Trying to put my 420 back together, help!

[126nut]

And I have a couple of questions,

1) The harness connector has come apart and the terminals are scattered about, this is on the throttle position switch terminals right in the vicinity of the idle bypass and cold start valve area. There are three wires, marked 1,2 and 3. Which color of wire goes to which terminal? The colors are brown, brown/white, and yellow.

2) It feels as if the timing is off but if I move the distributor I don't get the effect that I am used to with other engines which have their ignition points within the distributor. Since it appears that the engine gets it's timing off the rear flywheel sensor then how do you set the distributor location?

These could be simple questions but after doing a complete engine pull, reseal, chains, guides, head renewal, and tranny rebuild the old head is getting fuzzy and tired!! Last nite was a late one as well, had trouble getting the oil pump to prime and somehow got her a bit overheated due to a air pocket in the engine, hopefully I didn't scew somthing up.

[126nut]

A bit more to add now,

I can get it to start and idle but put it in gear and try to drive away and it falls flat on it's face. It is also seems to be running hot. Pulled the valve covers and checked all my marks, everything lines up as it should. Adjusting the timing at the distributor has little effect. I can get it ping and run sluggish as expected but it still has no power under load.

I have a nagging thought though. When pulling the transmission I inadvertently separated the flex plate from the ring gear. As you know the ring gear has the hall effect devices cast into it which are picked up by the sender at the top of the bellhousing. Is there any chance I assembled the flex plate and ring gear incorrectly? It is fastened at three locations so I assume there are three ways to assemble it. I know the flex plate goes on the crankshaft in only one fashion and is the true for the mounting of the ring gear to the flexplate as well?

Chas

[goldstone]

Chas,

I think this is what you're looking for:

[126nut]

Thanks a bunch goldstone, exactly what I was looking for!

As for the rest of ya'll thanks for nothing, I figured the timing issue on my own, ended up pulling the tranny and realigning the flex plate and ring gear, I screwed up and put them together one rotation off and it would still run that way but overheat and have little if any power. Good news is the tranny shifts great, no more leaky head gaskets and wandering idle speed.

Like they say, "live and learn"

Chas

[stevebfl]

The flywheel ring gear does need to be in the right place. Moving the distributor doesn't change the timing. If you turn it far enough you can fire the wrong cylinder at the right time.

[126nut]

Steve,

Ole buddy ole pal, where were you last nite when I was pulling my hair out?? I finally went to a Benz boneyard this a.m. and found a 420 engine sitting out of a car and inspected the flywheel. Needless to say I found all of the alignment holes which need to be lined up!!

All is well that ends well, right?

Chas

[stevebfl]

ASA dinner meeting.