Today we're gonna talk about the new Holley dual sync distributors.
Holley currently offers dual sync distributors that are plug and play with Holley EFI that
are available for several popular engine applications from Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, Oldsmobile,
as well as Pontiac.
When you go to install a Holley dual sync distributor, the first thing your gonna need
to do is go in and properly install the EFI software for the new ignition type, we're
gonna do that now.
The first thing you're gonna want to do is make sure that the software, global folder,
matches the global folder on the ECU, you do this by going up with the ignition on,
the engine off, click the USB link, it will go online, click online again to put it back
on USB link, you'll go to your ignition parameters, and for this type of ignition, you'll need
to set the ignition type as custom.
You'll then want to click the configure button.
The crank sensor type is going to be set at one pulse per fire, the sensor type, you will
want to select digital falling, the inductive delay would be a good starting point of around
100, in this case we'd want to set the ignition reference angle at 50 degrees before top dead
center.
This distributor is dual sync so as a cam as well as a crank sensor input and we'll
need to set up the cam sensor input as well.
Just like the it'll be set for single pulse as well as digital falling.
Now you need to set up the output type, for this installation we're gonna assume you're
going to use a MSD style ignition box, in which case we'd set it points out put under
the ignition options and you'd want to set the dwell time between 1.8 and 2 milliseconds.
At this time you'd want to sync to the ECU again, and you'll notice that it's failed
on the system settings, the reason that it failed is because we have made some changes,
and we do want to sync those changes to the ECU so we go down, we'd select send to ECU.
Once everything passes, this will time out in approximately 5 seconds, and we'll want
to cycle the ignition off and back on.
It's very important to make sure that you set the ignition parameters correctly before
preceding with further installation of the distributor.
Once you get the ignition parameters set correctly it'll eliminate any chances of having erroneous
readings when you go to sync the pick ups in the next couple of steps, from this point
we need to make sure that we have the engine set at top dead center, our number one cylinder
on the compression stroke before we remove the existing distributor, and we'll show you
how to do that now.
we're now gonna proceed with setting the crank shaft at the proper location for distributor
installation, today we are gonna use a mock up engine that gives us a little bit better
visibility as to how we are gonna go ahead and set that up.
It's important to make sure that when you're turning the crankshaft that you're turning
it in the direction of engine rotation, we want to make sure that we set it up on number
1's compression stroke.
In this case we want to set it up at 50 degrees before top dead center.
If your harmonic damper is not marked out to 50 degrees, you don't have to get too concerned
about that, the instruction sheets included give you a general reference diagram based
on a 6 inch, 7 inch, or 8 inch harmonic balancer and basically tell you how you have to measure
from the 0 mark around to 50 degrees from top dead center.
Depending on the direction of rotation of the crankshaft is going to depend on which
way you need to go from 0 to put the mark.
In this case a small block Chevrolet rotates clockwise, so you would want to continue clockwise
to that measurement to the 50 degree mark.
If your balance or diameter is not one listed in the chart, you can simply take the diameter
of the balancer, multiply that by 3.14, divide it by 360, take that total, multiply it by
50 and that will give you the dimension that you need to measure from 0 to your 50 degree
before top dead center mark.
It's really important as we mentioned earlier to make sure you on compression, other wise
you can be 180 degrees out.
An easy way to do that is remove number 1 spark plug, put a ratchet or breaker on the
crankshaft, as your coming around and your approaching your 50 degree mark before top
dead center on number 1, simply stick your finger over the spark plug hole, and you should
be making pressure, if your not picking up pressure, your probably 180 degrees out.
You want to turn the crank shaft slowly until you aline your 50 degree mark at 0 on your
timing pointer.
Once we have our crankshaft set 50 degrees before top dead center on number 1, we want
to verify that we're still in the right phasing and we're not 180 degrees out.
