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If you want to know if you are on compression stroke... remove #1 spark plug turn engine by hand until the compression wooshes out of the spark plug hole. If you want to be clever you could make a pipe to screw into the plug hole and stick a balloon on the end, you can tell you are at TDC when the balloon is full. A fun way to find TDC and more accurate than you might think.

Thanks guys...not much time for the car today. Decided to do it right and find TDC using my compression gauge. I removed the distributor the "easy" way by pulling it out of the clamp instead of messing with the bolts holding it in. Worked great until I couldn't get it back in the clamp.

Now for some more novice questions. The screw for the clamp is blocked by the grease cup on the distributor. Bad design or is it installed wrong? Also the bolt on the left side of the mounting clamp is a regular bolt. The one on the right is a low profile bolt with a slot. Neither bolt is easy to get to and I see no purpose for the slot. Also the bolt with the slot seems to bottom out before tight. Installed wrong? Is there a better way to tighten these bolts? I have used a crescent wrench and manifold wrenches but it still takes forever to turn the bolts.

Lastly the left side of the clamping mount has some degree markers but I do not see a pointer or any other way to use them.

If it is like my car you may be able to clean the area and find a dot or small line stamped into the pad next to the scale as a reference for the octane adjust lines. Mine was a very faint dot and may even be a defect in the casting but it works for me.

I didn't like the grease cup arrangement either so changed the clamp bolt to a longer one and added a steel spacer between the head and clamp to bring the access out a bit farther. Screw is still under the dist & not readily seen but still easier to reach.

In theory the clamp screw doesn't have to be accessed much. Dist is supposed to be timed and set when the octane scale is at zero and the screw tightened. From then on the other bolt is loosened to move the scale within the range of the slots. One side bolt is tight and the other has a thin spring washer along with the bolt head to keep tension on the bracket.

Thank you all for your help. After reassembly, I was able to get the car started, but only by spraying carb cleaner in the carb and it ran rough. I did not have time to do timing adjustments. At least it ran for a while.

Howard was right, there is a arrowhead on the pad the distributor mount sits on. After cleaning with a wire brush, it started to show. I wiped some white marks-a-lot on it and wiped off the access. Pretty visible now.

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11-8-14

Not much to report. I have not had time to mess with the engine, but it is starting better and running nicely. I still need to tighten the distributor clamp (with Howard's spacer suggestion) and check the timing. Seems like the car is "healing" itself. Running so well that it is tempting me to take it around the block again. Last time I did that, I stalled at a stop sign and it would not fire back up! I had to run home and grab a can of carb cleaner to squirt down the carb throat to start again. Very embarrassing!

Over the last couple of weeks I did manage to rewire the headlights so I can bundle that up. Most of my free time has been directed to removing metal on the '51 in prep for winter.

I did the same thing Howard suggested on extending the distributor clamp screw. I did it on my 115C, but yours is similar. I used a longer 1/4" bolt and a sleeve made from some 5/16" tubing. Here is a photo. sure makes it easier to loosen and tighten when setting the timing.

(o{}o)

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Great idea JW! I know the first time I worked on my 39 I couldn't figure out how to adjust the distributor, as the bolt was hidden under it. I'm going out to the hardware store now.

Thanks for the pic! Hopefully I will be able to try it before the first snowfall here.

Good progress Charles, and I'm learning bits from your blog as you write it up!

I didn't realize that the gauge was an Octane gauge, just assumed it was showing approximate timing. (I guess it is showing approximate timing advance also -? because after I recently re-timed my distributor, the pointer pointed to about 6 degrees advanced). Sad to hear you have such cold winters there. I have the opposite problem - it's getting hot here as summer approaches. Makes me feel less like working outdoors.

Larry, you are correct. While it is called an "Octane Adjuster", it is simply an index that allows you to easily adjust timing without a timing light. The index will let you know how many degrees you have advanced or retarded the timing. The trick I use is to set the "Octane Adjuster" to "0" and tighten the thumb screw and bracket mounting screws. Then I adjust the timing by loosening the clamp bolt and rotating the distributor body. Having the index still read "0" gives me an easy place to remember where I set the timing when I want to go back to the original setting. Clear as mud? It is really very simple. Hope this helps.

(o{}o)