i think my timing chain may be broken. first off i just bought this car, a 1970 plymouth valiant, a few weeks ago and it didn't run the whole time the guy i got it from owned it. i am new to slants but it seems like a pretty easy engine to work on and understand. the car has sat for 3 or 4 years and to make a long story short it should be running now. i have rebuilt the carb replaced plugs wires dist cap and even installed a pertronix ignition. bumfuzzled, i am asking you guys for help. i know it is getting fuel and it should have no problem getting spark even though i haven't really tested that. The distributor is still turning so i am wondering if it runs off the cam? also, when i took the oil filler cap off the valve cover i noticed a small bushing type piece of metal on the cam that i could easily move with my finger? any idea on what that is? i have not had the time or warm weather to pull the valve cover yet. also, if the timing belt did snap while the owner before was cruising down the highway at, say, 65mph would that have done any damage? i am guessing not given the compression ratio on the engine but then again, i am new to these. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello and welcome. Did you gap the Pertronix correctly?
Yes, the distributor is driven off the cam.
Yes. (1) you are not looking at the cam. The slant six is not an overhead cam engine. You are looking at the rocker arm shaft. The slant six cam is downin the block below the distributor. The cam pushes on lifters in the block near the distributor, the lifters push on pushrod, the pushrods push on rocker arms, the rocker arms push on the valves. (2) The round piece of metal you are referring to is most likely a rocker arm spacer on the rocker arm shaft.
Slant sixes do not have a timing belt, they have a timing chain. Slant six timing chains rarely snap (I have never heard of it happening), but if it did, the engine would just quit running and the cam and crank and distributor would get out of time. No damage would occur unless it was a very spectacular and catastrophic failure (I might be wrong here, but I don't think the slant six is an "interference" motor). If you can get a compression reading, then the timing chain is at least hooked up and the cam and crank are reasonably close to being timed correctly.

First, check for spark. If you have spark and it still doesn't start, my first diagnosis would be that the distributor has been installed incorrectly and is no longer timed correctly. This is not a difficult problem to fix. Do a search on the website to find instructions.

I second that. You have to check for spark. Even if everything you’ve done is perfect, it could have no spark because of a faulty ignition switch, a broken wire, ballast resistor, etc.

Danny

And there will be spark even if the timing is wrong. As mentioned before, you can find the info if you.do a search on this site. I did and it gave me enough info to change my distributor in like 20 minutes. Once in the ball park it *should* fire up and run well enough to hit it with a timing light.

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If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

ok, i have no idea how to quote on here but i probably didn't gap the pertronix right. it was supposed to come with a .030 gauge but mine was no where to be found. ok, good to know nothing is loose and rolling around in there. i meant chain. i just got typing too fast a typed belt for whatever reason. i never removed the distributor but i guess the other owners may have. i will definitely check into the spark issue. i am actually kinda confused about the pertronix anyway. it has a diagram that shows how to hook it up with a ballast resistor which my car has right, but it just shows the wire going into it like it will magically happen or something. i didn't see anywhere for a wire to go on the resistor. so i just ran the wire to the coil on the same side as the resistor but after it. i am guessing that could be a problem now that i think about it...i shall check it out more in depth tomorrow.[/quote]

Unless I am mistaken, the black wire from the Pertronix unit should run to the (-) terminal on the coil, and the (+) wire should just plug into the stock wiring harness.

what wiring harness? my car has the wire that comes from the - side of the coil to the dist. and then one that comes down from a harness and goes through a ballast resistor and goes to the + side of the coil but that is the ignition i would say and i don't see a way to plug a wire into it?

You can wire the pertronix directly to the coil with no problems. I have done this with both a /6 and a 383 and both run run and have had no problems for over 8 years now.

yeah, that's what i did. i have the red wire from the pertronix, the ignition wire i guess, it's kinda brown, and the ballast resistor all hooked up to the + side and the black wire from the pertronix hooked to the - side. i guess i should check the gap again just to make sure i didn't mess it up. after getting this thing running with the pertronix should i keep the old gap and/or plugs or go to a hotter plug or larger gap?

Keep the old plugs unless they are really fouled. I like to gap all my plugs at .045, but the stock gap is usually .030 to .035.

so i went out today and replaced the ballast resistor, made sure the gap was right on the pertronix and tested the coil for ohm resistance. all checked out so then i had my buddy bump the engine over as i checked for spark at each plug. i found something interesting while doing this. i am almost positive that the distributor is still spinning once the engine has stopped. i discovered it because i grabbed a plug about a second after my friend had stopped turning the engine over. it shocked me pretty good so i told him to do it again and after he had stopped cranking there was a week spark. is that supposed to happen? also, there is a good amount of play in the distributor. in the rotation of the rotor. not up or down or side to side but i can move the rotor around a good bit. is this because of the vacuum advance or is it not supposed to be like that. the car is out of time i am gonna guess but it did try to run at one point. it's like it is really out of time and as i keep cranking it gets closer to being in time. i am not cranking for long periods but i will crank and it will be really off and then a few times later the engine will spin easier and it will try to hit. also, there is a connection right beside the ballast resistor with two wires that is not hooked up to anything. i don't even see where they could go. the wires seem to lead down the firewall towards the transmission or something. any idea as to where they go?

Ok... now you know you have spark (at least, some kind of spark). Now you need to check set the timing to TDC (top dead center) by hand, which will "rough in" your timing enough to get the engine running, all other things being functional.

Do you have the instructions to set the timing, or do you need them sent along to you?

- Mac

Some ballasts are 4 wire instead of 2. The other wires may be for that. Does the dist. have 1 or 2 pick up plugs (2 wire black connectors)? I dont think there should be any movement from the rotor shaft but the outside of the dist does move for adjustment. If you can grab the rotor button and move the shaft any it may have a broken gear pin or teeth.

hey the more info the better so if you have instructions and feel like sending them send away. the distributor only had one plug coming from it that lead to the neg on the coil. and the movement was definitely from the shaft. i am just wondering if it should have some play for the vacuum advance. it only moves in the direction that it would if the engine was running. it doesn't feel loose or sloppy just has extra play in that i can move it by hand almost enough to reach another fire position on the cap while it should be on the one before. if that makes any sense...

Sounds like a stripped distributor drive gear to me....Plastic $5

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....