We checked it with pressure but it's always a good idea to double check, and one of the
easiest ways to do that is remove your distributor cap, and make sure that your rotor is still
pointing at your existing number 1 cylinder, if the rotor is pointing in the opposite direction
that would be an indication that you're 180 degrees out, not a real big problem, you just
need to go back to the front, you need to turn the engine around 1 full revolution before
you proceed.
Once you've confirmed this, for safety you want to disconnect the battery, you also want
to unplug your fuel injectors and disconnect the power and ground connections at your ignition
coils.
You don't want to have any sparks or any fuel that may be entering into the system when
you don't want it to.
From that point we can go ahead and we can remove our existing distributor.
One precaution that I like to have people do is before you remove the distributor from
the engine, you want to kind of look around and make sure you don't have any loose debris
that could possibly fall in.
I don't really have to worry about this with this mock up engine, but in a vehicle a lot
of times we have some leaves or other debris in the back.
Once you remove the hold down, you simply remove your distributor, and we'll lay that
off to the side.
We need to get our new dual sync distributor ready for installation.
The first thing you'll want to do is remove the distributor cap, loosen up the hold down,
turn them the other way, and just set the cap off to the side.
When you got to install this distributor, there's a couple of things you want to look
at first, if the block has ever been decked or the heads have been machined and decked
you want to make sure that you don't possibly bottom the distributor out and bind up the
pump drive.
A simple way to do this is just to dry install the distributor with out the gasket.
And make sure that the distributor fully seats with it's mating surface, in this case we
don't have any gaps.
If you were to find a gap or it may be raised, you need to rectify that before installation.
A lot of times depending on how much interference you have, you may simply be able to rectify
it by installing 2 distributor gaskets.
In this case we sit down flush, so we can go ahead and pull that out and get it ready
for installation.
If the engine's recently been run and you intend to star it again very soon, you can
simply lubricate the distributor gear with an ample amount of engine oil.
If the engine's not gonna be started right away, it would be highly recommended to coat
it generously with a moly lubricant or cam break lubricant before installation.
We're gonna go ahead and put our gasket on, and when you go to install the distributor,
one thing to also be consensus of is your cam type.
The Holley distributor includes a steel gear, if you have a billet cam shaft, your gonna
need a bronze gear for that application.
When you go to install the distributor, you want to line up the rotor orientation in a
vicinity of the tower that you want to be used for number 1.
One thing to keep in mind when you got to drop it in is that as it mates with the cam
gear it will rotate.
So depending on where you want it installed you may find that you just have to pull it
up, pump it back a couple of teeth to get it to sit in place where you want it.
Once it's installed you want to turn the housing until the rotor contact is alined with this
black crank sensor, that's going to kind of be your home starting point for installation.
Once you have the distributor seated, I would recommend taking your hold down, installing
it loosely, finger tight is fine at this time, that just helps stabilize the distributor,
it would be a good time to reconnect the connections at the battery.
But you do not want to reconnect the ignition coil or the injectors at this time.
With the battery reconnected you will find a mating connector on the main engine harness
that's got a tag on it for ignition, you want to plug that in securely, and turn your ignition
on.
You do not want to crank the engine, in this case you just turn the key to the run position.
If you've aligned everything properly, you've got your battery reconnected, you should see
two red LEDs light in the distributor.
The LED that is closest to the crank sensor is gonna indicate crank positions, the sensor
furthest away is gonna indicate cam, so if the cam LEDs lit, the cams active, if the
crank LEDs lit, the crank is active.
When an LED is lit, that would indicate a digital falling state, when they go off, it
would be digital rising.
From this point we need to phase our pickups, if your rotor turns clockwise on the engine,
you will set it up a little bit different than if the rotor turns counter clockwise.
Since we're dealing with a small block Chevrolet, our rotor is gonna turn in a clockwise direction.
In order to set it up you would grab the housing and you would turn it clockwise to the center
of the vain and you'll see that the crank LED has gone off, that indicates that the
ECU is recognizing it as Digital rising.
