230 engine Timing

Two bolts is news to me too. I only found one (only looked for one!) and, with a bit of coaxing, got the distributor to move.

There is a stud on the timing cover right next to where the ignitor goes in with a nut on it....the other is on the bottom of the ignitor itself...goes through the same plate that the stud on the timing cover goes through.

The stud has only a little bit of movement allowed for adjustment....the one on the bottom of the ignitor has many times the allowed amount for adjustment.

The ignitors do stick readily in the housing...you need to carefully heat and try to move the unit and repeat until it does...it will eventually but be carefull as the timing cover is aluminum and will melt if it gets too hot...I have done 2 of them...never any fun...

When you do get it loose, it is a great idea to pull the unit out clean the shaft and get rid of the corrrosion there and in the timing cover hole where it seats, then put on some anti-seize compound when you reinstall it.


When putting the ignitor back in, if you dont turn the shaft while it is out, you can look at the bottom end of the shaft and note that, even though it looks like a wide screwdriver tip, one end is thinner than the other....the gear it seats into inside the timing cover also is this way...so it only goes in one way...makes it easy...

To loosen the distributor to adjust the timing, there is only one bolt (#1). The text of the instructions agrees too.

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/5...ributorgv7.jpg

Lets see if I have images of the 2 holddowns for adjustment....

http://www.m715zone.com/jonmisc/fig2-33.jpg
Item 32 is the plate with the 2 adjustment areas on it.

http://www.m715zone.com/jonmisc/timing_adjust.jpg
You can see better what to look for in this shot...

I know the tunep section only lists one...but I know there are 2....as shown in these illustrations....when I bought mne, the timing was roughly 50 degrees advanced...it took more than the little one on the timing cover stud to correct that....

Mine wouldn't move until I loosened the second bolt as well. I had to tap the housing a bit as well.

Heh, heh, heh.... It appears I'll have to look for a loose bolt on my truck, huh?! ;)

Thanks, guys....

I've had some problems adjusting the timing too. The engine hates me if I set it at the 5 degrees. It runs perfect at low and high RPM if I have it at 15 degrees with no problem. What causes this? Is the timing chain off by a tooth? or is my 715 just finickie?

Did you set the idle at the proper speed before you timed it? It's very important.

Idle is 600 RPM. Still no missing, backfire or rattling at high rpm. It runs quiet too. I live on a steep mountain side and it still goes up the hill with little effort. What else could cause this weird timiming? Burned out valves?