timing ???'s

im a newb building my first motor and car. its a 545 d1ve block over 30 scat 4.5 cast crank 6.7 rods 24cc probe pistons lunati 61604 cam dove heads 74cc 10.8to1 cr. its going in a 93 fox street car the motor is built im almost ready to put it in i just dont know anything about timing im clueless i dont even nknow how to to put the dist in or what the timing should b? is there a certain way the dist goes in what should the timing b does it need to b locked or not. sorry the dumb ??'s if i forgot some details let me know

thanks micah

I pull the passenger side valver cover and get a big socket for the balancer and breaker bar, You want it on TDC, but it needs to be on the right TDC, so watch the valves and turn the engine wiith the bar until the intake closes and you come back toward TDC, stop at where you want the initital timing to be like say 14°BTDC. Take the distributor and note where #1 is, it will usually be on the cap. Put the rotor on and see where it is pointing. Back the distributor up a little toward #8, about halfway and drop it in. It should have the rotor pointing toward #1 pretty closely. Keep in mind you are at your initial timin and it needs to fire right then. You can hook up a wire to the coil tower and set it close to a metal object that fire can jump to. Turn on the key. Move the distributor body just a little back and forth with the cap on while the rotor is pointing at #1 until you hear it snap and you see a spark. Tutn off the key. Verify its pointing at #1. Tighten the distributor down. Remove the wire from the coil tower.

Now it should be close enought to start about right, within a degree or so. But when you start it be sure the bolt is just loose enoungh the move the distributor with a a scredriver lightly prying on a spot each way and have a timing light hooked up. If you are breaking in a flat tappet cam, only let it idle long enoung to look at a glance to verify the and tweak the timing then break it in. 2000-2500 rpms up and down for avout 20 minutes. Have a set of valve covers with the tops cut off and watch all of the pushrods for spinning. During this period at that rpm they should all be roping oil around them or you have a tight lifter. Shut it off immediately if you have one not turning. It means the lifter or lifter bore has a burr or its too tight a fit. If you pull the intake now and try another lifter or deal with the burr you will be glad you did. It can wreck a cam and engine.

There are junk lifters that will get you anyway, but a quality lifter that spins in its bore correctly will ususally yield a good cam break-in.

Good luck.

It goes in from the top on the front of the motor. Just funnin ya there. First off prime the oil in the motor with a drill and an extension with a 5/16 socket. Get the #1 piston on TDC of compression stroke, and put the distributor in and try to get the rotor to point towards the #1 stud on the cap, you may have to rock the crank a bit to get the oil pump driveshaft engaged, but return to TDC when done. If you miss your mark, pull the distributor back out and move a tooth or so in the proper direction until you get the rotor and #1 stud on cap together in a general location. Back off the timing a little and you should be able to start the motor and get a timing light on it to set intitial and total timing. I'll let the guys with more know-how than me tell you initial and total timing. I run a locked dizzy, but it's a race only deal. Locked at 32* @3000 rpm. Safe and effective with the iron heads.

Bill was on the job before me on this one.

wow thanks guys there is a lot to that . couple more ?'s the oil pump shaft spin it clockwise or counter? how do i know what the total timing should b does it need to be locked or unlocked i have amsd dist and 6al ign vaccum

Counter clock