You would then slowly turn the housing counter clockwise until the LED turns back on.
At that point you would lock the distributor down.
If your distributor turned counter clockwise, you would do it in a similar fashion, however
when you set it with the alignment of the rotor contact to the crank sensor you would
then turn the housing counter clockwise until the crank LED shut off and then you would
turn it back slowly until where it just come on and you would then lock it down.
We're now gonna proceed with installing our distributor cap.
We've already determined that this is going to be the location of our number 1 spark plug
wire.
We're gonna go ahead and install the cab.
Want to make sure that the hold down tabs are in the groove in the bottom of the housing.
We're gonna go ahead and snug down the cap.
Now the Holley dual sync distributor can be used for applications other than the conventional
distributor, it can be used for a cam and a crank sync for applications that use Holley
DIS ignition, in that case instead of installing distributor caps, we would instal this cover.
In order to instal that cover, simply remove the cap, take a Phillips head screw driver
and remove the existing rotor, and we'll replace it with our pick up cover.
When you install it there is a locating notch that will aline with this location here in
the housing, and you want to make sure that is properly alined, and then you simply snug
down the hold down clamps.
Because we intend to use this as a regular distributor we went ahead and took the cap
off that we would utilize for DIS cam and crank sync, reinstalled our rotor and our
distributor cap, now's a good time to reinstall your ignition wires and I would suggest putting
a new set of plugs and wires in at this time.
Once you get those installed you want to double check the timing.
You don't want to hook the fuel injectors back up yet, you want to do a base timing
check and make some adjustments as required before you physically try to start the engine.
Before continuing with timing checks, it's important to make sure that you have your
distributor hold down fully tightened to eliminate any chance of that distributor moving.
From that point you wan tot go to your software, go to your ignition parameters and check your
cranking parameters and look at your cranking timing.
In this case we're currently set at 15 degrees cranking.
Before we want to try and start the engine we're gonna want to confirm that we are at
the 15 degree mark.
In order to do that you simply take a timing light, crank the engine over, and confirm
your at 15 degrees.
If you find that the timing's off a little bit, don't be overly concerned, you can loosen
up your hold down just enough to allow you to make small adjustments to the distributor,
and make very small, slow adjustments until the timing matches at 15 degrees.
Once that matches go back in with your wrench and securely fasten and lock down that distributor.
From that point we can proceed to try to start the engine.
We'd go in, connect our fuel injectors, cycle the key off and back on to prime the fuel
system.
Go ahead and try to fire the engine up at this point.
If you followed all of these steps the engine should fire up and run, at that point I would
suggest going into your software settings, going to your sync dropdown menu, where you
would have originally done the TPS auto set, and you can go in and click on enable static
timing check.
Once you click on enable static timing check, you can set a fixed value, I will normally
set a fixed value of about 10 degrees, depending on your engine it may be a little bit different.
Put in 10 degrees and hit set and what that's going to do is that's going to override any
other timing modifiers that can affect the timing as well as your timing curve.
From that point you would want to carefully, and I emphasize carefully, rev the engine
up to about 3,000-4,000 RPM and check with the time light and make sure that the timing
is still at that 10 degree mark.
If the timing is not you can go back to the inductive delay that we discussed earlier
and make some adjustments.
In order to do this you would need to go offline and select ignition parameters, click configure,
and make changes to your inductive delay as required.
I recommend making changes in units of 20, if you find that your timing retards at a
higher RPM, you will want to increase the inductive delay.
If you find that your timing advances you want to decrease the delay.
Once you sync these changes to the ECU, you'll need to cycle the ignition, depending on your
software version, you may see a pop up window that serves as a reminder.
Once you've confirmed that your timing is accurate at idle as well as higher RPM, you're
really done with your installation at this point.
For more information on this product and other great Holley EFI products, go to www.Holley.com
or contact your local Holley EFI dealer today.