The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Pointer and ball on flywheel

I have a 235 engine and i keep reading about this pointer and ball indicator, mine does not have one! whi is that?

I need help with my problem with a misfire on this engine, the engine has not been in service since 1979 and when i bought the truck i replaced all tune up parts, plugs, wires, cap, points, rotor, coil, rebuilt carb, drained gas tank, cleaned it, new fuel filter, replaced generator with alternator one wire, adjusted all rockers to .006 intake and .016 exhaust hot.

the new plugs get black soot, i will have to check carb settings. to do this tell me if i turn the 1 bbl carb screw in it will be running rich? right ( i am not sure ) also i have not driven it on the road yet and it is just idleing and reving so that could also add to t he black soot?!

i checked the points gap .016 and cant get this misfire to smooth out, i switched plugs the other day and it ran sweet smooth for about a minute then the exhaust started bobbing again
i cant figure it out for nothing
i am running some gas treatment thru it, i hope that gets rid of whatever it may be , i am thinking that i have some garbage stuck to a valve or something..

thanks for your help
jeff

plug wires old

nnew wires aswell

its wierd i have tried everything...

superpieboy,

The pointer is a sharp little nail located in the hole directly above the starter on the face of the bellhousing. The ball is a embedded BB in the back of the flywheel. As the engine runs, you can look through that hole and see the flywheel whizz by. If you had super pupils, you would spot the little ball as it passed through this 'viewing window'.

The ball, which is usually pretty dirty and needs to be cleaned up and highlighted with yellow marker or such, is the timing mark you align with the little nail/pointer hanging down.

This is all done with a timing light attached to number one plug wire. Rotating the distributor will parade that ball to be illuminated BEFORE or AFTER little pointer.

Screwing the idle fuel mixture screw IN will lean the idle out, eventually killing the engine. A ballpark setting is 1 1/2 turns OUT from all the way seated.

Most of your problems sound like a gunked up carburetor...maybe a stuck or sticking powervalve. Valves that are sticky will hang and cause a miss too. Fiddle with it some more, it sounds like you are pretty sharp on these things. Good luck.

Stuart

i rebuilt the carb, i am thinking sticking valve and or gunk on valve seat, i am going to leave it be for now and when its on the road i will run it for a few days and see if it clears out....

so the pointer and ball timing thingie is on the bell housing, i swear i have looked several times for this thing....


jeff

superpieboy,

The carburetor base has a small hole in it the reads engine vacuum. The base gasket has a small notch in it that allows this hole to remain uncovered and must be installed correctly for this to happen. If it is covered, the carburetor thinks it is pulling a big trailer up a steep hill and responds accordingly.

If you stick your index finger into the viewing hole, I will guarantee that you will find the sharp little pointer. The BB is tougher to locate. Have Band-Aids standing by!

Stuart

I finally scraped enough gunk off my engine to find the hole, but I never did see the ball on the flywheel.. so I had to use the piston and valve positions to determine where the rotor was supposed to be.

Fumblin46,

I don't remember if I did this on a stovebolt or not, but sticking a thin, long screwdriver into #1 plug hole will give you a great reading on the piston location as the screwdriver rides it up to TDC.

Stuart

The easiest way to find the "ball" in the flywheel is to remove the spark plugs and the tin flywheel cover from the bottom of the clutch/flywheel. You can now turn the flywheel untill you find the "ball" (some engines have a triangle shaped mark instead of a ball) located on the front side of the flywheel. Put a white paint mark on it and also on the pointer so they can be seen easily with the timing light. Timing is easy from this point once you are certain that you have #1 cylinder set on the compression stroke. Good luck with the truck.

Carl

i will check this carb base out and see if its on right, although i did start the truck this morning and it ran without the before stated miss! its weird all the same, i put a rather concentrated amount of fuel cleaner into the gas in hopes that it will clear out what ever is happening, i am loving this straight six engine, cant wait to drive the ice cream truck.

jeff

Have you done a compression check? A burnt valve or blown head gasket will make it pop back thru the carb,,misfire,etc...
Marty

The black soot on the plugs indicates you're running too rich. One thing I didn't see in your list of parts replaced was a new air filter. Check your filter, make sure it's clean, also check the choke setting. If It's manual make sure it's opening and closing properly, if automatic, make sure is opens all the way as the engine warms up. I think a 'bolt ice cream truck is cool!!

the way that the air breather set in this engine compartment was by a tube that ran from the carb to the breather which sat on the distributor side of the engine, i have the breather but not the tube, so at this time it is free breathing...

manual choke open all the way up,

i probable need too check the adjustments on the carb,,

correct me here
turning the carb screw in will lean out the mixture??????

have not done a compression test, almost afraid to after this engine set for 29 years, i am running some engine cleaner thru it right now that is suppose to free things up....

i have not driven it on the streeet yet just idle and revs everyday or so.

Turning the screw in leans out the mixture, yes. When the screw is turned in you are lessening the gasoline flow so there is more air than gas in the mixture = a leaner mixture.

Carl

If it runs well enough to drive then take it out on the road. A driveway reve tune is tough to pin point prob. Take phone with you or tool box.----- I had a defective new coil truck ran good in yard ,when out on road as coil heated up it stumbled enough to blacken plugs. Bring it home clean plugs ,monkey with carb.(now i know carb was fine)start up good and do it again.First bad coil in my life.This one had me chasing my tail because I should have stepped back and thought it thru.

i am pondering a rebuild!!!! or maybe i need a lil patience, this 235 does not have an oil filter, first time for me of not seeing one on an engine.

it smokes white smoke when rpm's come down after you rev it, and when it stammers a poof of smoke ect ect

how much is a basic rebuild?

or maybe i will wait till ihave all lights in and legal i will drive it and see what happens.

pieboy

Black smoke=gas Blue smoke=oil White smoke=maybe water in combustion chamber??
If it only has white smoke on start up its condensation/steam and should clear up.