Very nice info and pics! Thanks for taking the time.
jc

 

JC......Youre welcome.....maybe someday another guy will find some use out of this information when he tears down his antique Montero........actually, I believe this 3.0 was used in other vehicles too.

 

I finally received the correct Alternator/Water Pump Belt from Rock Auto (first one was the wrong size), and installed all the belts yesterday, and got the radiator back in, and she is almost ready for a "Start" attempt. However, I have a very perplexing question regarding the Distributor wire positions, which maybe someone can easily answer:




I got the correct firing order from the Shop Manual, and it is 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. The No. 1 cylinder is on the front right (as if you are in the driver's seat), and the No. 2 is the front left. I still have the engine set with Pistons 1 and 4 both at Top Dead Center, and I am "hoping" that the No. 1 is in the "Compression" cycle while No. 4 should be in the "Exahust" cycle.

I marked all the plug wires with a number which is the cylinder that the wire goes to. These markings match exactly what the distributor cap has printed on its surface.





There is also an "Arrow" stamped on the distributor cap that shows the rotor's direction of rotation. Based on this, as the rotor spins under the cap, then the firing order would be "1-3-5-4-6-2". Can anyone explain this? I am positive that the plug wires are back on exactly as they were before I removed them (I marked each one on wire and distrib. cap). Also, the stampings on the distrib. cap match exactly how I marked the wires. So, how can the Shop Manual firing order of "1-2-3-4-5-6" work based on these pictures?
Does the rotor produce a spark everytime it passes each of the six contact points under the distrib. cap, or does a computer send a signal to "zap" each of the 6 contacts at a certain time? Im sure there is something simple to explain this, but for some reason "I just cant wrap my head around it" right now, and I did not want to damage anything if I tried starting with the wrong firing order going on.

Right now, the Rotor under the distrib. cap is pointing directly at No. 2 Cylinder, and I have all the timing marks set exactly on their marks, and No. 1 and No. 4 cylinders are at TDC. So, shouldnt the rotor be pointing at No. 1 cylinder as it should be in the compression cycle, and ready to receive a spark to ignite the fuel mixture? Based on what I see, if I were to crank the engine, then the rotor would move counter-clockwise toward No. 1 cylinder, but most likely the spark would not be received until the piston was going down in the chamber.......and I thought the spark should actually be received about 5-10 degrees Before Top Dead Center.

I never removed the distrib. rotor during this head gasket replacement work, and I marked where the Distributor set bolt was before removing it, and have it exactly in the same position.

All suggestions would be highly appreciated.

 

Realizing that the distrib. rotor was spinning counter-clockwise, I knew that the rotor was pointing to Cylinder No. 2, and would be hitting Cylinder No. 1 as soon as I started cranking on the engine. The rotor would have to spin almost a full 180 degrees to get to the No. 4 plug contact, so I figured the odds were good that I could go ahead and just risk trying to start the engine.

I cranked the engine, and it started right up, with no issues. I then shut it down, and added the water to the radiator, and then cranked her back up and let run awhile. Those lifters that I installed after "decompressing" them by poking a small allen key into the oil holes were not a problem. There was alot of "ticking" going on at first, but as the oil pressure increased, the oil got pumped back into the lifters, and soon all the "ticking" noise was gone.

I still would like an explanation as to how the firing order which I see first hand as being "1-3-5-4-6-2" is far from what the shop manual shows as "1-2-3-4-5-6".......does anyone have any suggestions?

Another tip....I did find a youtube video on how to verify which cylinder was under the "Compression TDC" stroke......just by using a balloon attached to your Compression tester hose.

 

And for those of you who hate to find rat nests in your airbox, I use metal screen and make a piece to fit the end of the air intake duct which snaps into the front fender. This metal screen will keep the rats from building nests on top of your clean air filters:

Airbox duct goes into front inner fender:



Close up of "Rat Screen"......patent pending. Ha ha