I pulled my distributor to try to get my car timed up right, and my harmonic balancer will not go back to 0 degrees at TDC. whats my problem or how can i get the car to start and run?

P.S. Right now it will start but shoots fire up through the carb and also barely stays running.

 

Your timing chain could be bad or broken, timing gears could be stripped, distributor gear could be damaged.

 

Question is, did it run ok before you pulled the dist?

 

You may have it 180 out, or possibly your firing order may not be right. Is the HEI something you installed? Do you have 12v to it?

 

yes it ran fine but it was running rich and if i would drive it to the store, when i come out and start it there would be a cloud of smoke coming from the exhaust like it was overloading.

I have a brand new edlebrock 600 and a offenhouser 360 intake.

 

Can you explain more? What do you mean it won't go back to zero? Is the vacuum advance hitting something and the distributor just won't turn further? Check the firing order and make sure the timing light pick-up lead is on the #1 cylinder. Are you running points or HEI? What dwell angle or point gap, this impacts ignition timing. Give more info and the forum members will figure it out with you! Good luck.

 

OK i've been downstairs messing with it a little bit and i got the balancer to about 2 degrees at TDC, then i lined my rotor up with #1 on the cap and it fired right up. I still can't figure out why im getting the exhaust fumes and white smoke(after driving, sitting, and starting). I tried adjusting the carb and i even changed the intake now the timing thing didnt work either

 

The HEI is stock. The motor is a 1975 olds 455, by getting it back to zero I mean on my balancers timing tab. when i first changed my intake it went to 0 degrees on the timing tab while at TDC and i marked it with a paint marker. Then i lifted the distributor one more time and it has not hit 0 degrees at TDC since. the firing order is correct.

 

the balancer may have spun on the rubber

 

Is that a problem or will the car still run ok?

 

it will run fine but the timing light will never spot the mark. This happened to me years ago .I believe Summit Racing sells a Dorman replacement balancer for 100 bucks or so

 

Ok thanks, I guess using a timing light will help alot too.

 

 

remember that the crank turns twice to the camshafts one turn - you can line up the mark on the tab but still be on the exhaust stroke

 

Yes, a timing light is critical, but shouldn't he be setting the balancer to the base timing spec with the rotor pointing at #1 instead of zero? Even if it lined up perfectly at zero then his base timing would be zero, off by the difference between the base spec and 0/TDC? Anyone??? Again a timing light is critical.

 

Yeah I think thats what happened the first time, I was on the exhaust stroke. I got it running pretty good now but I still cant get rid of the fumes/running rich and also after im up to running temp, upon shut off 5-10 minutes then restart I have a little delay in the start and some white smoke out the pipes. Is that a problem with the carburetion, timing or both?

 

I think white smoke can also be oil. How new is are your valve guides/oil seals?

 

fwiw if you have the 1405 edelbrock 600 cfm with stock manifolds it will be too rich from my experience. I have a 1405 on my dads 77 pontiac bonneville with my old olds 350 i had headers and 2.5 inch exhaust and it ran perfect no rich fumes. He wanted manifolds and stock tyle dual exhaust and it is on the rich side . You may have to recalibrate it to a leaner setiing or to 1406 specs wich is leaner than the 1405.

 

White smoke? Have you checked your coolant level? Dipstick have sludge on it? I had a chebby blazer and this was first sign of intake manifold gasket failure.... Just sayin'....

 

If the timing is retarded, it will run really rich also.

 

i had a leaky intake manifold gasket on my 307 in the regal i have. still blows sum white smoke out of the tail pipe on heavy acceleration. I only patched it with some adhesive and it didnt give me problems since but i bet its still leaking a little bit due to the white smoke... could it also mean that the air/fuel mixture and timing is off?