Posted by Vaughn on Thursday, December 26, 2002 at 10:05PM :
In Reply to: Re: REPLACING DISTRIBUTOR QUESTION posted by jeff on Thursday, December 26, 2002 at 9:02PM :
The long center tick mark should be 0 degrees. If the distributor has a vacuum advance on it and the engine idle is not steady, that can cause the timing to fluctuate. If it is a mechanical advance it should be steady with a steady engine idle. Take the rotor off and see if you have much side to side movement of the distributor shaft indicating worn bushings. A stretched timing chain usually results in retarded timing. There is generally enough resistance in the valve train to keep the cam from fluctuating.