I am looking for info to help me set Inj Pump timing - I hope to avoid pulling the IP again. Background - 83 300SD w/ 112K, from Ebay back in Nov, my third 617. It ran extremely well - I've driven it about 2K miles, and it looks great, but it was a bloody mess under the hood. Neurotic that I am, I have had it down for about 3 months while I've worked my way through the engine compartment, undoing God-awful corrosion, oil leaks and every typical problem known to a 617, compounded by sheer neglect. I did adjust the valves, tending to err on the loose side if at all, as they all seemed very tight to me.

R&R'ed the IP to renew the mounting gasket - didn't disturb the engine and tried to carefully line the IP back up just the way it was, but I must have gooned it up. Now it will just start, but I have to apply full throttle to keep her lit - only attains about 1500 rpm, and dies if I back off even a little. Lots of white smoke and the rich smell of unburned fuel. I've loosened and moved the IP once, toward the block enough to make it necessary to rebend the injection hard lines a bit, but no change at all in how she runs. Tried to check IP timing via el drippo method, but I really can't say I'm confident of results. I will try the "well up" method next, but before I do, just want to ask if anyone can correlate exhaust smoke color or the low max rpm condition to IP timing. In other words, I would like to know if I'm likely off in the "push toward" or "push away" from the block direction before I try to set IP timing again. I'm surprised that it can be this far off - I would have expected no more than a one or two spline misalignment due to clumsy R&R. The intermediate drive collar came off with the pump and I didn't pay much attention to how it went back in, but I don't think it could impact IP timing, regardless of how it goes in. I really don't want to pull the IP again... appreciate any thoughts on how to proceed or anything I may have missed. Thanks, BigMac