What Grant stated was that one of the "points" on the star should be pointing at the pickup.

 

I presume that you have checked that the rotor and associated advance allow the star to move freely and that the centrifugal advance is not sticking

 

OK, I have viewed that video, VERY CLEVER, way out of my league.

You have the crankshaft at 10deg before, SWEET.

Nothing lines up, BUGGA, welcome to the V12 that has been "fiddled with".

What I am seeing is that the distributor has been out. The refit has been ONE tooth out on the drive/driven gears.

Not a real big deal, time consuming, YES, but I believe you can do it.

Here goes:

Leave the engine as is as far as the timing marks are concerned.

Undo those 3 socket cap screws. They will only come so far, then move onto the next one, then the next one. As the heads contact the top section, the distributor will rise out of its hole, so continue working from one screw to the next.

As the distributor rises the centre shaft will rotate (spiral gears below), so watch it as it does. It will rise to a point that the distributor will come out of mesh with the 2 gears. When you "feel" this, STOP. Carefully, and slowly, rotate the rotor centre shaft ONE tooth clockwise.

Lower the distributor slightly, so as to mesh the 2 gears, then work around the 3 screws again until the unit is back home in its hole.

If you got it right, you got it right. if not, undo the 3 screws again, and move it one more tooth.

The small notch in the distributor circumference is the "reference" mark for the rotor point corresponding to the #1 post on the cap, so use it wisely as your reference for NOW, and THEN.

NOTE PLEASE.

I have stated "clockwise" in the remesh directions above. This is MEMORY, and I really do forget which way that shaft rotates as the distributor is lifted. I dont have a V12 handy at the moment to go and "do it" so as to clarify that rotation, SORRY. Take note as your assembly rises, thenapply teh tooth clockwise/anticlockwise as required.

This is fiddly, more than hard. Concentration is paramount however.

Nothing is going to drop out when the 2 gears "unmesh", so fear not.

Once this is done, the timing of the whole engine will be fairly spot on. The way I see the video, this is waaaaay retarded, which now explains all your issues quite clearly.

 

Alright, I have my guides for setting and aligning the distributor. To summarize timing for ththe V12:

1. Put the crankshaft at 10 Before
2. Open up the distributor to where you can see the star and the three hex bolts
3. Oil and lube the distributor parts that move
4. The tip of the rotor should be pointed at the #1 position of the distributor cap
5. The star should have one of its teeth directly across from the center of the pick-up coil

Does this sound right? The video might make it look like the shaft is way off, but it is actually at 1 already (I this might be the case, wasn't sure). I just had the distributor turned counter-clockwise all the way from both the base hex bolts and the upper spring-loaded bolts and adjuster when I took this video.

Grant and others, thank you. I doubt this distributor has been touched before I came along. It looks like this Jag barely got used, to be honest. It still had original hoses and belts, which needed replacement. Ran well for a while, but I knew it need maintainance. So here I am, learning about this nice car.

 

YEP, but am thinking hard here, and it is so damn fuzzy.

When the engine is timed as you have yours NOW, the rotor points at the notch in the circumference and the star wheel is fixed, as it is keyed to the rotor shaft.

The only other variable here is the reluctor moving plate, which moves the reluctor in relation to the star wheel. Yours appears way out.

JUST HAD A THOUGHT.

The vac capsule MAY have been replaced, sounds very feasible. There are many, many capsules for this engine, and the length of the rod that attaches to the reluctor moving plate is quite different. I have had issues with this for YEARS.

The length of that rod will alter dramatically the position of the reluctor point to the point of the star wheel.

I have to alter the length of that rod myself to properly align the star wheel and reluctor a few times now, about 10mm longer from memory, one of them my HE, so I reckon that may be the issue here.

 

YES!I DID change the vacuum advance on it, as a matter of fact. The pick-up coil went out, and in the process of trying to remove the hook from the vacuum advance, I broke the vacuum advance, so I replaced both. The new one appeared to have the arm just a little bit shorter than the old one, so THAT'S why my timing suddenly got way off! Aha!

It sounds like I have to change or modify something. I do not know what you mean by reluctor, though. I thought the star wheel was called the reluctor, but I may be wrong on this. What or where, exactly, is the star wheel supposed to be aligned with? Big-Walleye stated that the pick-up coil just has to be pointed at one of the star wheel's blades, presumably when the rotor itself is aligned to the #1 post on the distributor cap. Is this right?

Sorry I missed the part about having changed the vacuum advance. It didn't cross my mind to mention it. I also changed the pick-up coil, and the new one was identical to the old one. Might have saved us a lot of time. Lesson learned.

 

GOOD FIND.

Reluctor/pick up coil, same, same, depending where is the world we learnt our language.

Star wheel is star wheel, sometimes called trigger wheel. that is teh bit what rotates and is fixed to the shaft.

Look at the reluctor face CAREFULLY. You will see a metallic face, protruding from the non metallic stuff. THAT is the reference point for the star wheel. That is what teh point of the star wheel is meant to be pointing at when timed.

You need to lengthen the vac capsule rod, so that the protruding bit is pointing at the star wheel point "anti-clockwise" from where it is now in your video.

Simple enough to lengthen. Lots of measurements required. It would help if you have the old vac unit, but can be done without.

I used a piece of aluminium tube (model aircraft leftovers), fiddled with lengths etc, until I was happy (haha), and used hi strength epoxy to secure it. NOT the fast set stuff, it returns to liquid form at about 100c, not good here.

from the video, I believe the distributor timing in relation to rotor pointing etc etc is spot on, so leave it be, just sort that vac rod, and drive the thing.

 

Yeeaahhh...I wrote a nice write up on how to fix the timing, what I did, and what to look out for. Jaguar Forums logged me out while I wrote it, took me an hour. I'm not re-writing it. But Morris is running great now.

Thank you guys, especially you, Grant Francis. Could not have done this without all of your help.

If you can't tell, I'm am seriously annoyed at Jaguar Forums right now...

 

Dont be too hard.

Good fix, glad I could help somewhat.

Have a drink, I just started.

Me and technology do not get on, and I sometimes get logged out, IT is very fickle, and damned annoying I know. Still quicker than posting a letter, HAHA. What is that "post a letter" thing as I was asked the other day by an 18 year old, Bugga.