I'm trying to fire up a '61 CJ5 that I am almost finished restoring. Engine is from a '64 Buick Special, suspect it is the 198ci because it has a Rochester Monojet rather than the 2bbl found on the 225. No matter, same block, etc. I have compression, I have manifold vacuum, rebuilt the carb, have fuel, rebuilt the distributor (vacuum advance had a hole in it) and have spark, but it won't start. The previous owner had installed a new timing chain after he parked it, but never drove it, and I assume he did that correctly or it would have destroyed a valve in cranking it over. But he apparently had to pull the distributor. It is driven by a hypoid gear that causes the rotor to twist as you remove it, so I suspect he may not have inserted it correctly. At TDC, the rotor was pointing midway between #1 and #6.
There is a small notch on the side of the distributor housing that marks the #1 position. What I need is for someone with an Oddfire engine to set it to TDC and tell me where the centerline of the contact strip on top of the rotor is pointing. (The contact is wide at the end, but please ignore that.) Right now, mine points directly at the notch, but I am not sure if this is correct. I can't find any manuals that cover an engine this old. I need to set the ignition timing before I can finish troubleshooting it.
Thanks.