Am I going to make it to Buffalo like this?

[Dave@Moon]

I was prepping my 1960 LeSabre this afternoon for the 225 mile trip to Buffalo for the Buick Club of America National meet when checking the car's timing became something of an adventure.<P>With each firing of the #1 cylinder, the timing mark on the crankshaft pulley mover 2-3 degrees. I watched this thing make 2 complete rotations at idle. Raising the RPM didn't seem to affect the movement one way or the other (as best I could tell, since the advance mechanisms were working). <P>The engine is a Buick 364 cu. in. big block, 2 brl, with the regular gas/low compression option. It runs wonderfully, by the way. The timing check was part of a thorough tune up that it really didn't need.<P>I'm assuming for the moment that the crankshaft pulley doubles as the harmonic balancer, and that the rubber in the balancr is going south on me. If not, we may have to call in an exorcist for this thing! It's probably too late to get a new balancer for this thing by hursday, when I'm supposed to leave. My question is simple: Am I going to make it the 225 (interstate) miles to Buffalo? (and back!) If this thing fails, will it fly apart or just stop spinning and no longer power the belts? <P>Any ideas?

[The Old Guy]

There is a possibility that you have a worn bushing in the distributor that is giving you a fluctuation in the timing. I am driving from the Flint area with my 40 Buick Super Convert and it has run over 90,000 miles since I got it and like a Timex ,it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!!

[Dave@Moon]

The car is running great. I think if there was a slippage in the actual ignition timing the thing would have some symptoms. The timing mark was making complete circles around the pulley (slightly slower than crank speed). If it were reading the actual timing of the #1 cylinder ignition there is no way the car could be running.<p>[ 07-09-2001: Message edited by: Dave@Moon ]