After my engine swap (a14 replacing a12 in the ute) I couldn't get the bugger to kick over.

Fuel : Check
Spark : Check
Compression : Check

Then I guess for the hell of it, I decided to take out the dizzy (which did suffer and pretty big knock during the swap) and swap it with my A12 dizzy.

It slid in and poof it fired up straight away but when I went to check the timing it appeared WAY OFF... we're talking about 35+ (maybe more) degrees. It was way off the marks on the timing cover.

Could it be that I haven't slotted the dizzy into the right tooth or something? and it going to just be a case of taking in out, rotating it a little until I get the right spot and then I may be able to fine tune it by rotating the dizzy later???

yea it sounds like all you'll need to do is pull it out and turn it a tooth or two. just give it a try

Pull it out, spin it and try it........

Ok... so this may take a little longer han what I hoped. I've pulled the dizzy and moved it around re-installed it. It either doesn't run or doesn't idle very well at all.

Should I be getting the engine to TDC before I put it back in?

You can;t just spin it and stick it back in. When it is idling rough turn it in it's place (c-wise and ac wise), using the adjustment screws (or not). Whilst turning it you will find one way will yield a better idle this will tell you how far off you are and what direction to reset the dizzy shaft to.

Have you got the manual?

There is a section in there for timing etc.

EDIT
Take the tappet cover off, manually turn the engine over (take out the plugs for easier spinning). Turn it until you see cylinder one 'on the rock' where it has completed it's intake stroke and it is at the end of the compression stroke - the position of the valves will be an indication of what stroke it is at.

The rotor on the distributor should be contacting the lead for cylinder one, using your firing order (is it 1342 or 1432? double check) put the right leads to the right cylinder.

When this is all done you can fine tune by using the adjustment on the dizzy.

If this fails check that all spark leads are getting power, while you are at it clean all the contacts (rotor end/button, distributor cap buttons & the point inside/underneath the rotor).

cheers fella... so i'll find tdc of number 1... line up the rotor with the contact of the number 1 lead and that should get me going to fine tune after that... sounds easy enough.

Ohh and having a whole bunch of timing (30 odd degrees) would raise my temps very high yeah? and leave my plugs with a bunch of carbon all over them?

Gday D1t, make sure you compare your 2 dizzies, i swapped dizzies over not long ago, and had the same problem, at TDC it was WAY out...

pull off the dizzy and have a look at the adjustment screws underneath and make sure they are the same before you do anything else!
someone may have moved the adjustment heaps one way or the other like mine...

it had me f**ked for ages why it wouldnt time when i was doing everything right, and that was the culprit.

Hope that helps and good luck

Ahh ok... thanks for that mate...

You're talking about the adjustment plate yeah? I'll compare the two and try to get them the same...

So you got the engine to TDC as well then installed the dizzy and it was still way out

More likely your measurement is way off, and the actual timing is pretty close.

Timing is measured at idle speed (800 RPM or less) with vacuum advance hose disconnected.

Yeah... it was idling quite high... probably about 1500 rpm maybe more and I did try a reduce the idle speed by adjusting the carby idle but then timing was still way out.

The engine came out working and I had tuned it before and the timing mark on the pulley worked for me.

But now that I've swapped the dizzy, what would you suggest DD?