The F and 2F gas engines, staple to the Land Cruiser from 1963-1987 is the back bone of the classic gas powered Land Cruisers.  Because I've seized two of these beauties, competely by accident in both situations, I thought I'd offer some adequate directions for timing a F / 2F, adjusting the valves, and how to install a distributor...

Re: valve adjustment and timing help pleese 

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Originally posted by peiserg 

I have the valve cover off, and the engine at TDC (the mark, NOT the BB). the book says to adjust 1,2,3,5,7,9 and the rotate 360, then 4,6,8,10,11,12. 

1: How do I know which valves to start with? 1,2,3,5... or 4,6,8,10,12? And how do i know if a valve is closed vs. open, since i'm SURE this has something to do with it. 

2:HaYNES has a picture (page 25 fig 1.17) showing a "valve mechanism". Is this the pic i use to decide if I am gapping for EXHAUST or INTAKE? Cause i sure as hell can't tell by looking at the valves! My life might be easier if someone just volonteers (from front of engine to back) which one is exhaust and which one is intake. 

3:TIMING. Pulled the distributor. put engine at 7 BTDC on COMPRESSION stroke using the "pinkie in the spark plug hole method". is this the correct way to do it for re-installation of the entire distributor? 

thanks.
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What I would first do is make sure you adjust your timing correctly then work on the valves since you've already pulled the distributor. 1) If your oil pressure gauge is working this can be very important, if you don't reinstall the distributor correctly you can seize your engine. Ask me how I know that. 

You want to do just as you've done. With the valve cover off, you want the #1 piston to be coming up but neither of the two valves for that cylander (you'll notice the valves are in sets of pairs) to move when it's coming up. If they are moving and your piston is coming up you're not in your compression stroke. Then align the distributor so that the rotor is pointing as close to where #1 would fire would the cap be on as can be, while the BB is showing in the window above the starter. You want to be able to make sure the distributor fully goes into place, if it's even a 1/4" higher than where it normally sits you don't have it in all the way. The flat tab at the bottom of the distributor turns the oil pump, and if that flat tab is not correctly inserted you're basically running it without oil and in 2 minutes you will be siezed. You can also rotate the "U" in the hole where the dizzy goes in with a long flat head to help it go in all the way. A quick way to tell if you're oil pump is working is to quickly look at the gauge. If you're not showing any oil pressure turn it off ASAP!!! 

Then, if you do have oil pressure, take you're timing light and depending on you're altitude and general tuning I'd say tune it anywhere from 7-10 degrees BTDC. Turning it counter clockwise advances it. 

As for valves, the quickest way to see which is an intake and which is an exhaust is to look at the intake and exhaust manifolds (which are mated if you're not running headers). The valve corresponding with a section of the intake manifold is an intake valve and vice versa. Also, generally the Haynes manual is right for tune up stuff, just a little vauge for the FJ40 model. 

Good luck! 

Andre