gary sanders

Got a question,if anyone can help.My car,89 GTA,has a HEI dist. because it is converted to carb set up.When i unhook the vacume advance,and plug it off,then put a timing light on ,shine it on the balancer,the timing mark jumps all around,it jumps back and forth from 10 to 14 degrees.I can set it at 8,10,12,14,and the car will start perfect,hook everything back up,drive it and it will NOT start without kicking back on starter,vacume advance is hooked up on the TIMED vacume port of carb.
Question is ,do you guys think that the springs are not right in the dist?I put a advance kit in the dist.,one heavy spring,one light,so I had advance at 3000 rpm,cam specs are from 2500 to 7000 rpm.Car runs strong, low 12,s on motor,better on nitrous,no poping through carb,just wont start right,Ive tryed new starter,new battery,all new conections,still kicks back.
Could it be the dist worn,it was not new ,but it was rebuilt with new shaft,dist. gear,steel gear,cam called for steel gear,pick up coil,Im running a MSD 6A,and Blaster coil,so no module in dist. Dist. has about 3000 miles on it.
I would drive it more,it just wont start without kicking back,so I drive it only when its cool out,so it wont do it as much,temp runs 180 degrees ,no matter how hot it is.
I have tryed everything,I just dont know,anyone?

cooter26

iTrader: (1)

I would check your plugs and wires for a miss, Is your dizzy all the way seated and tightend down? as far as the kick back it sounds like your starter is starting to wear out and not pulling back fast enough.

gary sanders

Dist seems to be seated,but I belive your on to something about the starter,It has acted like it was draging a couple times,so Im going to replace the starter and the Positive cable,and see if that helps,if you shut the car off,wait 30 seconds,it will not kick back,wait any longer and it will. So I think it could be the starter also,Thats why I like this site,more heads are better than 1,lol
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anyone else ??

cooter26

iTrader: (1)

When you pull that starter check the teeth for irregular wear, it may need to be shimmed. What RPM are you checking the timing at? It cant be off very far, but it sounds like your trying to get the most out of your power curve by changing the springs ect, do you have a timing tape on your dampener?

Corky

We still need to address the timing mark jumping back & forth. The timing mark should be steady when viewed with a timing light. Are you using the inductive type pickup on your timing light? This type provides a clean signal. A couple of things to check:
Is #1 plug wire in good shape & cylinder not missing?
Recheck your springs in the distributor to make sure everything is attached
Make sure there is no play in the distributor shaft - grab rotor and pull side-to-side - should be tight, little to no play.
Ensure engine idle is at spec rpms
Corky

gary sanders

Yes a inductive timing light,seting it at 32 degrees total,yes there is play in the dist,side to side is probly 1/4 inch,that seems like alot to me,and everything is attached,pulled the dist cap today,everything looks good,,engine rpm is at 750 rpm,car is a 5 speed,plug wires are MSD,and new,plugs are new also,with 45 thousands gap. Gap is set that way because the nitrous called for that,it has a TOP SHOT KIT.No problems at all with running ,just kick back on starter,engine has 10.5 to 1 compression,maybe it is the starter,maybe I need a HIGH toqure starter,I have a HIGH toqure POWERMASTER starter,just never used it because the starter was new at the time.
IM still stumped about the timing jumping all around,and it is a stock type balancer,it is a TCI.ANY HELP ide be GREATFULL!!!
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Yes trying for max rpm,and I will check the teeth on the flywheel,thanks

bczee

what is your timing at idle ?.. (32 total).. What do you mean by kicking back (on shutdown) ?.. could be too much advance and it is dieseling (run on) on shutdown and also too much advance will also make it hard starting. cheap or bad gas can also contribute to these problems.

Sound like the Distributor needs to be shimmed at the drive gear or the housing and shaft is worn. Have you tried another distributor ?

Corky

Gary,
How many miles on the engine? A worn sloppy timing chain will cause timing marks to jump all over.
Corky

gary sanders

I found out what it was,you know where you hook the timing light to number 1 plug wire,the Timing light end was melted,causing it to stop pulsing when you pull the triger,it was not the car,but the TIMING LIGHT,I bought a new timing light,it does not jump around now.
As far as starting problem goes,it was the POSTIVE cable,for some reason,where it is cold out the POSTIVE cable was pulling apart at the starter end of the cable,causing NO power ,walked in garage the other night,went to start car,NOTHING,battery was dead,no lights,no nothing,so I checked battery volts,had 13.5 at the battery,checked the POSTIVE cable at the starter,no juice at all.
Took POSTIVE cable loose at the starter,checked again,no juice on the cable,still hooked to battery,battery was HOT,I was like this is crazy,took POSTIVE cable off battery,took it off car,started looking at the cable,it had pulled apart from the COLD weather about 2 foot from starter,Ive never seen a cable do this.I ordered NEW cables POSTIVE and NEGITAVE from SUMMIT RACING(Taylor Braided Cables)Should be here by Friday,that should fix starter problem,I belive the kick back was from bad cable not making good connection,I hope it was,I will have to see if that fixes it!!!

Corky

Gary,
Don't you love it when solutions are this simple! This is why I like to start out looking at the simple stuff. These cars are old and gremlins have lots of time to sneak in and suck the money from our wallets and time from our life.
Hope this solves all issues.
Corky