Engine juddery, loss of horsepower.

[Crashtd420]

Wow there is a lot to read....

While you seem to be making progress the only thing I did not see was when you reset everything to top dead center did you make sure the rotor was pointing to the #1 plug wire? 

[None_zero]

I did not because the rotor position was determined by the spindle position. However it seems likeno was worried over nothing. I had no choice but drive it and I don't know what to make of it. At first it was running and every few seconds it would hit like one of the cylinders was pushing back when combustion happened and caused the engine to torque a little. And the tailpipe was tapping on the undercarriage making sound even worse. I drove it 24 miles and then stopped and checked the oil then drove it another 20 miles and it seemed to kind of smooth out a bit. When I started it to leave work it almost seemed normal but after driving 10 miles or so it started doing that same weird torqing on the engine. Maybe some of it is in the suspension I can't really tell. I was thinking when I left work that maybe I just needed to drive the demon out of it and allow everything to settle into the rhythm... I don't know it's still running though it appears the only way to kill this truck is to make it prettier and then she lays down and quits for a few weeks to let you know she wants to be ugly but when it's not doing that torque stutter crap it actually sounds better now that I finally got the spindle on the right tooth and hit the correct adjustment range for the timing 

Edited March 27, 2023 by None_zero

[None_zero]

@datzenmike it was hard to tell when we were looking at it but once I got it rolled back onto the right tooth then looking at it, it became obvious that it was too far forward before 

Edited March 27, 2023 by None_zero

[Crashtd420]

I only mentioned the rotor position because it's an easy verification when putting the distributor back in.

When engine is at top dead center the rotor should be pointing to the #1 plug wire ... 

 

I guess not really important now if you were able to time it correctly...

[None_zero]

I'm gonna make this final post to wrap this thread up because this has gone on forever and I'll always have another problem to solve which should have its own thread probably. The end result is that I have driven the demon out of the engine. I suppose after installing the distributor cap backwards and letting it idle that way (still confused how that works) there was enough fouling and general ...cluckery going on that made it seem that the engine was drastically out of time. However having FINALLY gotten the oil pump spindle in the correct position and returning my timing adjustment range to the correct place and them driving the dirt out of it from the distributor cap slip up it is once more running well (with a couple caveats that I'll no doubt dive into on another thread.) @datzenmike thanks for sticking with me through this I know it must have been frustrating. 😉 and to anyone who made it all the way to the end of this thread if it wasn't informative at the very least as a cautionary tale of woe, then I hope you were entertained if nothing else. Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply to the thread with suggestions and instructions I definitely wouldn't make it through even half of this stuff without you guys. Except for you @Thomas Perkinswhose advice to me is always the same... ("time to get a new truck") lol 

[None_zero]

One last quick addition. Getting that spindle back in there correctly seems to have also fixed where it hangs going into first. So that's another plus.