How To Find Top Dead Center On A Chevy 327?

Same way.

wrote: My commuter car has a hemi style head. To find TDC I remove the spark plug and insert a long narrow diameter plastic rod. I put the car in neutral and rock the car back and forth until I know I'm at TDC. How do I find TDC on a 327 Chevy engine? ___________________________________________________________________

If you put the car in neutral, rocking it won't turn the engine. Maybe you meant you put the car in top gear and rocked it back and forth until the plastic rod projected out the furthest.

You can find TDC on the 327 the same way. Or you can just turn the engine over until the advance scale on the vibration damper is at zero. This is TDC for cylinder 1.

Good luck.

Rodan.

"Rodan" wrote in news:v8Fql.486$%u5.370 @nwrddc01.gnilink.net:

no because you can never trust a small block chev vib dampner to not have slipped. that is why you check for true tdc. KB

You have to make sure it is TDC on the "compression" stroke. There are two TDC's in a four stroke.

Never? Come on.

They also make a "whistler" that I use. It's bout $10. You screw it into the number one cylinder, turn the engine over by hand, and whn it stops whistling, you are at TDC on the compression/firing stroke.

-Doc

Pull number one plug. Put a long ratchet and proper socket on the damper bolt. Put trans in neutral and rotate the engine with your finger over the spark plug hole. You will feel the compression try to push your finger off the hole. When the pressure stops your at TDC on the compression stroke. The damper line should line up with the 0 mark on the pointer.

Underline this statement. Lots of people miss this fact and get 180 degrees off with the ignition.

They also make a "whistler" that I use. It's bout $10. You screw it into the number one cylinder, turn the engine over by hand, and whn it stops whistling, you are at TDC on the compression/firing stroke.

-Doc

Been many years since I had to do this but it was not a mater of getting the car "exactly" on top dead center, it was only that I needed to get the distributer back in and needed it within a few degrees. Never saw one of those whistler things, I would have bought one. But I use a piece of tissue paper, wadded up and placed into the #1 plug hole. Always turned the motor over with the starter, disable ignition, and when the paper flies out if you stop cranking immediatly, it is now on TDC. Rather simple and it works for me. disston

are you trying to set the timing or are you in the process of rebuilding the engine?

Get something more than long enough that fits into the number one cylinder spark plug hole, hold on to whatever.you have in there.Slowly turn the crank shaft with a socket wrench.You will know when the piston is at top dead center and begins to come back down.You might need to move the crank shaft back and forth a few times.Be sure the piston is coming up on the compression stroke. cuhulin

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote in news:a23e13c7-11b7-47b3-985b- snipped-for-privacy@q9g2000yqc.googlegroups.com:

they are well known for slipping the timming ring on the vib dampner. if you want to be sure of the timing, check for true TDC. Do not trust the vib dampner ring markings. KB

The simple stuff works for the easier engines, but if you are doing a timing belt on an import or even indexing the cam sprockets to the cams on a Chrysler 3.5L, you need to be precise. In extreme cases, I have inserted a 1/4" extension, then put a dial indicator on top of that with a clamp on magnetic arm to get the precise TDC. Some imports time off of cylinder 3 instead of 1. When in doubt, check your manual. I like the whistler cause it's quick and easy to use.

-Doc

Some would argue to use Doc Humphrey's dial indicator with extension and 'sneak up' on it turning crankshaft in a cw direction and mark the damper with/at a FIXED pointer when it 1st moves, Then, 'sneak back up' on it from a ccw direction and again mark the damper. Halfway between your 2 marks is true TDC. HTH, s

Correct. If you remove the dist cap and have the rotor pointing at #1 position while the timing mark is on 0, you are at TDC on the compression stroke.

You might wana re-think that. Remember, there are 2 TDC's.

What? Is that like "this is my brother Larry nd this is my other brother Larry"

There is only one TDC for a given piston. The OP wasn't asking how to align the crank with the cam. He was asking how you deal with the fact that on a 327 the spark plug hole is not in line with the piston movement. On a hemi the spark plug hole points in the same direction as the piston. On a 327 it is closer to 90 degrees from the direction the piston travels.

-jim

Interesting. So what do you call it when "a given piston" is at the end of it's stroke, and the exhaust valve has gone closed?!?! If that isn't TDC also, then let me know what it is. Guess it's one of those rare 2 stroke 327's huh?!?!