odd-fire had some much power! I accidentally installed the distributor 180 out when I got rid of the points in the Jeepster.

Long story short, pull the valve cover and be 100% odd-fire-specific certain it's installed correctly.

P.S. The timing on my Jeepster jumped all over like that and it ended up being a tired motor with about 2" of play in the timing chain.

 

Well i figured it out. It ended up being
The gear on the distributor. Maybe im stupid and was suppose to know to change it? After lining up the dizzy cap like you guys explained, the timing was still all over the place. All i could possibly imagine it being this whole time, was an incorrect gear on the distibutor shaft. It wouldnt even drop in tho if that were the case, right? Sure enough i pull the distributor and theres an extra tooth on the gear with gouge marks on it where it was binding a little. I switched my old gear over onto new distributor and this thing is purring like a kitten first try!

 

Not to get off topic, but id like to know what this thing should be timed at. Ive read 10• but she sure sounds like she loves 12 to 14. (Granted i havnt hooked up a my vaccum advance or regapped my plugs yet)

 

I didn't have to do that. I wonder why this is your experience

I believe 5 degrees advanced at idle with vac plugged is standard, but mine likes to run at 10. Could be a lot of reasons for that. Timing light, vacuum gauge, runs good, tighten the clamp and do burn outs!

 

I had a bad module , that gave my father and I fits! timing all over the place and when we thought we had it, it would run for about 1 minute then die. also, make sure the ground is solid.