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Classic/Antique Car Repair/dist, cap firing order

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Expert: Paul Wilczynski - 8/7/2009


Question
hi   i have a chevy 230 in a 1965 nova    can you tell me where on the dist. cap does the number 1 plug wire go?  the cap doesnt have a 1 to look for    thank you

Answer
It goes on any terminal on the cap! But the terminal you want is the one that the rotor is pointing to when the #1 cylinder is ready to fire its plug; you can tell when this is ready by lining up the timing mark on the pulley or flywheel and making sure that the #1 cylinder's piston is at TDC, which you can find by removing the spark plug in the #1 cylinder and shining a strong light into it to see the piston top, or you can insert a pencil into the cylinder to check if the piston is all the way up on its compression stroke.

When these two conditions are present--timing mark lined up, and piston in #1 at top, wherever the rotor is pointing is where the #1 spark plug lead goes.

--Paul  

Classic/Antique Car Repair

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Paul Wilczynski

Expertise

Most questions involving vintage car restoration, mechanical and body, paint and upholstery. Parts sourcing. Extensive experience in wood-bodied station wagons, British and French cars of the '40s through '70s. Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, Sunbeam Alpine and Tiger, Citroen Maserati, VW Beetle, 1955-65 Chevrolet (especially Nomad station wagons), Corvair.

Experience

Wide-ranging and long-term. I owned a restoration shop in the 1970s, continue to dabble in vintage exotics. At one time, had a seven-car collection of contemporary exotics which I had restored and maintained myself. When I was 18 years old, I designed a woodie kit for the VW Beetle, which I developed into a product which was featured on television and in over 100 magazines and 25 books at last count. I still own and drive one of my creations. I owned a design and fabrication consultancy from 1982-2002, specializing in show car fabrication for manufacturers including Ford, Mazda, GM, Subaru, Mitsubishi, etc. Since 2003, I have been a department manager in Industrial Design, and a full-time instructor in automotive design and fabrication at the university level. My students go on to design automobiles as staff designers for major auto manufacturers worldwide.

Organizations
Western Automotive Journalists, Industrial Design Society of America.

Publications
Long list of magazines and books, including Playboy, VW Trends, VW Greats, Hot VWs, and European automotive magazines.

Education/Credentials
I teach design and fabrication at university level. My education is in Industrial Design, University of Illinois (1966-1970).

Awards and Honors
Many awards for restorations in local concours and shows.

Past/Present Clients
Mazda, Ford, GM, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Honda, Toyota, Chrysler, Mercedes, Porsche.

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