I replaced the distributor cap and rotor on my 67 300. And now it won’t fire up. It will briefly run rough and then dies. I took off the wires one by one but I’m not entirely sure they are in the right order or that they are seated correctly. Also is there a certain way the rotor Hass to go on? I noticed on the bottom of it there is a square piece that sits inside a square hole. that’s how I have it placed but I wanted to make sure. Also I didn’t touch the distributor as far as moving it back-and-forth. Unfortunately I didn’t mark where the clips were so how do I know where the cap is secured? Also what is that small door that you can pull up on the side of the cap?
Check to see if you have the cap on correctly. The distributor has a notch in the housing. The cap has a boss in it that goes in that notch. That could be your problem. After that you may have mixed up your plug wires into the cap.
OK cool I’ll give that a look. I hate that they have me working on Saturdays so I’ll have to wait at the end of the day to find out. Didn’t even see if the cap Was labeled it doesn’t matter what Side of the capitals starts on as long as they’re in the right order?
They have to be in sequence AND each wire needs to be on a specific terminal. If you want to check, take out the #1 plug and put a wine bottle cork in it. Then just tap the key to bump the engine. When #1 hits top dead center, the cork will pop. The timing mark should be fairly close to zero on the timing tab. The rotor should now be pointing to the terminal with the #1 plug wire attached to it
Not at all. Just replace the rotor and the distributor cap. I feel like maybe The cap is not flush. Also I’m not sure on how far the tab needs to come up on the rotor cap and I didn’t even check the middle terminal on the cap to see if it Springs back-and-forth
Nice, I remember doing something similar when I was a kid it’s just been so long since I’ve tinkered with this stuff. i’m just wondering if the cap is in the correct position , I didn’t see any notches or anything just kind of wildly guessing where it was last time.
If you moved them one by one from the old cap to the new cap they are probably still in the right order. However, they had to go on the new cap in the same orientation to the notch gsfred talked about. Basically they're in order but are slid one direction or the other in relationship to the rotor position. The fix may be to move the wires at the distributor one hole clockwise, see if it starts. Maybe put a piece of numbered tape on each wire. Unplug wire #8 move wire #1 into # 8's old slot. Move #2 into #1's old spot. Repeat until all are plugged in again. Try to start. If no start, slide it one more clockwise with the same procedure. I'd probably put a piece of tape on the distributor too to mark where wire #1 starts. That way if wire #1 goes around the world with not start you know you orders is wrong.
You've got a couple wires crossed up, easy to do if you don't swap them one at a time! Rotor goes in one way only as you noticed. The clips will be in the right spot when the cap sits in a similar notch as the rotor, at least that's what I remember! The 'door' is for adjusting the dwell while the engine is cranking or running, put the 'door' in front of the points adjustment and cap will be very close. Some one will post a picture shortly of the firing order, and you'll need to start from scratch, or at least follow the order and find the ones that are in the wrong spot! We've all been where you're at!
I love learning stuff. I don’t remember seeing a notch for the But I wasn’t particularly looking for it. i’ll definitely look as soon as I get home. Also if the door goes approximately where the points go then I’m off by at least an inch and a half
When you have the door up, the hex head on the points for the dwell adjust ment should be near center of that door. (meaning you should be able to put a hex wrench in pretty much straight shot) The red square is about where the door should be. The blue line is what the notch looks like, and the cap has that square lug that fits in there. When the cap is on and you mover it back and forth , you will feel it "drop and catch". Sometimes the distributor hold down bolt is not tightened, and you can move the distributor without realizing it. Checking timing to be "safe" is not difficult. Once you know you have the wire numbers and correct placement on the cap, you can set static setting timing to about 2-4 degrees, so that you are safe to try starting. (As C-Jay stated) when the cork pops you should be at TDC, then can use a timing or test light to very slowly adjust the distributor until the timing light makes a flash, connected to the #1 plug wire. That would be 0 degrees. To set it statically to 2-4 degrees Before TDC, you move the crank pully to the 2-4 timing mark and pointer align, then "slowly move the distributor again until the light flashes. It would be a very small back and forth from where you were at 0. That sets both the piston to the 2-4 degrees before top dead center, and puts the point firing event on the number one piston to coincide with the engine timing. That will have you to a safe place to start the car.
That’s alot to unpack but very cool. Looking at that picture you attached i’m pretty sure The distributor cap is not sitting where needs to. Take a look at the distributor in the direction of the vacuum advance. Doesn’t that seem as odd placement with it being so close to the belt? I took that picture when I took off the cap. It’s been running with that orientation prior. Not sure if it’s a nothing burger but would like a second pair of eyes
OK I got the distributor set right. I found the notch. But now I got more questions. I took out the first plug and turned it over and when my finger blew out. I looked at the harmonic balancer ” I think that’s what it’s called” and it is nowhere near tdc. What am I missing?
You sure you took out #1? And if so, are you sure the engine stopped rotating when your the engine blew your finger off?
Well I took off the first plug on the front right. Maybe that was the beginning of compression and I wasn’t pressing hard enough? I should be able to rotate it to tdc by hand now?
