The downside of the barge...

OK fellas here's pics at top center ATC?
points to 1 on dist cap...
This correct or am I 180 off?

 

Could be 180 off.

 

Atc means after top center, I adjusted it and now it's 10 degrees before TC and it needed to be rotated, got it pointed back to 1 and buttoned it back up, turn the key and you can hear it wind up three cycles then the fourth it pops and attimized fuel pops through the carb, any ideas?

 

Are you sure #1 was at TDC? You could be 180 out.

 

OK I'm getting hot (almost 100 out here) and I replaced coil... old one looked like it was from the 80s if not older... only thing I've yet to replace is points and condensor... still won't start not even getting atomized fuel and pops just wurrs at me... any ideas? I'm too hot to think

 

The number 1 piston comes up twice during the combustion cycle. The first time is during the compression stroke, the second time is during the exhaust stroke. If your TDC was set while the piston was at the top of the exhaust stroke then you will be 180 out with the distributor. You need to verify that you are at the top of the compression stroke of the #1 piston to properly install the distributor. You can just pull the #1 plug and place your thumb over the spark plug hole while someone turns the engine over. You will feel your thumb pushed out of the hole during the compression stroke as #1 comes up.

 

I put #1 piston at top dead center/top of the compression stroke, hook up a timing light to #1 wire, turn the ignition to on, then rotate the distributor until the light flashes then tighten it down, turn off ignition. Should be close enough to start it and you'll know what terminal is #1 on the cap for sure. I use a compression tester to find TDC, or my finger, both work good. The distributor being off a terminal or two doesn't mean a lot until you try to rotate it around to time it and the vacuum advance canister hits the firewall or something.
I hate when that happens.

 

Yeah, me too. Such lazy bums who can't properly stick a dizzy.

 

Leadslead is already dizzy from the heat so don't stick him. Seems to me the distributor is 180 off.

 

Maybe it's an Australian Ford distributor?, that would make it 180 degrees off in the northern hemisphere.

 

Are the points OK? Have you checked for timing chain slack by rotating the crank back and forth with the distributor cap off and watching the motion of the rotor? I wonder if the timing chain might have slipped.

 

Both are definite possibilities.

 

I was thinking that if it got really hot, the nylon on the cam gear may have been compromised and let the timing chain slip. A slipped chain might account for the odd cranking and its unwillingness to start after the overheating incident.

 

That is also plausible, assuming the timing set has not already been done. When the chain jumps, the cam timing, and therefore the dizzy timing, retards. One other thing, which caught me by surprise on a '93 Taurus, is the crank damper toroid (the outer ring) slipping because the rubber has shrunk over the decades. You can use a length of coat hanger to measure when the piston gets to TDC, and see if the timing pointer is in the right place on the scale. The Taurus damper jumped over 70* retarded, and just slipping on a replacement fixed the problem. But it took a couple hours of diagnosis to come to that conclusion.

 

Ok, I'm a total rookie, or a total bonehead haven't figured out which... but... I can't get it to work...
I am positive I have the timing on the compression not the exhaust stroke, but I cant turn the engine manually to line it at T/C but its close, maybe 10 degrees off... it turned over last night and actually I don't know the words to describe it, it 'caught' or tried to, gave that coughing/catching sound as it turned over... but didn't catch and run, would cough a few times 7 at the most, then go back to just wurring at me.
Anyway... here's where I'm a bonehead probably, I keep changing the game as I go, adding in new factors... I changed the plugs, the position of the wires to the correct order (yes I'm sure they're correct) put the timing as close to the right spot as possible, changed the coil, changed the points, changed the condenser... not all at once mind you... well now I have no spark, and I really don't want to take it to a mechanic for my stupidity... I never had a car with points... course I never had a car this old (maybe I shouldn't?) anyway fellas, I know y'all been a big help so far, but before I screw it up more in the heat of Texas summer... tell this young ignorant guy what to do, in the proper order, and if ya want tell me to go pound sand.