Just put in a new DOA timming chain kit. I did everything by the book as far as lining up the chain properly and trying to do the distributor install right. I fired it up and it has a loud knocking noise heard around the distributor cap. I can put my hand on the cap and feel it knocking. What did I do?! Is the timming just off? It runs really well, but the noise is worrying me. I did searchs, but didn't come up with the distinct noise I have. It did not do this before I started the job. HELP!

Are you sure you tightend down the cam gear???

Absolutely. I torqued the cam and crank to spec.

got any erl in it?

loosen the vavle vavle cover bolts, see if the noise goes away.
If it does, you over tightened the valve cover and a rocker arm (No. 4, I believe) is hitting it.

Funny Guy......ya I got erl in it.

I didn't take apart the head so rocker bolts weren't messed with. I will try loosening the valve cover bolts, but they are to spec. The noise is coming strictly from the distributor and not the top of the motor.

is the cap on straight did ya drop a something in there is it a bad plug wire arcin at the cap

Time to take it apart again and see what's wrong. Did you push the rotor all the way down, is the magnetic pickup lined up right? Are the springs still attached to the centrifical advance weights in the distributor? You might have to take off the rotating plate in the distributor that the magnetic pickup is installed on. If there a big thump, I would look for a thump mark.

Sounds like spark knock which is caused by incorrect positioning of the rotor.

Turn the engine to TDC. You will need to remove the vavle cover to make sure Cam is at TDC too. Back the engine up until the timing mark is pointed to the 5. Put in the distributor making sure the rotor is pointing at a 45 degree angle with the head pointing towards the number one position on the ditributor cap. Bolt everything back up. Adjust the timing and get going.

If this isn't the problem at least you can rule it out.

FOUND IT!

I will tell you the story if you guys keep your anti-newbie ego comments to yourself.

OK.....I pulled the distributor out because I was going to make sure it was set right and re-time it. Anyways, I discovered all the teeth were sheered off the distributor gear. OUCH! was my reaction. I figured I would pull the valve cover to see what the heck is going on. All looked good and the cam gear was in fine shape.......COOL. But what would cause the damage. Well as I was fishing the metal teeth out of the oil pool around the hidden timming cover bolt I realized what happend. When I re-installed the cover, I missplaced the hidden bolt that goes in the oil pool. So I bought a new one at the auto store and it was maybe two teeth too long so I added ONE THIN WASHER to make up for the extended threads. BAD IDEA! The distributor gear didn't have enough clearence for the new bolt with the washer and it broke all the teeth off. Well, there was one tooth left and it was hitting the bolt at every rotation and that my friends was the knocking sound in the distributor.

So I put the right size bolt in and a new distributor gear and off I go.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate all the responces. Unfortunately this one I just had to discover myself. I hope it will help educate someone who is doing this "evil" repair!