completely stumped and stupid

[cousindave]

Hi guys and gals, recap: 73 series III SWB that was intermittently misfiring. Sometimes even #1 cylinder would not fire at all. It has electronic ignition crane cams 700 . On advice i purchased a new distributor. I install it and now i can not get it to fire up. I have fuel and spark.. did I do something wrong in insatallation?? I installed and reinstalled three times to make sure.... boy, this landy makes me dumb as a box of rocks!

[SafeAirOne]

Is the distributor timing too far off to get it to fire up? Was the #1 cylinder at TDC on the compression stroke when you fit the distributor? Are the plug wires plugged into the distributor cap in the correct order?

[cousindave]

This is where stupid comes in... I took the valve cover off and took all spark plugs out. Spun the motor until i saw the valve springs on #1 all the way up. I checked the timing marks and it lined up with TDC. I stuck a bamboo skewer in #1 spark plug hole and cylinder is up on top. That's when i installed distributor with vacuum advance pointed towards rear of engine. Set points to. 015 and static timezd til light just comes on. Can you shed some light on advance and retard?? Thanks

[albersj51]

If I remember correctly, the dizzy only goes in one way, so you are either on point (or close enough to get it running and time it properly) or you're 180 degrees out. Someone else will confirm this as I am going from memory, which is getting less reliable everyday.

[siii8873]

make sure you install your wires in correct order on dizzy. With the engine at TDC see where the rotor points. This is plug#1 front one. Then follow the firing order around the cap.

[Les Parker]

Thanks, Bob, also remember the firing order is counter-clockwise !!

[Firemanshort]

The above stuff is good.

But back to original symptom of misfire - is your coil on the way out / bad? Does the coil match with the electronic ignition?