As the title says, I am restoring a theft recovery DB2. The idiots stole the distributor and many other things. I bought a replacement TD-44U unit off of ebay for $90 or so. After splicing some cut harnesses and various misc parts the car finally fired up. The idle was really high at first. Around 2.5K, eventually dropped down to about 1.5K. Since I got this car for free from my uncle’s salvage yard, I wanted to do most if not all of the work on this car. However, I do not want to buy a gun and adjust the timing for this one time thing. The car is driveable. If I keep the RPMS low and drive it to a shop and have them adjust the timing, will I hurt anything? Should I have it towed? The closest shop might be about 10-15 miles away. Should I avoid the highways, etc?
http://forums.g2ic.com/showthread.php?213804-Found-a-DB2!-Can-I-restore-this-thing
If it’s just the ignition timing (distributor) then it should be ok to drive…
If the mechanical timing (timing belt) has been tampered with, it’s best not to start it at all until that is corrected.
what year is the car?
on the 90-91 the distributor is slightly different than the 92-93
See pics I found.
90-91 distributor cap
92-93 distributor cap
As you can see there is a slight difference where the point goes to the coil. 90-91 has it dead center, 92-93 has it slightly rotated to the left. the cheap ebay units almost all come with the second style of cap that was actually on the 92-93 and will list as being for all models 90-93. I tried that route myself and the car would start but had no power… as the 92-93 style cap threw the mechanical timing off by a good enough margin that it would have required adjustment to the mechanical timing by somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 to 5 degrees (best guess) and that was with the distributor left centered (mind you that advancing or retarding the timing at the distributor did not help the 2 degree mentioned was with timing advance all the way at the distributor the 5 is with it not advanced) I ended up ditching that ebay distributor and sending it back then replaced the coil on the old one. OFC that lasted for 2 months before breaking down and buying a remanufactured distributor at oreilly’s
if you took an eBay distributor versus the OEM (at least this was my case) the rotor sat about 10 minutes off between the OEM & ebay distributor
After replacing my Distributor there was a small mechanical adjustment it needed, followed by an idle relearn with the ECU jumpered. I let my mechanic deal with that as it only cost me 40 bucks. Lesson here for me was not not buy vital mechanical components from ebay… pony up and get the right part lol
Now as I re-read your post you did some cutting and splicing giving the impression you went with the ODB1 style distibutor? could you please clarify for us a little… if you went ODB1 I would imagine you need to slightly adjust mechanical timing as per what I was saying above… Post back with more details.
I bought a TDU-44 off of eBay. I wouldn’t say I cheaped out. I just didn’t want to be silly with the purchase. Also, the engine I’m working on is a B17. The car is a theft recovery. They cut the two harnesses that attach to the distributor. The engine starts and runs, I’m just asking if I could drive a short distance to get the timing adjusted, I don’t have the gun. I had to go to the yard to get the connectors that plug into the distributor. They were cut from the harness on the chasis when they ran off with the distributor. Hopefully that sheds some light for you. The car is a 92 DB2.
ha I just noticed u in the southbay too right on.
it is hard to say for sure if it is safe to drive… if the timing is only off a little bit and it runs then yeah you should be good… if it is really bad then no don’t do it.
Where you at in San Jo? be easier to tell by hearing it run. I got nothing going on and could meet up today. for a few to help out if you want. shoot me a call or text if you want four zero eight 234 - zero 126
I also have a timing light if necessary would have to find it but I do have 1
a few things that could factor into the high idle though besides timing would be Idle air control valve, bad vacuum line, Idle adjustment.
I appreciate the offer. Since the car is still at the yard though, it wouldnt be safe to have someone over. There are a few dogs there. If I introduced you to them, they should be good, but they snap sometimes! I dont want you to get bit! Maybe I’ll throw up a video…
I live in San Jose, but the yard is in Milpitas. this car hasnt been started in over 2 years though. I think it will take some driving around before things are back to normal. the idle did eventually drop down to 1.5K or so…
no worries bud. throw up a short youtube vid it would help a little in this. Also I know a good mechanic over in Campbell. He does great work and won’t dig in your pockets like others in the area.
Guy’s name is John he is the owner of Miller’s Automotive on old camden ave. four zero eight - 866- 666 one.