LBR
New member
Hi guys - Tuned up my 79 CJ-5 with an unknown year of AMC 360 in it yesterday for the first time - my usual low-buck M.O. includes beadblasted the cap, rotor, plugs. I did replace the plug wires as they were really old and 2 of them failed the ohm-meter test. Got in a hurry and made the rookie mistake of ripping off the cap and plug wires out of the cap, so I had to verify where the rotor was pointing to when #1 was at TDC. While the plugs were still out, I screwed in my compression tester into #1 and bumped the engine until #1 started showing compression. After marking the distributor where #1 was at TDC to start putting on the new wires, I look at the timing marks and the line on the harmonic balancer to get #1 as close to TDC as possible. The harmonic balancer timing mark is way off from the stationary timing marks. If you were looking at this engine dead on from the front, the timing marks are at approx. 11 o'clock and the line on the balancer is at approx. 8 o'clock (already has rotated past the timing marks.) If the timing marks are lined up properly, then it is indicating where #2 is TDC, not #1. My other Jeeps have Chevys in them and I don't know the particulars about the AMC engines and swapping of parts amongst them. Do I have the wrong balancer on this engine? Thanx.......LBR
