1985 inline 6 can't find timing marks with timing light. WHAT?

[Buck Horn Deer Farm]

Hey all, Motor has a miss at idle but when I move the advance by hand it smooths out so I want to check the timing but I don't understand what is going on here. I disconnected throttle cable, aliened arrow on linkage, pulled all plugs, put indicator in #1 and checked .464 is on the money. (all by the book) Put #1 plug in with wire from top coil put timing light on wire, disconeted the white/black wire fron switch box, cranked it over and can't see the timing marks. I put a white dot on top of the flywheel over the TDC mark on the decal and cranked it again. I aimed the timing light at the top of the flywheel and the white dot is about 120 degrees off. WHY?

 

[Chris1956]

The outer flywheel can be installed 6 different ways. Perhaps the outer flywheel is installed incorrectly. Set the motor to TDC using a screwdriver in the top spark plug hole. The timing pointer should point to TDC on the timing decal, or be very close.

 

[Buck Horn Deer Farm]

Yes it is at 0 on the decal when the piston is at TDC, that is what was so weird about this. I did some more testing with the timing light and had no spark on #1. I loosened the wires on the switch box's and tightened them up again and got spark again. Then a bit later, no spark. I swapped the coil positive wire from # 2 with #1 and got spark on #1 but not on #2. So, the coils are good and the switch box must be bad, Well I swapped the two switch boxes around and the problem followed.
Time for a new box. I still don't know why when there was a spark at #1 why it was so far away from TDC. It's like it was getting a signal from #3. I may never know.
Thanks anyway.

 

[Buck Horn Deer Farm]

Ok, got it put together, checked timing at 6 BTDC at crank speed with white/black wire off etc. Now, wire back on and in a tank with it running at idle 650 in gear, using a timing light on #1, what should the timing on the decal be at the pointer?

 

[Chris1956]

Timing specs are for idle pickup and max spark advance. Idle timing is whatever timing motor is at idle speed. With timing light on #1, start her in a test tank and advance the throttle until the carbs are ready to open. That idle spec should be 0-9* ATDC. Max spark advance it 21* BTDC. You will need to set that with the prop removed, spark plugs 2-6 removed and the motor just cranking, not running.