Click on image for the lowdown. 
====
| | | Forums66 Topics128,014 Posts1,055,333 Members48,419 | | Most Online14,466
Apr 26th, 2026 | | AD Chevy Trucks  Over 6,000 pictures Brad Allen has an awesome collection of Chevrolet factory pictures that he has set up from film strips. Check them out!
Lots of work on Brad's part ... pure enjoyment (and references) for you!
| | THANKS!
For helping keep this great
old truck web site
on the Internet for over 30 years! and not clogged down
with Ads!  Again, thanks!
| | | | Joined: Aug 2004 Posts: 66 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Aug 2004 Posts: 66 | Hey Guys, when I woke up my 55 1st series from its winter nap
it ran very roughly and would not idle. I ended up rebuilding the carb, new coil, points, condenser, cap and rotor.
So I get it running and go to time it and can't find the ball with the timing light. I took the dust cover off and cleaned up the flywheel and painted the ball white and still cant locate it with the timing light. Any ideas?
Thanks! | | | | | Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,269 Bubba - Curmudgeon | | Bubba - Curmudgeon Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,269 | Which spark plug (number & location) are you connecting the timing light to? If you have a vacuum gauge, attach it to the wiper port in the intake manifold, under the carburetor. Rotate the distributor to obtain maximum vacuum (warmed-up engine at idle). This will get you close to optimum vacuum. Stovebolt Engine Tuning using a Vacuum Gauge | | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,746 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,746 | If you've got the ball on the flywheel cleaned up and painted, it should be a simple task to turn the flywheel until the ball aligns with the pointer and check to see which spark plug wire the distributor rotor is pointing toward. It should be #1 or #6, as the engine turns twice for every turn of the distributor. You can use either spark plug with a strobe light to set the timing. The flywheel bolt pattern is almost, but not quite idiot-proof, as the bolt holes are not perfectly spaced. A sufficiently persistent idiot could probably install it wrong by not using all the bolts, but there would also be a massive oil leak through the hole for the missing bolt(s) as the bolt holes go all the way through the crankshaft flange and a leak can bypass the rear oil seal if they're not all there.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Aug 2004 Posts: 66 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Aug 2004 Posts: 66 | Thanks for the tips guys. I had the light hooked up to the
first cylinder plug wire. I'll see if I can round up a vacuum gauge. Thanks again!
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,746 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,746 | You are looking into the hole in the bellhousing above the starter, right? There's also a hole on the driver's side with no pointer in it, and trying to find a timing mark in that one is a totally lost cause. I think the vacuum gauge "timing" method is a bunch of bovine scatology- - - -there are MUCH more accurate methods of setting and checking ignition timing.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,269 Bubba - Curmudgeon | | Bubba - Curmudgeon Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,269 | pjdee,
Bovine scatology (tuning a stove bolt six's timing and original carburetor using a vacuum gauge) has worked for me on 216/235/261 engines for over 40 years.
I do not race them, but they run smoothly and seemingly flawlessly (that's what matters). | | | | | Joined: May 2001 Posts: 1,904 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: May 2001 Posts: 1,904 | Jerry,
I once "timed" my '48 using that hole on the driver's side with some hole in the flywheel. It ran awful but it did run.
I know a little more now but not much more.
1948 3/4-Ton 5-Window Flatbed Chevrolet 34 Years. Now with a '61 261, 848 head, Rochester Monojet carb, SM420 4-speed, 4.10 rear, dual reservoir MC, Bendix up front, 235/85R16 tires, 12-volt w/alternator, electric wipers and a modern radio in the glove box.
| | | | | Joined: Oct 2016 Posts: 916 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Oct 2016 Posts: 916 | If you know someone with an adjustable timing light, you'll be able to find the elusive BB with that....
I am following this thread with great interest. All BB's must be accounted for! lol
~ Dave
1950 Chevrolet 3600 3/4-ton with 261 engine & T5 Transmission
| | |
|
|
