Im cleaning my engine at the moment, and to do it properly i really need to take everything off it. I dont want to strip it down to the bare block and i want to keep the head on as just the outside needs painting where it has been sitting for a while. My main concern is taking the distributor off.

When i bought the engine it was all set up with the twin weber 45s and running fine. If i take the dizzy off i will lose the timing, as i have never set up an engine from scratch before i dont know where to start really. Is there a good book at explains it or better a website.

Even if i dont take the distibutor off i will probably need to set up the timing again so any help would be useful.

Thanks

I rebuilt a pinto for my old car and it’s not as bad as you may think. Go by the Haynes manual and just make sure that you have all of the timing marks aligned before you remove anything. Mark the position of the distributor as it says in the book and make sure that you know in which order the plug leads are set. The pinto had a variety of distributors so try and work out which one you have b4 you remove it. When its removed you will notice that the shaft ( with the rotor arm )moves as its withdrawn. Try to mark this position as it makes realignment just that bit easier. If you want more help on the pinto unit try the robin hood site as they all use Pintos and they are the most helpful bunch of loonies you could wish to meet.



http://community.rhocar.org.uk/

Greggors,

I had the same concerns and ended up leaving the distributor on. End result, I still had to re-time the engine cos the new cam belt left everything slightly adrift.

So far I've tuned it by ear and it really is a doddle. Just make sure that you line everything up when dismantling as advised by others. On my dizzy I found a registration mark (see one of my earlier posts and piccies in this forum).

On rebuild put everything back as close as possible to where it was then rotate the dizzy until the engine sounds and runs reasonably well. This should then be close enough to get you to a professional tuner (It may even be more than enough to live with)

Greggors,

Ignition timing can be easlily checked with a strobe light, which are not dear. A common problem to watch for with dizzy timing is getting it firing at the right time but on the wrong stroke.

Cheers,

Colin