Hi all - I was given an 83 Ram P/U with the good old 225, and the reason I got it was that the distributor had been removed and lost. I found it under the seat, but I'm worried that I'll put it back in the wrong slot and the engine will be out of time.

My question is how do I know I'm at TDC on one of these? I took off all the accessories so I can spin the crank pulley with a breaker bar, and I have a coathanger sticking in the spark plug hole #1, but after that I'm stuck. There seem to be 3 hash marks on the crank pulley, 120 degrees apart, and there is a chunk like a lemon wedge taken out of the pulley that may mean something but I don't know. Also, I'm afraid if I get it TDC on the exhaust stroke rather than compression, I'll be 180 off.

Obviously, I'm not the world's greatest mechanic, but I'm trying to learn. Can anybody give me some help? TIA

Dave,

I have a very soft spot in my heart for a guy who had enough gumption to get a slant because someone else was scared, even though you by your own admission don't know a thing! Congratulations,it only makes learning the truth easier when you are not encumbered with statements from folks who don't know anything.

While most here would direct you to the threads available on this forum (and I do too), I wanna go a step further. If you really don't know much you really need to slow up and get a service manual. They are on ebay often and one close to yours in years will do well to read until you get yours.

I think back nearly 40 years to when I began working on slants and realize that when I didn't know anything I would not have know just what the threads here were talking about. I suggest this for you:

Go to Harbor Freight and get a dialback timing light, a cheap wrench and socket set, and a remote switch you can use to turn your engine over while you are on the passenger side. Such a switch connects to the starter relay on your vehicle and that relay is wired some where between your starter and battery. Find the starter, follow wires back and it won't be long unitl you find a 1 inch wide by about 1.5 inches tall metal can with one starter wire connected to it and another wire going on t the battery.positive.

try jumping across the terminals of the metal can (with a battery connected to the car and the car in park or neutral and blocked so it can't move) with a screwdriver until you find the touch that makes the starter turn over. Connect your remote switch to those terminals.

Just leave the dizzy out. Take out the plug at the front of the engine ("Number 1"). Pull the spark plug looking wire out of the top of your coil. (Other end of that wire goes into your distributor cap). Mash the switch so as to make the engine turn over and over. Put your thumb or a finger on top of the spark plug hole where you took number 1 out. . The amount of compression that will push against your thumb will surprise you but won't hurt you. Keep your thumb there and let the engine turn over a few cycles so you get the feel of it. Count the cycles...compression. exhaust, intake, etc. Each time compression occurs let go of your switch and look at the damper with the mark on the lower front of your engine. see if a mark or notch roughly corresponds with that mark and a pointer of some sort on the timing chain cover that runs from under the water pupmp down to the oil pan. If not turn er over again. Next compression look again. The marks don't have to line up at all , you just need to get in mind which compression stroke is the one when the marks are near each other. That stroke is the one you want to rock the crankshaft back and forth a small amount with your wire or screwdriver or a stick inside the number 1 cylinder to see when that piston is at, before,or after top dead center. When you find TDC, mark the pointer and the damper and away you go. Al this takes about 3 minutes and you haven't even had to use your timing light yet!

rock
'64d100