How to Time the Engine on a Small Block Chevy
- 1). Find the timing mark on the driver's side of the timing. It sticks out over the harmonic balancer. The harmonic balancer is the round metal part that the crankshaft fan belt pulley attaches to. If it is dirty, spray some carburetor cleaner on it and wipe with a shop rag. The mark has numbers on it that read "Before-12-8-4-0-4-8-12-After." Some markers may have slightly different numbers like "10-6-2-0-2-6-10," but they will all read "Before and After." Paint the numbers with some White-Out to make them easier to read.
- 2). Turn the crankshaft with a ratchet and socket in a clockwise direction until you see the timing notch in the harmonic balancer. Clean it if necessary and paint with White-Out.
- 3). Attach an inductive timing light to the engine by clipping the spark plug lead to the No. 1 spark plug wire. The No. 1 spark plug wire is the first one on the driver's side of the engine. Clip the red lead to the positive battery terminal. Clip the black lead to the negative battery terminal.
- 4). Disconnect the rubber hose from the vacuum advance on the distributor and plug it with a small screw.
- 5). Loosen the distributor hold-down bolt with a wrench. Loosen it just enough so that you can turn the distributor, but it takes some effort to do so.
- 6). Start the engine and shine the timing light at the timing mark. Be careful of the fan. The flashing timing light will make It will look like it is not moving. It will also make the notch in the harmonic balancer appear to be stationary under the timing mark. If it is in the area of six degrees "Before," you should be in good shape. If not, turn the distributor until the notch is on six before. This is six degrees "Before Top-Dead-Center."
- 7). Tighten the distributor hold-down bolt, reattach the vacuum hose to the distributor and remove the timing light.