And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

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gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Just found out that my cousin messed with some stuff while I was at the auto parts store distributor spark firing order is 1342and the order on the engine is .....1234 right ?
Also valve cover off top dead center on cam is lobes down protrusion mark at 6:00 ? Double checking i pdf isn't working and I don't have my book .
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
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Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Your note on the firing order is correct: 1-3-4-2. The cylinders are numbered, front to rear: 1-2-3-4.
Dunno about cam.
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
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gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Thank you very much I think I'm ready to give it a shot just gotta go pick up the fuel pump .oh! And I have all the marks lined up at tdc when do I set it to 10° btdc and do I just turncrank bolt until I get compression strike and stop at 10°?
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
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Petros
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Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by Petros »

you will not get an accurate setting guess at 10 deg BTDC. just try and get everything lined up at zero, crank pulley, cam sproket, and rotor in distributor points at #1 cylinder. With the vac advance disconnected and lines plugged, it will start and run if you got the fire order correct. than use a timing light on the front pulley connected to #1 spark plug, make sure the engine is idling at about 800 rpm (often you have to reset idle speed at the carb because changing the timing changes the idle speed). Once done reconnect the vac advance and check timing, should be advanced about 14-17 deg at idle. You can rent a timing light for free from Autozone, if you do not have one you can borrow.

You can set the spark timing by "ear" if you have no timing light this way: with the engine warm (vac advance still off and capped), advance timing on distributor so engine seems to run "good", than drive it and either accelerate hard, or drive up a steep hill lugging the engine in a high gear. if you get no ping or knock (that crackling noise when the engine is hot), than advance the timing a little and try again. Repeat until you get pinging, and than back it off a little bit.

it runs the most efficient (most economy and hp output) when you have it advanced the furthest, without getting ping or knock. a few occasional pings on lugging or hard acceleration is okay, but not too much. too much ping will damage the head gasket and eventually cause valves and pistons to get damaged. BTW, too little advance will not only give poor economy and power, it results in a hotter exhaust, and possible overheating and failing of the exhaust valves. That is why I recommend setting timing at 10 to 12 deg BTDC, not the factor 5 deg (for emissions), it will result in valve damage, that could trash the whole engine (I have seen well maintained engines drop a valve into the combustion chamber and a few milliseconds later it gets driven up through the postilion head, crank, piston, head and block were all damaged). To get it right is a bit of a chore, trial and error, but works just as well as anything else.

good luck.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Well you guys .I told myself I wasn't gonna get all emotional .but it looks like we did it again .SUCCESS!! At first it ran like stinky poop but when I was told my helpful OCD cousin put his hands in the mix I found switched #1and #3 plug wires.fixed that and it's like a new spirit came into the beast and it was a rough idle but it purred .So .I fiddled with the timing then I'd fiddled with the idle back and forth back and forth .until I got a nice (to me considering that before this latest incident my idle was all over the place had to run it so rich because if leaned out the idle went through the roof ..but as of now that's all in the past .? Now the kicker is pre -crap out I was getting roughly 15 mpg .can't wait to see the difference .
I have to say that throughout the years I've been visiting this website , each time I leave my car is happy I'm happy the world is right and in harmony .but seriously I wish to take this time to sincerely thank all the people that give their time and knowledge and patience so that people like me can learn and grow into bonifide mastercelators.
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
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Petros
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Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by Petros »

Congratulations. always happy to be of help. The more you work on these cars you will find that diagnosing and fixing them is not that difficult.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

This is very very true
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
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