fellow bricksters,

As I suspected (I think), my brick's poor performance and gas economy was due to mistiming of the engine. I finally got a hold of a timing light and saw that the timing mark was to the right of 0 (as opposed to the left where the marks are). I've turned the distributor as far to the right as it will go and it ALMOST reaches 0, I'm not sure what is going on here and what needs to be done...... any help would be appreciated!

to remedy the current state of my brick, I went ahead and unbolted the distributor and moved it so that I could get it back to 12 degrees BTDC. I did notice while using the timing light that the mark tended to move around slightly (between 10-15), no real drifting so I'm ruling out the harmonic balancer. For now, performance is restored and hopefully gas economy. I guess either during timing belt replacement (before I got the car) they missed a tooth or two or the distributor was taken out and put back wrong??

Thanks for the help!

"Bonnie" '87 244 180,000

What did I tell ya huh? Good job, glad it worked.

did you make sure to plug the vacuum hose to the advance module by the washer pump
- i didnt do this the first time and my idle was skipping around as dramatically as you mentioned (10-15º)
- after plugging it up during idle it will bypass the advance module and operate on distributor only
- replace vacuum hose when done
--
Rich Wiebe

If moving the distributor gear doesn't fix the poor running, take
the timing cover off of the front of the engine, rotate the engine
so that the timing mark on the cam pulley lines up with the one
on the engine, and see if the crank pulley is at TDC. If it isn't
your timing belt has jumped a few teeth (probably due to age and
stretching) and it should be replaced.
.
-b.

Before messing with the distributor make sure your Harmonic Balancer has not separated and the outter ring slipped. If the HD outter ring is slipping the timing marks can be way off. Run a white paint line from center ring out and drive it for a day or two. If the HB is slipping the line will no longer line up. Hopes this is of some help. Good Luck.

Would a messed up balancer make for a shaky idle?

You need to pull the distributor and back it up one tooth on the drive, and that will put you into the adjustment range again. Someone probably installed a new t-belt, and moved the intermediate shaft a tooth or two.

A worn balancer that is no longer lined up will not effect any driving condition by itself. But because the timing marks on the outer pulley of the HB no longer reference anything, you will not be able to use a timing light to set the timing.

"Someone probably installed a new t-belt, and moved the intermediate shaft a tooth or two.

So rather than remove fan, belts, timing belt cover and timing belt and reset idler, this is the easier way to go?

Sounds like it'll work until a timing belt change. At that time you'll need to remember that you pulled and turned the dist.
--
1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb and M46 trans