timing issue

[powellwm]

Hello,

I have a 1976 spider everything looks stock, all the hoses were hooked up when I drove it home, went from Iwoa to Arizona, I filled up in Flagstaff and went about 25 miles then heard a bang and the car wouldn't start again...1400 miles and then stops.. well got it home and now started to work on it, took the carb apart and it looks good. was trying to check the timing and was turning engine over at the cam and think I slipped the gear, well I got the thing aligned and started but ran really bad.. checked ignition timing with light and from what it looks like its about 20-25 degrees retarded should be at 0... I tried to adjust and only got worse, I did the valve timing with paint marks that were on the cams and crank pully that were there already I checked the crank by pulling the plug in #4 and checked to make sure it was a TDC when the mark was ligned up.
I then plugged all the hoses to the carb that were not nessary took off the belt to the air injector and still running bad, then made sure the jets in the carb were correct (found I had swapped the main with secondary) fixed that not idles better but sitll will not rev up, any suggestions???? maybe bad gas???
I tried to check for intake and exhaust leaks by pourning a little trans fluid into the carb while running and it looks like smoke comming from both the intake and exhaust sides of the engine so that didn't work, going to use starter fluid and spray around the base of carb and manifold so see if car revs up, I don't know what else to do.

[bradartigue]

Paint marks, don't use them. The last time I had paint marks on cam wheels they were 180 degrees out.

Verify that the engine is lined up: Each cam wheel has a hole in it. The hole aligns with a pointer cast into the top of the cam box. The crankshaft pulley has a mark on it for TDC. It aligns with the longest pointer on engine block or timing belt cover (depends on model year). The distributor should be pointed at #4 position. The auxiliary shaft wheel has a hole in it, it should be roughly at 1 o'clock, pointing towards the tensioner retaining bolt. If these do not line up then your belt is not on correctly.

I don't like bangs, so if this doesn't cure your problem then do a compression test.

[124JOE]

[vandor]

Did you ever figure out what the original problem was? Sounds like it never got resolved.
Brad is right, be sure the cam timing is right (and don't forget about the auxiliary shaft gear!), if that does not cure it then go back to the basics and do a compression and/or leakdown test.

[powellwm]

thanks for the responses, what exactly does the aux shaft do? mine is at about the 2 o'clock position otherwise everything is ligned up. the picture is great but my car has crank timing pointer on the other side of the engine and the timming holes on the cams are on the other side, I ligned them up with humps on the cam covers. when everthing is ligned up the piston is a TDC on #4 and the rotor is pointing to #4 so it should be good. when I ran the car with timing light on #4 it is still showing about 10 degrees below the last point on the pointer (3 points) so looks like to be about 20 degrees off.
I just did a compression test and these are the results
cyl psi
1 110
2 75
3 75
4 55
that doesn't look good, going to check valve clearence and while I'm at it going to remove all the smog junk, but I still don't understand why the ignition timing is off so much... hope I'm not spinning my wheels here...
any ideas?

thanks
Bill

[124JOE]

the aux shaft delivers the oil to the internal ports it needs to be correct

[rlux4]

The auxilliary shaft has a lobe on it, looks just like a cam lobe, it's function is to pump a block mounted mechanical fuel pump. Our later cars with an electric fuel pump have the mounting hole blocked off. The problem with not timing the auxilliary shaft while timing the cams is that the lobe can be coming up while the #2 connecting rod is coming down and they can meet, and this can cause damage. It's one of the reasons you want to turn the engine over a few times by hand when timing the valves, to make sure it turns freely without the aux. shaft lobe hitting the connecting bolt. I'm not sure at what point the lobe is in relation to the connecting rod when it's positioned correctly, 180° opposite would be my guess, and pointing to 2:00 may be OK, but it should be positioned correctly to be sure.
Ron

[131]

the aux shaft delivers the oil to the internal ports it needs to be correct

The gear can be anywhere to turn the oil pump, it has to be timed so the #2 rod doesn't knock it out the side of the block. For the motor I've just put together I've cut the lobe off the aux shaft and blocked the oil hole, I therefore don't need to worry about timing the aux shaft.

[124JOE]

sorry i never heard how it works
i just knew it needed to be at 1 oclock

[rlux4]

No worry Joe, your willingness to help can't be faulted.
Anyway, none of are right every time.
Ron