[This message has been edited by claude dalpe (edited 05-09-2020).]

Here is Charlie, my 92 S10:



Rusty, but i managed to replace a cab mount, and the rocker panel on the drivers side, and "fix" the rust holes to pass safety here in Nova Scotia. Gonna do some more this summer or next before next safety. Anyway, people say that he is too rusty to work on and just get another truck, but Charlie has been too reliable to just throw him away. So i put some $1300 in PARTS into Charlie and he is still on the road, with 182,000 MILES on him. One alternator, one water pump, three radiators, tensioner. Why throw away a truck that runs great? but mileage is poor - 14 mpg. Thats why i want to set the timing where it should be. Yes, i know how to disable the computer by disconnecting the wire..... so that i can set initial advance. i plan on getting good fenders where most of the rust is, and repairing the cab mounts and then spraying the whole truck with grease undercoating. Gotta get a y pipe when i'm down in N Carolina this summer, cuz he doesn't run as well with exhaust leaks, i guess exhaust scavenging is big with this design.

Thanks for the heads up on making my own wrench by welding. i can weld, even if sometimes it isn't pretty, and i have some old wrenches that i can use for the purpose. Save some money. Thanks again.

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Astronomy says we will find a coded signal from outer space. Then we'll KNOW that life exists there, for coded signals aren't by chance.

Biology says there are coded genetic signals in every cell, but we KNOW that no intelligence created life.

I'm the original owner of a white ' 84 2M4 purchased Dec 10, 1983 from Pontiac. Always garaged, no rust, 4-wheel drifts are fun!

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Astronomy says we will find a coded signal from outer space. Then we'll KNOW that life exists there, for coded signals aren't by chance.

Biology says there are coded genetic signals in every cell, but we KNOW that no intelligence created life.

I'm the original owner of a white ' 84 2M4 purchased Dec 10, 1983 from Pontiac. Always garaged, no rust, 4-wheel drifts are fun!

Well, i figured out the timing. A friend loaned me his timing wrench but it was 9/16 and that is too small to fit on the 15mm bolt. SOOOOOOOO

i figured that Chevy didn't care about mechanics, but profitability, and if ya gotta pay at the dealer well, thats just more profit for chevy. So they put the distributor in the hardest spot to get to and in addition they put a bunch of crap around it (red circle) to make it impossible without removing the aforementioned crap. Well i decided to remove it once and for all and relocate the coil and some vacuum thingy. But first i had to get the bracket thingy out of the way.



A sawzall and a grinder made short work of that bugger. Gone and good riddance!

A shorty 15mm 12point box wrench did the trick on the bolt. The trick was to put the wrench UNDER the wire loom and use the loom to hold down the wrench so it wouldn't slip. About 12 turns of the wrench allowed the distributor to be moved COUNTERCLOCKWISE to advance the ignition. Still have to check with the light.

What to do about the all crap in the way? Well the coil, i turned around and bolted it to the unused cruise control hole on another bracket, (green circle) and the vacuum thingy i zip tied it to another thingy on the firewall (fuchia circle). Easy Peasy.



We move stuff around all the time on our Fiero swaps so why not on Charlie, my work truck? Hez gonna need a new distributor at some point if the good running 2.8 keeps going, so why not make it easy next time?

jon

Edit: all part of the front end job - i put on good fenders and a radiator support from the junkyard, and why not throw in some good headlight buckets? All that stuff got painted with used motor oil, and then the critical parts got painted with wheel bearing grease - rubbed in to mix it with the oil and make a paste. Stays put.
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Astronomy says we will find a coded signal from outer space. Then we'll KNOW that life exists there, for coded signals aren't by chance.

Biology says there are coded genetic signals in every cell, but we KNOW that no intelligence created life.

I'm the original owner of a white ' 84 2M4 purchased Dec 10, 1983 from Pontiac. Always garaged, no rust, 4-wheel drifts are fun!

[This message has been edited by longjonsilver (edited 05-21-2020).]