We went to Hilton Head Monday but returned on Tuesday (yesterday) because my wife wasn't feeling well. 6 hours down Monday and 5.5 hours back Tuesday. Drove thru TORRENTIAL rains on the way down. Some times I couldn't see the lane markers so then I followed a semi under the theory that he COULD see the lane markers and I can stop faster than he can. Not a fun drive.
Today friend Jim and I established the timer pointer IS pointing to "0" when #1 is at TDC. Used three methods to find TDC. First used the "proctoscope" camera in the spark plug hole but that was inconclusive. Couldn't see the piston clearly. Next, the vacuum/pressure gauge and that, while it wasn't precise, did put 0* on the balancer within a few degrees of TDC. Confirmed that result with the bolt in the spark plug hole. But, rather than looking for the spot where the bolt stopped the piston, Jim wiggled the bolt to know that it was not in contact with the piston while I bumped the crank in tiny movements till Jim felt contact with the piston. I couldn't reverse the crank with the balancer bolt -- it came loose, even with the plugs out, before the tight new engine would turn. Once contact was established, Jim backed the bolt out a little at a time and I bumped the crank forward till it made contact again. After backing the bolt out a bit at a time the piston cleared the bolt at 0* on the balancer.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Pointer/balancer marks are correct.
With the pointer position confirmed we called Blueprint Engines to see what they had to say. "Level 1" wasn't much help but he opened a trouble report and got a technician, Ken, to call back an hour or so later. Learned several things from him.
1. They really don't care much about initial timing. They want total to be 32-34* and idle timing is what it is. Customer can, if interested, make a note of the idle timing so it can be reset if the distributor is disturbed.
2. He suggested capping off and not using the vacuum advance. It's there because some customers think they want it but, if its used, the distributor needs to be recurved or total advance will be too much.
3. The carb is "right out of the box". He also said the carb is tuned for their elevation (2000'+) but would be off in Denver or at sea level. Not sure if they dyno with the carb that is delivered or not. Seemed like conflicting statements.
The plugs are sooty and idle is crappy. Idling at about 1000 RPM, it will stall if put in gear and that's with the 2400 stall converter. I'm going to tune the carb from A to Z according to the Holley tuning book and using an AFR meter. May borrow WXO's meter again or my just spring for one and mount it permanently in the car.
Ken said he'd call back later to see how I'm doing. If he does, I'll appreciate that.