I've been working on my new toy, '65 valiant with a 225 slant six. It's in pretty good shape, and running pretty well, and I've been having a LOT of fun tinkering with it. It's my first MOPAR, I'm a boat guy for the most part but mechanically inclined and like to get dirty.

I wanted to check my timing, but unless I'm overlooking something it appears that my timing tab is missing. It SHOULD be on the timing chain cover, right? Well, it's not. Is there a good way to do this without the tab? Thanks.


-Andrew

Yes and no. The best way is to buy a timing tab from a parts motor and bolt it on. But those are getting harder to find. You can also install a ltiming chain cover off of a later year slant that has the welded on tab, but you may need to replace the balancer so the timing mark matches the timing tab location. You can try and set the base timing for max vacuum using a vacuum gauge, but, depending on the timing advance curve built into the distributor, this may lead to pinging, poor performance, and poor fuel economy. Finally, you can fabricate your own timing tab and make a new timing mark use a piston stop tool. Not the easiest thing to do, but possible.

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The later balancer meant for passenger side tab - it's mark is 5 degrees from the crank keyway. Feel for the crank keyway with a finger and go from there. If your original mark is not 5 degrees from the keyway, you can get a bolt on tab and go from there.

If your original mark is 5 deg from keyway, then you have a few options depending on what you want to do. You can still use the bolt on tab and then make your own mark using a piston stop. Or the more cumbersome approach - swap on a later cover with timing tab welded on it. Or perhaps cut the tab off it and epoxy it on your cover while its still on the car, but getting the alignment right will be a pain.

Thanks for the quick replies!

Ok- So I am officially BLIND. I searched this site one more time, and found a picture of the tab on the older engine, and took another look... For some reason I had been looking on the PASSENGER side. It helps to look in the right place-



So, Now I have to find the mark on the Crankshaft Damper- Which I thought might be a little bit of a challenge, but no- It was right there, even painted white already-



So, I'll check it this weekend. Finding the tab is going to make life a lot easier...

-Andrew

Yep, that is the easiest fix!

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Driver's tab is kind of annoying. Passenger tab makes much more sense, you can hold the timing light in right hand, tweak distributor with left, and watch the mark all at once.

Meh, you should try timing a van! 318 vans in the 80s got a SECOND timing tab mounted on the bottom of the vibration damper that you can actually see. But slant six powered vans never did. After the timing window in the top of the bellhousing was dropped, timing a slant powered van is, realistically, a two person operation. You could do it solo, but it would take a long time.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Timing window at top of bell housing? So you'd mark the flywheel instead of balancer? Neat-o.

Which is why I guess I 'Expected' it to be on the passenger side- Seems like the logical place for it!

Yes. In 70s era vans, space is at a premium in front by the radiator. Things are packed in there so tight that it is impossible to see the vibration dampener to time the engine. On the other hand, when you pull the engine cover you have unimpeded access to the back of the engine. The clever guys at Chrysler devised a way to let vanowners time the engine by putting a window on the top of the bell housing, putting a timing scale next to the window, and putting a timing mark on the torque converter or flywheel. If you look careful you can still find stock transmissions with the window and timing scale in the junkyards. Look for 70s era vans.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.