For anyone who has put in an ignitionman dist on a 455, is there a trick in getting a dist wrench to fit btwn. the hei module and hold down bolt? I have almost zero leeway to manuever the wrench.
Suggest a ratchet and a 12 inch wobble extention with a 9/16 crows foot. Takes all the work and frustration out of trying to use the distrib. wrench. Cheap at Harbour Freight.
Well, I just tried again and I managed to get it so I'm at the point where a small turn will tighten the bolt down or just loosen enough to turn dist. It still is very tight. Low profile bolt would probably be a good thing to swap in for anyone doing this install. And yes, I am working on the car right now, outside, in the dark, in the COLD!!! Determined to finish this tonight. Just have to put in coil, swap wires on caps,regap plugs and then tune. Brrrrrrrrrr!!!
Well, its almost 9:30. I just put the last spark plug in. So all there is to do now is start it up and tune it in. I haven't eaten anything all day, my back hurts, my knees are killing me. The things I do for my car.
Try lifting heads out of the engine compartment with the manifolds attached - after 3 hours of teardown work to get TO the heads!:gt: :gt: :gt: Yeah, the things we do for our cars.... If I were you, I'd call it a night and start again tomorrow. Hope you've got a garage heater!
Read it again Adam No garage. I'm doing this outside, in my front yard. I took a three bulb standing lamp stand and hooked it up to provide direct lighting onto the engine compartment. I do think you're right about calling it a night. They are calling for light rain tomorrow, though.
:jd: brrrr is right! Sometimes I look over the little details like that - and in turn make myself look dumb:grin: Hope you get it done before the rain comes! I'm anxious to see how it runs:TU:
Okay, just got back from my first test run. Had pinging under part-throttle acceleration through WOT, but I also had it set to about 14-15 initial, so after some much needed sleep, I'll bring down to 10-12 intial and see if the pinging clears. Otherwise, it idled a bit smoother I think and when it seemed more smoother cruising down the road. :sleep: :sleep: :sleep:
Okay, here is what I have done. I think I did this properly, but let me know if you see a mistake. With vac. advance disconnected here are the #'s Initial: ~10 Total mech.: ~32-34 by 2500rpm Test drive: No pinging detected. With vac. advance connected to full manifold vac. Initial: ~ 24-26 (timing tab almost centered between 0 notch line and 32 notch line on damper) Total: read ~36 by 2000-2500rpm. Maybe 40 tops by 4000rpm (analyzer only goes to 2000, so thats a total guess by how the engine sounded) Going to test drive now.
Zach, Did you get the Crane adjustable vacuum advance or the stock vacuum canister? Dave usually advises limiting either cannister to 8-10* Was this done on your distributor? Revving the engine in neutral, you will see the total vacuum advance added to your mechanical total. Driving the car will be different though. Putting a load on the engine will drop the vacuum, and that portion of the advance should go away. If it doesn't, you'll get part throttle ping. With the adjustable cannister, you can adjust the spring tension opposing the vacuum advance(allen wrench in vacuum nipple). You want to adjust it, until the ping is no longer there. When you sent the spec sheet to Dave, how did you ask him to set it up. His usual is 12 initial, 32 total, by 2500, 8 degrees vacuum, for 40* total at light load. Punch the gas, the 8* should go away leaving you with 32*
Yes, I got the Crane adj vac. can. My test drive went well. The only time I heard a little pinging was when I mashed the throttle to the floor. I think a slight adj. to the vac. can will cure that. I don't usually go around at WOT anyway. Just cruising down the secondary roads into town, it ran great. Definelty improved the response. I just have to put on my Taylor wires, which should arrive tomorrow, and it will be complete. Count me in as another satisfied customer of Dave Ray :TU: .
I'd recommend giving Dave a call and tell him what you are seeing/hearing. He will tell you EXACTLY what to do and I think you'll be pleased.... He's done a whole bunch of these through the years and he allways seems willing to help when I've called him regards
