Engine turns over but won't start. Distributor issues?

[geoffphillips]

Hi all,

This is my first post to the forum - and yes I did do a search for anything similar, so hopefully I'm not duplicating anything here.

FYI, I'm not super-mechanical, I'm figuring this out as I go, so please forgive any ignorance!

I have a 1980 DHC from the Blackheath plant in South Africa (last one off the line I'm told), that has immigrated with us to New Zealand. It's had all sorts of issues, but I've done my bit to try and get it going after over a decade of neglect in my dad's garage.

So, I took off the distributor cap and attempted to replace the capacitor, but then realised a new capacitor had already been fitted. So I put it all back together but broke the plastic distributor cap. After getting a replacement, I put it all back together and it won't start. I then glued together the old one and put that in, and it still wouldn't start.

The engine is turning over fine, but it just won't spark. All connections seem to be good. The only thing I can think of is that I didn't pay attention when removing the eyelets attached to the capacitor and the wire to the coil, and perhaps I've put these back incorrectly? Doesn't seem to be many ways you could configure them. The wire from the coil is fraying, but still attached to the eyelet, so I imagine that's still fine.

What do you guys think? Any ideas? The distributor is a Delco D302 and everything in the car is pretty much stock standard from the factory, although I've swapped in an engine from an earlier model car ('79 or '78), as the original was badly seized.

Images below of how I've put it back together.

[dmtrmp6]

Geoff, It may be a silly question but did you have the black plastic rotor assembly fitted on top of the metal advance weight spring assembly (top items in your photograph). I note that the rotor is not shown as fitted in your photograph. The rotor assembly is held on by two screws and provides the high tension (ht)/volts feed between the centre (king) ht lead, and the four ht leads which connect from the distributor cap to the sparkplugs.

The contacts (eyelets) on the two leads (from the coil and capacitor) that are visible in your photograph, should contact each other but be insulated from the mounting frame of the points assembly, hence the white plastic insulator. This appears to be correct from your photo. Points gap should be set around 14 - 16 thousandths (0.36 to 0.4 mm) of an inch when the points are rising over centre of the points cam. There should be good pics of this in workshop manual and elsewhere on the web. Rgds, DM

[Cobber]

The rotor that dmtrmp6 mentions, should look a bit like this:

If you turn it upside down you should see a square locating peg on one side and a round one on the other, mate these up with the corresponding holes in the top of the bob weights when you fit it, before you do up the screws.... it can only fit properly one way.

[geoffphillips]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the reply. Yup, had the rotor assembly attached - I was incorrectly calling it the distributor cap in my original post.

I removed it to get the pics of the eyelets.

I didn't mess with points gap, but will have a look tonight.

Any other thoughts?

Cheers

[Beans]

You sure you connected the spark plug leads correctly (anti clock wise)?

[geoffphillips]

Pretty sure... I turned the engine to TDC and had the number 1 where the rotor was pointing. Followed the order in the Haynes manual...

[geoffphillips]

Fault found!

It was the points gap - it was waaaay too open.

I guess I must have messed with one of the screws when attempting to replace the condenser.

I bought a feeler gauge and set it to a snug fit on .015", and with a bit of coaxing she started.

I got a couple cough backs through the carbs at low revs while driving around my block, and the power wasn't quite there until she'd done a couple laps.

Although now there's a quiet whirring sound from the general direction of the distributor. I wonder if the rotor assembly is a bit loose... I'll have a look when the engine has cooled.

Thanks for your help guys!

[saabfast]

Fit electronic ignition and you won't have to worry about the points gap anymore - they are notorious for needing setting regularly and a PIA to do. I fitted Pertonix ignition some years ago and have not looked at it since.