84 olds delta 88 with 70' olds 350 using the 307's distributor and carb and all other emissions equipment. I have state emissions testing so i have to have all that stuff.

I'm trying to set the timing . i have a timing light but its pretty much useless.

Is it possible to set the timing by the harmonic balancer and timing mark with the engine off? i see its supposed to be 20 degrees or so for the hei setup. Can i just rotate the engine til the pointer is at 20 and then turn the distributor til it points to the number 1 spark plug and be good?

I dont have money atm to buy a better timing light so i'm looking for an easy sollution and the timing light i have from harbor freight sucks and doesnt illuminate the timing mark for ****...

 

i believe that its called "static timing" what i'm asking about

 

Does the timing light work at all?

 

Nope. You need to have a timing light. I'm not sure what your issue is as to why you can't set it, but the timing tab goes to 24° or so, or at least the one from the 307 would. If you have an older tab from a points car then I can see your issue. You'll need to get a new timing tab and that will take care of the issue.

 

If you have a non adjustable timing light then get a timing tape that you can stick on your harmonic balancer. Problem solved!

 

Borrow or rent the timing light from your local parts store?

 

I have seen a reference on here about a measurement you can make to say put a mark at the 20° point so when your non adj light flashes you could see 20° (assuming you tab only goes to 14°) (essentially the same as a timing tape)

 

You could set the timing like that, but to get it perfect, you'd have a easier time finding that needle in a haystack.

You could pick up a cheap timing light at Sears for $40, with a dial for timing. My uncle works for UPS as a mech and has let me borrow his a few times. It's simialr to that and worked fine

 

If the only problem you are having is that you can't see the timing mark with your light, have you tried cleaning the crap out of the cut in the harmonic balancer? I had to do that when I first got my Olds, it was so gunked up you couldn't see it. Maybe a little white paint in there would help also.

 

What, exactly, do you mean by this?

- Eric

 

Sounds to me like it's just not bright enough from the original post, but it is still somewhat vague. If the car is not sitting with the sun shining right on the engine and the mark on the balancer is clean, it doesn't take too much light to see the mark.

 

Ok got an update on the timing issue, thanks to everyone for all the help.

So first off i was able to time the engine, i used some white out on the harmonic balancer which made the timing mark stick out like a sore thumb. The timing light was pretty much broken and when it did work i couldnt even see the timing mark. I had to fix my timing light (its a cheap $15 timing light from harbor freight) first the trigger button broke so i redneck repaired it. Then 1 of the wires on the circuit board broke off, finally had the light working properly and timed the engine.

I got it pretty much right on 20 degrees and she runs sweet, no more dieseling, no more hard to start slow cranking, and the gas smell when driving isn't as noticeable as it was before.

But I've noticed i get horrible and i mean horrible gas mileage i think i'm getting about 60-80 miles per quarter tank (about 10-13mpg with mostly light acceleration) quarter tank=6 gallons. When i had the 307 and 200c i would get about 100-120 miles per quarter tank . Retiming the engine seemed to help a little but not much.
Like i said before i'm running the 307's carb distributor and all the emissions controls, what could be causing the MPG is be so low,
so far i have no check engine lights so i'm assuming all my sensors are good.

what could i do to get better mpg even if i can only get 15-16mpg thats fine with me its a lot better then 10mpg

 

Check your fuel lines.If they have rust scale, replace them. The stock lines on my 85 were leaking, but not enough to drip and make a puddle. It would evaporate as I drove.

 

Ok i'll check it out tomorrow and see. when that happened to you did you experience a lose in fuel economy? or was it just the gas smell issue

 

I'm gonna ask the obvious question....are you running it on the computer? Without it nothings going to work properly.

 

Yes the computer is hooked up. Like i said i reinstalled all of the 307s emissions and other components, the block and heads are from the 1970 cutlass 350, but everything else even exhaust manifolds are from the 307.

