My untimeable motor.

[padam]

If it has a stroker kit I didn’t know about, and the previous owner certainly didn’t know about, and it has a distributor for a 383, I think that’s pretty obvious. For reference this car barely shifted when I got it and the guy I got it from didn’t know anything or care. It was stored and neglected other than cosmetically. Every piece of the motor was leaking, both gas and oil. I am not even shocked if this ends up being the case.

I hate to say this, but mission creep can lead to your car being in 50 different boxes and ten years down the road sold as a “project.”

The bolt head size is not affecting your ignition timing!

 

[DynaBro]

The bolt head size is not affecting your ignition timing!

It's what the bolt head may have been indicating given the lack of information about the previous rebuild and lack of competency/interest of the owner in between that build and my ownership. I was clear on that. If the crank is not a 383 crank and the distributor is that would certainly effect timing. Given some of the other baffling modifications on this car, the fact that the motor is a replacement and the original one was raced to death, and that the car has a brake line lock, it's conceivable if not probable that the original owner sought out a replacement motor built for performance. I'm not certain this is the case, but I am also having difficulty identifying the balancer as stock due to a lack of decent photos online specific to the year and it has numerous balancing holes drilled into the edge (not the face). All of this taken in as a whole could absolutely factor into the timing problem. The only way to be certain as far as I am aware is to pull the balancer to inspect the snout.

 

[DynaBro]

Marks I can’t find in other photos. But I can’t find many photos so I have no idea.

 

[RemCharger]

It's what the bolt head may have been indicating given the lack of information about the previous rebuild and lack of competency/interest of the owner in between that build and my ownership. I was clear on that

. If the crank is not a 383 crank and the distributor is that would certainly effect timing.

trying to figure how you could come to that conclusion

Given some of the other baffling modifications on this car, the fact that the motor is a replacement and the original one was raced to death, and that the car has a brake line lock, it's conceivable if not probable that the original owner sought out a replacement motor built for performance. I'm not certain this is the case, but I am also having difficulty identifying the balancer as stock due to a lack of decent photos online specific to the year and it has numerous balancing holes drilled into the edge (not the face). All of this taken in as a whole could absolutely factor into the timing problem. The only way to be certain as far as I am aware is to pull the balancer to inspect the snout.

Does it look like a stock balancer. The drill holes will end up wherever they needed to remove weight.

 

[DynaBro]

Does it look like a stock balancer. The drill holes will end up wherever they needed to remove weight.

Probably. You guys have to understand there’s nothing for me to compare any of this to and nobody to ask in real life. I’ve spent plenty of time at the local events and attempting networking and there simply aren’t resources to get educated on this old stuff outside of this forum. I see plenty of old mustangs and Camaros out here but as far as MOPARs go maybe the occasional Road Runner or Charger that are usually old family cars the owners don’t have this level of interest in.

Everything I read about balancers having holes means external balancing and says 383 cranks are supposedly internally balanced etc. that’s all I have to go on. Nobody coming to look at my car for me.

 

[RemCharger]

Here is a stock 361/383/413/440 internally balanced forged crank balancer.

 

[DynaBro]

Here is a stock 361/383/413/440 internally balanced forged crank balancer.
View attachment 1915596View attachment 1915598View attachment 1915599

Assuming that is the bolt face and not the engine face I THINK mine is different. And I also don’t see the number markings as are on mine posted a few posts back.

 

[DeltaV]

Assuming that is the bolt face and not the engine face I THINK mine is different. And I also don’t see the number markings as are on mine posted a few posts back.

Post up some more pictures of your c/s damper. Someone might recognize the manufacturer/supplier of your crankshaft damper.

Your timing issue(s) most likely are elsewhere.

Also, have you inspected your timing gears, keys/keyways, and timing chain?

 

[DynaBro]

Beat I could do.

 

[dadsbee]

Yep, 6 x 5/16th bolts surrounding a 3/4 " bolt with a 1.25" head!