Club 80-90 Forums

OK then, just one more thing that soemtimes happens... not sure if it's possible on your engine but believe I read Mocki mentioning this a year or so ago to someone, so maybe..

1) You have all the leads coming out the cap in the same place as before and going to the same cylinders - right?

2) You have got No. 1 on compression and then found TDC and the timing mark exactly? o-wise all will be 180 degrees out!

3) You have then rotated the distributor to get the points just opening at that point?

... but is the rotor arm then also pointing to No. 1's contact inside the cap ( at that same setting, 1,2,3 above) ?

What can sometimes happen is the dizzie can be 90 degrees out, not always physically possible, and not always obvious.

If you did 1) and 2) OK, and the dizzie 'looks' to be pointing pretty well where it was before, then you are probably right.

If you can't make head nor tail of it, ask yourself if its popping back through exhaust or inlet. Former is retarded excessively, latter is advanced (a helluva lot) - move dizzie to correct in 10 degree chunks to sort out the popping cylinder (anticlock to advance usually), if it fires without popping then but the other cylinders aren't chiming in, chances are leads are crossed or up the swanny somehow.

All else fails, chuck a capful of fuel down the venturi, light blue touchpaper and stand well clear

1.leads are ok

2.no.1 is on compression, and the mark on the fan wheel is on 0 TDC

3.aint got points, can't check

found out this morning during a quick ganders before walking to workthe rotor was a bit out, so i think i may have to take out the distributor drive and double check its in the right place!! cant move the distributor too much when all is in situ as the vacuum unit would foul either the air box or the fan case.

thanks for all the advice harryman, i will get to the bottom of this and will let you know what i find ( whether its me being a dumbass or not )

OK last take on this then

So the dizzy prob has to be in about the right place, physically limited to roughly where it was before... then whilst cranking, swing it, both ways to see if it catches and runs!

HOORAY the van is now alive

going over what harryman has said i realised that an cylinder has two strokes to every fire, so at a guess i got it at TDC on the exhaust stroke and not on the compression stroke, meaning it was 180 deg out
changed it all around and now its a runner! best i stick to bricks and mortar, what a numpty....

got a slight seepage of oil from above the pushrod tubes, it looks like the barrel to case seal might be letting by, should i re-torque the head studs to see if it cures it ( i did torque them to spec, and in the correct sequence ) or could it be something else??

Hey, fantastic. I didn't want to spell it out too obviously, but it's a very common 'gotcha' - usually just stick a finger over plug hole or something down the plug hole, but not too fragile, too far and always pointing straght up and out - piston jams against it there will be trouble ahead, or just watch the rockers.

Sorry can't help you with the oil leak, but hopefully somebody else will. You might eb best to re-post on that particular subject... good luck, bet you're over de moon!