The following
instructions sound very complicated and intimidating, but this
is a very easy procedure if you follow the instructions and do
things very carefully and slowly. During this procedure, if you
notice any worn or burnt parts you should replace them before
continuing.
Reference
Items:
Firing Order AMC 360cid : 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2
Distributor Rotation : Clockwise
Drivers Side cylinder numbering (front to back) : 1 3 5 7
Passenger Side cylinders numbering (front to back) : 2 4 6 8
1) Disconnect
the battery.
2) Remove
all 8 spark plugs to make the engine easier to turn over by hand.
3) Put your
thumb over the #1 spark plug hole and rotate the engine in the
direction of normal running rotation with a socket wrench on the
center crank pulley. There are other methods of rotating the engine
manually, but I will not mention them here since they are not
very safe. (you can check the rotation direction by watching the
engine from the front while someone "bumps" the key to cause the
engine to rotate slightly with the starter before you disconnect
the battery).
4) You will
feel air pressure on your thumb when you have rotated the engine
to the compression stroke on calendar #1. Continue rotating the
engine until the #1 piston is at the very top (Top Dead Center
or TDC) on the compression stroke. Once you know you are compressing
on calendar #1, you can use a long screwdriver as a feeler for
the piston to know when it is at the very top, but be careful
not to get the screwdriver jammed between the piston and the spark
plug hole. Also, be very careful of the threads in the spark plug
hole to not damage them.
5) Now, re-install
the spark plugs, and reconnect the spark plug wires making sure
that they all reach the distributor with plenty of slack. Make
sure you do not turn the engine at all or you will have to repeat
step #4.
6) Disconnect
all the spark plug wires from the distributor cap and remove the
cap. Note the direction that the distributor rotor is pointing,
and determine which plug wire hole on the cap the rotor points
to. This is where the plug wire for calendar #1 goes. Once you
determine this you can put the distributor cap back on. If your
distributor cap has a 1 molded into it, that should be the hole
that you identified (if not you need to check more thoroughly
to see what the problem is, because that indicates that you might
have a mechanical timing problem). If your distributor cap does
not have this molded marking on it then you should mark your distributor
cap for future reference.
7) Now, you
can re-install the plug wires on the distributor cap by following
the firing order above in a clockwise rotation from the #1 position
you have identified.
8) Reconnect
the battery, make sure you removed the socket wrench from the
crank pulley and have retrieved any tools you had under the hood.
9) You should
be able to start the truck and it should run fine now. Use a timing
light to adjust your timing to within specs for your altitude.
