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In article ,
says...

You know I was thinking about it. When I did the timing there were 2 marks
on the flywheel, the org. factory mark and was that was scratched in. It
only seem to run ok when I used the scratched mark. But when I inserted the
distrutor, I used the factory mark to align to Top Dead Center. The 2 marks
are about a couple of inch's apart. Is this the problem? If so do I need to
reinsert the distributor at TDC (with the scratch mark), or can I just move
the timing a couple of inch's?

I would leave the distributor alone for now, at least as far as pulling it
out goes. If you can get the desired timing without the advance can hitting
anything you will be o.k.

I hope I am correct about your motor here, Turning the distributor
counter-clockwise will advance the timing. I like a lot of advance, but
you have to quit when you hear pinging under acceleration when the engine
is hot, and you have cheap fuel in it. Also, I find with a lot of
advance the engine is hard to crank over when it's hot. The spark occurs
to early and almost stops the motor dead while cranking. If you have
that much advance, back it off a bit. I time by ear and by feel, and
not with a light. A light gets me in the ballpark only. Every engine seems
to have a personality, and some like a ton of advance, others don't, and
none seem to run at their peak using the factory setting.

As for the 'ticking', I was refering to the click-click-click of a
to loose rocker adjustment. I very very slowly adjust mine looser until
they very lightly start clicking, then very slowly adjust tighter about
1/3 turn past where they stop ticking. Never more than 1/2 turn.
Of course you do this one rocker at a time. If they are all clicking you
can't tell what's going on. I made a very special valve cover with eight
3/4 inch holes punched directly above the rocker studs. I can adjust my
valve train all day long, and never spill one drop of oil.

Hope all of this helps.