63 cdv timing

[Kim K Kaiser]

ok, today, got a timing light,,

pulled the service manual.. i found were it state the 1 cylinder is front left.  but i couldnt find timing info.  i looked in the engine section and just couldnt fine it.. 

were or what should it be. 

i also did several you tubes on timing, regarding idle timing, total timing and the curve timing,, i picked that up ok and understand what that is all about.. several of the video offerings made it understandable. one guy went from putting in a petronix unit, to changing the fuel filter to changing plugs and gaps, etc.. it made the process seem much less intimidating. looks doable.

i got back to town, was poking around under hood, and found two of the spark plug wires didnt seem to be fully attached tot he plug,, so pushed them down snuggly  to the plug, due to time, didnt have time to see if it ran any differently.  

so, where should be timing be set on the 63,, or, tell me page and component section, i can look up,, i think someone mentioned no need to do this if not replacing points, but since i have the time, the toy to do it, i want to, at the very least, give it a shot, hear the engine change as the distributor is being moved,, 

anyway, I'm getting there, 

[Kim K Kaiser]

ok,, thanks,, i will try to keep it all sorted out when i get some points,, buddy here in the neighbor said he had a dwell tester that i could borrow,, gonna try to talk I'm in to giving me a little tutorial as well

[Russ Austin]

The distributor has 2 modes of advancing the timing.

#1 is the mechanical advance. Centrifugal force moves 2 arm out changing the timing.

#2 vacuum advance. The vacuum canister is hooked up to a ported vacuum source on the carburetor.

With large amounts of air moving through the carb while hard accelerating, the timing is further advanced.

What Tony said about the timing changing when you rev the motor, is the mechanical advance working.  You still must have the vacuum advance capped when checking/changing the timing.

[Tony and Ginny 429]

When the spark plug for timing is on the left that would be sitting in the car
Left and right is always determined by you being behind the wheel in instructions
I say that because if you go to the right side you will blow out you muffler
If you were standing in front of the car your left side will be the wrong plug to use
Enjoy

[Tony and Ginny 429]

You will be making a big mistake for youself if you are wanting to --play with what you just leaned to see how things work
Real bad approach to this subject
What you will learn is you can make your car run worse or not at all and you will not know how to correct what you did wrong for lack of experience
So now you will have to bring it to a shop to fix it

We are happy to be of help but there is a very detailed proceedure to be followed when tunning a cars engine
We need to stert at the beginning
So learn to do the points or have them done

Enjoy

[Tony and Ginny 429]

If your points are worn now ( unknown ) changing you timing will prevent the car from running better and will make it run worse than it is running now
Put new points in the dist -Before -you attemp to do any timing adjustment at all

Yes i am the guy that said that before
You seem to want to play with the timing because this is the new thing you just leaned - not good
You need to do the first thing first as there are proceedures to follow when tuning a car
Time to learn how to do points as that comes first
A tach and dwell meter is the most accurate way to adjust points

Someone on here may be able to sell you a tach and dwell that has moved up to the Pertronics electronic ignition as the dwell meter will no longer be of use on that newer ignition system

Enjoy

[Kim K Kaiser]

thanks for the detail.. i saw where you had noted the points being out potentially, i thought the use of a timing light to see how things operate and where would be a good spend, despite the points being out,  i want to see how things function and relationships...and can use for possible problem diagnosis, down the road....thanks again for the detail

[Tony and Ginny 429]

Clean the timing plate and the slot on the crank with alcohol
To remove grease
Pull out the coil wire and crank the engine until you see the slot on the crank pully
Reinstall the coil wire
Mark the timing plate at 5 degrees and the slot with a thin line of white out
That will help you see the marks more easilly
You may have to pull the hood down over your head to make it darker to see the timing light working
Be very careful with the engine running as the fan is turning and you have timing light wires in there
You need to have your idle set at 480 RPMS
Thats is part ofwhat the tach and dwell is for
You can watch to see if your advance is working correctly by slightly reving
the engine while watching the marks with the light on them
You need to unplug and reinstall the vaccuum advance to the carb where it came from to see this happen ( do after you set the timing )
Loosen the base of the dist nut ( just a little ) so you can move the dist with some resistance
Spinning the distb-- ever so slightly --is what changes the timing marks movement
Watch the marks with the light while turning the dist
1/16 of an inch turn is alot -- turn slightly
Set it at 5 degrees lock it down and then check it again to be sure it has not moved when locking it down
Reconnect the vacuum advance to the carb when timing adj is done
The vac adv hose needs to be plugged closed when doing the timing adj and reinstalled back to the carb when completed as the carb is the source of the vacuum that works the dist adv

Most times the points out of adjustment is the cause of the lack of performance you are experiencing

[Russ Austin]

Check to see if your vacuum advance is working first.  Buy a hand held vacuum pump and remove the cap from the distributor. Hook the vacuum pump up to the vacuum advance canister and pump to move the arm.

Hopefully all is well and you can advance to the next stage.

Disconnect the vacuum hose from the vac advance and plug the hose with a golf T

The idle needs to be correct and the engine warmed up so the choke is off.  Timing is called for 5 deg, but you should be able to go to 6 without the engine pinging under load.

[Anders]

Its from my 1964 Shop manual. But it works the same on 1963.

Hope you bought a timing light with included volt, tachometer and dwell meter.

I have this, its very good:

Innova Pro Timing Lights 5568

[Anders]