I did a fair amount of research when i was building the motor and i had 2 options. The first was to keep all the emissions controls, carb, dist. ect. ect. from the 307 and install on the 350, or switch it to a mechanical non electric carb and dist. unit, i choose the 1st option as i have emissions testing every 2 years.

I think i possibly narrowed down the problem, the evap unit that attaches to the carb and vacuum port on manifold was the problem . (if i can i'll upload a picture of what it looks like later tonight)

My theory is that it was pulling the fuel and vapors straight out of the bowl of the carb. Which was making it consume more gas the reason i think this is because it runs and idles perfect and i just took it to emissions yesterday and passed with flying colors . If it was running too rich i'm sure i would of failed for high HC or CO%.
At first i thought it was a leak so i went over the whole car fuel lines and everything today and no wet spots or leaks.

After i removed the evap thingy i took it for a drive, drove about 15-17 miles and the fuel gauge barely moved, before when the evap thing was hooked up i would of went through almost 2 gallons in that short 15 mile drive. Yesterday i drove about 60 miles and it burned 6 gallons and that was all highway driving .

so i hope fixed it cause gas is too expensive these days, but i do love driving ol betsy again, and i love peoples facial expressions when their mustang loses to my 4000lb boat lol .

 

So its confirmed the evap. emissions device pictured below was the reason for my horrible gas mileage. I drove about 50 miles and only used an 8th of a tank so my car is back to the 16-18 mpg it used to get with the 307 but with almost double the horse power and torque. Which I'm perfectly happy with as my 92 ford ranger with a v6 and no guts only gets 18.5 mpg, so I'm getting roughly the same gas mpg but in a bigger and faster car. works for me!

I seriously hate this evap device it wasted so much gas and money i was only getting about 200-240 miles out of a full tank 25 gallons, but with it removed i should be getting about 400 per tank now. .

There was a number on top of it so i took a picture of that too, can someone tell me what the heck this this is and what it does?

It sits right in front of the carb towards the left and conects to 2 ports on the carb 1 near the base and 1 bigger 1 near the top, and pulls ported vacuum from the front left side of the carb, the nipple end goes into a ported vacuum switch on the front left side of the intake manifold, tomorrow i'll take a picture with it on the motor.

 

I stumbled across this post and it has me thinking. Has anyone else heard of this vac. valve causing bad gas mileage? I have the 307 in my 83 delta, I feel like i should be getting a little better gas mileage, I get about 15mpg or less.
From what I remember this valve just allows gas vapors to be pulled into the carb from the canister. I know it has ported vac lines to it also. Anyone familiar on it's functioning?

 

Well as it turns out the vac device was not the cause of my bad gas mileage it was actually caused by my fuel pump which was leaking. I reinstalled the device and it hasn't affected my mpg it might have even improved it some.

I average 100-120 miles per quarter tank which is about 16.5-20 mpg depending on how I'm driving. Which in my opinion is not bad for a 4000lb boat with a v8.
If you are getting about the same 100-120 per quarter then thats normal with these cars. Our cars have a 25 gallon tank. which makes each quarter roughly 6 gallons (6.25 to be exact)

My mileage slightly improved when i did my motor swap to my 350/th350 combo i used to get 100 miles per quarter with my 307 (driving like a grandma) but now with my 350 i can easily get 120 or more if i drive the same way. but i rarely drive like that anymore I have too much fun smoking bmws and rustangs.

 

I will definitely take a close look at my fuel lines and pump. I usually do a once over of everything each time i do an oil change. Never really noticed any wet spots on the brake or fuel lines so far. So was your fuel pump only leaking when actually driving and thats why it was hard to find?
As far as that canister purge valve, I understand that the thermal vacuum switch opens allowing the carb to pull in fuel vapors. I have yet to find an explaination of that actual valve you mentioned though. I've always wondered how it functions. It has multiple vac lines to it, and it resembles the vacuum delay valve that controls the choke pull off. Factory service manual makes no mention of it either