Yukon Cornelius

Keep in mind it was test driven with the distributor one tooth off to hit 40 deg retarded and be bolted down.

Yes 1324 not 1342. Its strange to me being a long time honda tech. But was tested at 1324. Solid lifters. . I did test drive and confirm weak engine performance before replacing the Hitachi carb for weber.. and I confirm TDC cylinder one is after the compression stroke . I do believe it is something not identified yet. Still moving on it.

Loving all the help I'm getting here. Thanks fellas. Was able to confirm timing flywheel timing Mark's with a old ea81 in the shop. Its crust old and original but it confirmed the Mark's and bolt pattern. I got cylinder one at TDC by piston position. The distributor rotor was past cylinder one also confirming timing Mark's. But , vehicle ran. Not well but running. Now, I did find the valves extremely tight while the engine was out. I'm talking .001in. Who ever did what ever the last work on the engine was definitely questionable. So I want to give the engine what it wants. But it wanting the timing to be so far off is telling me there is a issue that needs addressed. TDC in the distributor is found by flywheel mark 0° and locating cylinder one in the distributor. Confirming the button is centered at the contact on the cap. That being done it runs poorly if at all. Retard timing and it starts and runs. Engine will be going back in this weekend due to confirmation of normal mechanical condition found. After ill start from scratch and continue with the normal diag procedure. I find sometimes it help to start from the beginning. I will report my finding. Thanks for the help.

While engine was out found valves were a little tight. The worst was cylinder 2. Near .001in. Cold compression was ok'ish. Maybe when hot and valves expand it was causing issue. But that doesn't explain the timing issue. Usually advanced timing causes better operation.

Checked this. Timing was out one tooth to allow for 40 degrees retarded timing. Set distributors in correct position. Tdc at cylinder one on distributor. Wont start. Retard timing with out holder bolt and it starts and runs but poorly.

Yes they are. Confirmed the fly wheel is correct with an old used engine I had sitting around. Timing Mark's are the same and fly wheel only goes one way

Passengers side front is cyl#1

So.... I'm a little embarrassed I couldn't figure this out in front of my son. Being a 20 year tech there's little I haven't seen. Anyways. 86 Brat w/ea81. Was a barn find and ran ok'ish. Cleaned fuel system of rusting and ditched the Hitachi carb. All vacuum accessories are deleted except vacuum advance. During the install of the weber system it runs ok'ish still just out of the box. While tuning starting with the timing set I found I cant see the timing marks. So, using my timing light I tuned the light to see how far it was advanced and found 40 degrees retarded. Vacuum advance is operational but disconnected for timing set. Inspected under cap and found button is past cyl one at TDC. Adjusted to zero without bolt in distance holder and found poor running and had to hold throttle open. Had to remove distributor to set back to zero. Will not start while set to zero degrees. No vacuum leaks. Compression is not awesome but acceptable at 150psi dead cold on all cylinders. I thought maybe cam timing cause someone has been in the engine recently. So I went as far as checking the timing mark on crank(no small feat). Dead on. Timing mark in the one counter sink hole in the crank. It's no where near TDC, that's strange but whatever. Please offer input. Thanks in advance.(hehehe)