My 65 389 has no timing tab, just a pointer stickin out from the block. How the hell do I time this thing? I think there is a small slit/mark on the dampener.

Greg Bower

My 65 389 has no timing tab, just a pointer stickin out from the block. How the hell do I time this thing? I think there is a small slit/mark on the dampener.

Greg Bower

There should be two slits/marks on the dampener. The first to reach the pointer would be 6 degrees BTDC. The other one would be 0 or TDC.

Bill

Gauge, I think you are talking about the same problem that I had. I had one pointer sticking out of the timing chain cover, and two marks on the balancer. The problem is, with only one fixed point, and one moving point, it is imposable to line up the two. They may look lined up in one spot, but if you move your head, they will look off. If this is your problem, you need to find where true TDC is on the #1 cylinder with a piston stop. When the engine is off, and you can find true TDC, you can line that up with the point on the timing chain cover. Now you need to affix a riffle sight type thing somewhere else on the timing chain cover so that you can make sure that you are looking at TDC correctly. For me, I fashioned this out of scrap metal with a hole in it that slipped over the water pump bolt. Then when I tightened down the water pump bolt, it was fixed in place. I can line up the sight with the existing stud, and then with TDC mark on the balancer. After you go through all of this, make sure that you mark TDC on the balancer very clearly! I used the delay on my light to time it correctly. Does this make any sense when I write it out??

Tripower: The big bad car and three little [gas] pigs!