[Jeff Pozorski]

My 73 Manta with a Weber 32/36 has been running very rough lately. Went to set the timing tonight to make sure that was fine but the flywheel is missing the "ball". I set the distributor to the mark on the housing by rotating the engine and assumed that the ball should now be by the pointer. There was no ball, only what appeared to be a depression where the ball probably was. I marked the depression with a drop of white out and then proceeded to set the timing: pulled and plugged both vacuum lines and brought the car to running temperature. Put the timing light on plug wire #1 and when I aimed it at the mark the pointer was there but no white mark. Proceeded to slowly rotate the distrib. hoping that the mark would come in line but it never showed. Now what? Car was running ok when I first began but began to stall when it was fully warmed up. Thought maybe it was vapor locking as I had the car in my garage due to rain and it had been running for quite a while. The problem I was having with it was missing under load and having no power. It would idle fine but when you got it going it really balked (auto-tran). It just started it about 2 weeks ago. No vacuum leaks to be found and plugs, wires, and Pertronix are all new. I am open to any and all suggestions!

Jeff Pozorski
73 Tempermental Manta

 

[oldopelguy]

no ball?

Jeff, without exception, every single time I've looked at a car where the owner claimed there was no ball in the flywheel there was one. I'm not saying it isn't possible for it to be missing, but I've never seen it in the 27 or so 1.9's I've owned or the 70+ others I've worked on. I'd suggest putting the car up on ramps, pulling the dust cover off the front of the trans on the bottom, and conducting a thorough search from there, where you can see everything better.

FWIW, every time I have an excuse to take the flywheel or that bottom dust cover off, I paint the back side of the it around the dot white and add a bright orange dot to the ball to make it easier to see. I usually line it up and scribe a mark on the crank pully next to the front timing marks on the timing chain cover as well, to make finding the ball easier.

 

[Paul]

The engine could have been rebuilt/assembled by someone who did not align the ball to the pointer with cylinder 1 at TDC. So, try hooking up the timing light up to each of the other cylinders until you can see the "ball" when you are attempting to time the engine.

Paul

 

[jlthunder]

Along the same line. After I get the pointer and ball lined up, how do I set the proper degree of advance? I've always tuned it by ear, but I never knew if I got it correct.

 

[tekenaar]

Timing ball alternative . . .

Jeff, without exception, every single time I've looked at a car where the owner claimed there was no ball in the flywheel there was one. I'm not saying it isn't possible for it to be missing, but I've never seen it in the 27 or so 1.9's I've owned or the 70+ others I've worked on. I'd suggest putting the car up on ramps, pulling the dust cover off the front of the trans on the bottom, and conducting a thorough search from there, where you can see everything better.
FWIW, every time I have an excuse to take the flywheel or that bottom dust cover off, I paint the back side of the it around the dot white and add a bright orange dot to the ball to make it easier to see. I usually line it up and scribe a mark on the crank pully next to the front timing marks on the timing chain cover as well, to make finding the ball easier.

If you're going through that much trouble to establish a timing mark, once you locate the ball and align it with the pointer, why not just add a mark on the crank pulley with a chisel in line with the long mark on the timing cover!

AMAZING how much easier it is to time the engine after this!!

 

[Travis]

The engine could have been rebuilt/assembled by someone who did not align the ball to the pointer with cylinder 1 at TDC. So, try hooking up the timing light up to each of the other cylinders until you can see the "ball" when you are attempting to time the engine.

Paul

This isn't possible, the flywheel only goes on one way...

-Travis

 

[Paul]

Travis,,

I've never tried to install it in the location except when #1 is at TDC. But what is there to prevent the flywheel from being installed when # 2&3 are at TDC?

Paul

 

[Travis]

The holes that mount the flywheel to the crank are not evenly spaced. If you rotate the motor so that cyl 2 and 3 are at TDC, you'll need to rotate the flywheel to get it to bolt up.

-Travis

 

[Paul]

Travis,

That's good to know. I guess that means that in all the 1.9s on which I've removed the flywheel (clutches, rebuilds etc), I've never tried to put the flywheel on in the wrong position where I would have found this out the hard way. Count me as lucky!

Paul

 

[kwilford]

AMAZING how much easier it is to time the engine after this!!

Otto, what is that sending unit mounted into the oil pump prime hole?

 

[Gary]

Otto, what is that sending unit mounted into the oil pump prime hole?

The 3.0E in my Senator has an oil temp sending unit there.