[DeTomaso] Pandora question

[B. Seib]

[DeTomaso] Pandora question
Christopher Kimball chrisvkimball at msn.com
Wed Nov 24 20:06:38 CST 2010

Chris
Just rotate the engine one complete turn and you will find all is well with
the rotor.
The crank turns twice for every firing and you are on the wrong stroke of
number one cylinder (TDC with both valves open).
Kind Regards
Barry




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Those of you who have been on the forum for the last four years have
probably seen at least one or two of my emails concerning the travails of my
'72; Pandora, as she's been christened.

Recently, I've had starting problems and a few other glitches.  Well, with
help from Jeff Kimball, Doug Braun, Mike Thomas, and Stephan from Paris,
several issues have been cleared up lately, but the weird timing mark
problem persisted.  The car runs great at 38 degrees before top dead center
instead of 16.

The idea was floated that maybe my distributor was installed incorrectly,
and that I should check to be sure the rotor was pointed toward the #1
cylinder at 0 degrees at top dead center.  I rotated the engine until the
damper was at 0 and then removed my distributor cap.  My assumption is that
when one says "the rotor is pointed toward the #1 cylinder" that means the
brass contact would be in the position to be touching the contact inside the
distributor cap that goes to the #1 cylinder's spark plug wire.

If that is the case, then the distributor is in 180 degrees backward, since
the brass contact on the rotor is facing exactly opposite of the #1
cylinder, assuming the #1 cylinder is the farthest forward cylinder on the
passenger side of the engine.

If that is true and I need to rotate the distributor, is there any trick to
it, or do I just remove the nut I usually loosen to adjust the distributor
for timing, and then the little horseshoe clamp, then lift up on the
distributor and turn it to the right position?

Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Sincerely,

Chris