I recently picked up a 1967 D200 with a 318 Poly / A Series engine, and a 4 speed, and I've been working on getting it running, but battling a bunch of timing issues.

When I first tried starting it before messing with anything, it would run, but it was very rough, backfiring out of the carb, not idling, and popping out of the exhaust a bit. It turned out that the firing order was completely messed up, as the wires weren't plugged into the correct location on the cap, in addition to being in the wrong order. I fixed all of that, and put the wires in the correct places, and I even replaced them with new ones, even though they didn't look bad, although #5's wire was broke on the end. I also threw a new coil on that my father had for years and only used once. Despite everything being correct now, it only made things worse, as all it would do now is pop out of the exhaust when cranking over, with no attempt at running. So, I looked everything over as usual, and didn't find anything wrong. The cap, rotor and points, and distributor are in perfect shape, almost like new, and of course the wires I just put on. So thinking the timing chain had skipped, I tore the front of the engine off, to find the timing chain and sprockets in perfect shape. There was no wear, and there was virtually no slack in the chain, and behind the timing cover, everything was extremely clean, as if someone was in there before me, and of course, the marks line up perfectly with each other, and #1 is at TDC, like it should be.

The one big thing that catches my eye, is where the rotor is pointing when #1 is at TDC and the marks are lined up. It should be pointing at #1, but instead it's pointing at #7 or #4 depending on how you have the distributor in. With the way the slot is for the distributor down in the engine, I can put it in 180 degrees from where is was before, which gets me nowhere in getting this timed right, so I'm out of ideas at this point.

Am I doing something wrong, or...? Any recommendations for a fix is much appreciated, thanks.

Edit: I solved the issue. Going to reassemble this thing and fire it up now.

Dot to dot as you have it should be 6.The gear will come up and be able to reorient.Also make sure you have the wires on correct as to rotation.Firing order is 1 8 4 3 6 5 7 2.Drivers bank all odd pass even.The number 6 wire can be anywhere on the cap as long as you install; the other wires in the order after that.Rotor just has to pint to 6 Turn over till dot on cam is at 12 oclock and crank is also at 12 and that should be 1.Rocky

Looks like cyl #6 set to fire to me too. With all the problems you're bringing up, I was going to suggest that maybe snuck a reverse rota. marine cam in it or something.....

So you're saying that if I move the gear over to be pointing towards #6, I can pull the gear out and move it? I just went and moved the engine over until both marks were at 12 O' Clock and the gear is still pointing towards #7 and #4 which makes zero sense to me. I have an old book which I've been getting the firing order and orientation of the wires off of. I also found a video / animation that shows the exact same firing order / orientation that's in the book, maybe you can watch that to get where I'm at seeing #7 and #4 firing right now, instead of #6 like you're saying. Is this diagram wrong or something?

Edit: I solved the issue. Scroll down to my latest post for details.

If both dots are at 12 o'clock then it's on #1. Cam at 6 and crank at 12 is #6. The slot in the distributor drive gear should be, I believe nearly straight with the centerline of the crankshaft or slightly angled towards the #1 cylinder.

I know guys that say It doesn't matter where the rotor is pointing as long as you route the wiring accordingly but, it does matter. You can end up with a rotor out of phase with the distributor lobe, or reluctor and that can cause weird issues and spark scatter.

Take a long flat tip screwdriver and put it in the distributor drive slot.

Rotate is CCW and it will come up the cam gear and allow you to relocate the slot to what ever position you want.

That will fix the rotor pointing wrong issue.

The distributor gear is helical cut so if you turn it with a screwdriver it will come out far enough then you can put it where ever you want it and screw it back in to its resting position, might take a few tries to get to point to number 1.

Thanks for the help! I took a screwdriver and put it in the slot, and turned it clockwise, pointed it to #1, then it fell back in and now everything is aligned properly. Now I can finally hear this thing run after I reassemble the front of the engine.

Bad condensers can do some VERY weird things, including apparent bad timing. Cheap and easy to eliminate before proceeding. 2¢

Robert

Last I checked, the condenser looked fine, but I'll look at it more while I'm at it.

Most time you can't really tell by looking at them unless it's physically damaged. Tune up parts like that today are real crap. One of my sons works at a VW shop that does a lot of the old air cooled bugs and he says he has had to go through 5-7 condensers before they get a good one.

put a large screwdriver on the intergear slot & turn it clockwise to get it to raise up & turn (some are stuck & need persuation). Ideally when done you want the rotor to be pointed slightly to the pass side with the #1 plug wire plugged in above it. This maintains the OE diagram (not critical but a good plan) & lets the plug wires nestle the neatest with the shortest lengths possible & this is on #1 compression with the dampener timing marks already set at your desired initial setting such as 15 BTDC then turn the dist housing slightly till the magnet is dead even with the tooth or the point are just starting to open. At that point the rotor should still be under or near under the #1 plug wire cap terminal. Holler back when you can. EDIT I missed that you got it solved!

FYI, the timing set has been replaced. The stock setup was a Morse silent chain like most stock engines used, but the chain and sprockets were about 1" wide.

You can still get this setup if you're willing to pay for it. I replaced it with a double roller. Directly interchangeble with an LA.

R.