1984 5.7L mcm260, while watching the distributor rotor and moving the main crank pulley with a rachet in both directions, it appears that I have 6 degrees of "slack" in the system. Is the probable cause a streatched timing chain? I need some advice.
I'm turning the crank with the plugs in, so it's a little jerky. It could be a little more than 6 degrees, but no more than 8 for sure. Is this causing me performance / efficiency problems due to the valves and ignition running late relative to cyliner position? If it's something I need to deal with sooner or later I'd rather do it now that I have the boat out for the season. But if its really no big deal I'll forget about it and proceed with winterizing.
Well of course it is going to retard the valve timing a bit but it is just normal wear and spark timing is adjustable via the dist..if its running good dont worry about it..any chain without a tensioner is gonna have a little slop in it. 'nutcase
As the previous poster said, you adjust the timing to the crank position so your ignition timing relative to piston position would be exactly where its indicated via your timing light. Your valve timing would be the only thing that would be off.
