Hi,

can anyone confirm if this mark represents TDC for cylinder 1?. This mark is found on the Bosch distributor from my 1.8 Pinto.
Rescued attachment Dizzy TDC.jpg

On my 2 litre pinto with the bosch dizzy its the gap or dip in the edge thats TDC if that helps.

One of these gaps Bob?
Rescued attachment Dizzy TDC2.jpg

Yup mine lines up with the bottom turquiose gap,i'm no help really as i'm colour blind and dyslexic LOL

The engine runs but i've not driven the car on the road yet,i'm just presuming its ok.

Not sure thats correct. The turqoise gap is the locating cutout for the cap. It all works the other way round realy as the crank pulley timing marks are the datum. Line up the firing mark (10deg BTDC) on the crank pulley with No 1 on compression stroke and then turn the distributor to line up the original scribed line you indicated with the leading edge of the rotor arm contact. That gives an initial ignition timing to start the engine and them correct with a strobe light. It doesn't indicate TDC.

Thanks again dusty,your explanation is more precise.

on bosch dizzys the scribe line in the middle of the rotor goes to the scribe line on dizzy body at tdc on no1 cyl

So, my plan is to align TDC on the camshaft pulley (while cylinder 1 is under compression), align the centre of my rotor arm with the 'red' notch on my dizzy while the crankshaft pulley is at 10 degrees BTDC then fit the timing belt.

Sounds like a plan...

nearly,set crank to tdc as well

If I do that, won't the ignition spark at TDC instead of 10 degrees BTDC?

set it up with the marks and usually ok,adjust if nec

Hi Russell,

the conrodkid is right; once all the marks are lined up the engine should turn over nicely and you can make adjustments to advance or retard later while the engine is ticking over with that sweet sound..

Hope all is going well.

Steve