Quote Originally Posted by scottadams14 View Post
Thats the problem is that if I try and set it without the advance hooked up I can't get close to the 7 BTDC. I can only get 17 BTDC or 2 ATDC
Ahh, I misunderstood. Sorry. Have you checked the cam timing? Not with a degree wheel, but made sure the timing marks are lined up. I believe when it is at TDC on compression on cylinder 1, the pin the aligns the cam gear with the camshaft should be at the 12 'o clock position. Make sure to check this after rotating the engine by the crank pulley bolt clockwise.
Also, check that the timing mark on the crank pulley has not moved. Put a wooden down or similar in the spark plug hole and spin the engine slowly by hand until it reaches it reaches the point where it is sticking out the most that it can. Your crank pulley timing mark should be close to TDC When the rubber between the inner and outer portions of the harmonic balancer gets old, the outer portion can slip. This will make your timing mark useless. Buddy of mine bought a municipal f350 with central hydraulics and a dump bed with a "blown engine" for $300. It had a brand new distributor in it. Once I discovered the timing mark had spun about 90 deg we timed it with a vacuum gauge and and ran like new. The new distributor was stabbed in a few cylinders off because the timing mark had moved.