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Originally Posted by JBR
Thank you for your imput. I do beleive I need to retard the timing. But I can not turn the body of the dist. The hold down bolt is all the way at the end of the slot, no more turn is allowed. I beleive I need to lift the dist. out an inch or so, and turn the rotor. But which way do I turn the rotor? Then put the dist. back in with the bolt centered in the slot. Thanks
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I believe the normal direction of rotation of the rotor is clockwise in this car (you can double check it by watching the rotor turn whilst cranking the engine over with the cap removed). If that is the case, and you are trying to retard the spark further you would turn the rotor counterclockwise one tooth after lifting the distributor, then reseat it and retime it.
It's possible that in the past someone removed the distributor and replaced it with the rotor one tooth off. It's also possible that the timing marks on your crank pulley have shifted and you're not even reading the right timing at all...but assuming that's not the case and all you want to do is time the engine to the mark you can turn the rotor and reseat it. If this results in unsatisfactory performance I would confirm the timing marks are correct by manually turning the engine so #1 is TDC (you can use a dowel as a "feeler" in the spark plug hole) and check that the timing mark on the pulley corresponds correctly to 0 degrees at TDC.
Unless you're the only one who's worked on this car its entire life you cannot assume anything is correct. Over the years it's had a lot of hands under the hood, and some have probably tried to undo what others have done wrong...that's usually the challenge in fixing up old cars...trying to get it back to manufacturer's spec first, undoing all of the workarounds others have done to "re-engineer" it.