73 165 timing

Hi all,,woking on my 73 165 I-6..found tdc and had to re-mark my balancer.could someone please tell me what the timing spec is on this motor,and what the correct plugs are for it..i dont have the mercruiser manual for it and have been unable to download it.thanks for any info........Matt

Re: 73 165 timing

Ayuh,... I believe it's timed to 6? Btc,.... The plugs I believe are AC MR43T,...

Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong,...

Re: 73 165 timing

you dont remark a factory balancer . more likely the rubber has slipped a bit.

Re: 73 165 timing

If the center hub to outer ring has not slipped....... you may not have it on TDC on the compression stroke.

Re: 73 165 timing

ddrieck said:

If the center hub to outer ring has not slipped....... you may not have it on TDC on the compression stroke.

Click to expand...

Thats what I am thinking,I used a piston stop to find tdc, touched the stop ,cranked it around by hand till it stopped and split the distance,marked the balancer with a paint pen to line up with zero on the tab.The actual mark on the balancer is pointing at 11 o clock position and it should be bout 1 oclock position.. it hasnt slipped in or out .when im off this week i"ll put a light back on it and see where it is showing.Motor runs well just need to verify the timing ,,runs about 3700-3750 wot.Should be a little higher with 19p,So just verifying everything before a prop swap.also need to make sure mech advance is funtioning properly.The balancer will get replaced this winter when funds permit.Thanks for the replies and the specs bondo.