Cushing Posted April 26, 2015 Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 Hi all, Having a problem starting the motor, rebuilt engine and set up distributor as per the book. The biggest problem is access, I can't get the dist cap off to check alignment without pulling the distributor out !! how do you do it ? what's the best way ? Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdw Posted April 26, 2015 Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 It is possible and from memory I clipped one of the spring clips ( the 4 oclock ish one looking from the back of the engine) that hold the cap on to allow it to fully clear the cap. You will have to remove the dizzy once to do that probably and after that it can be removed easily. You will have to unclip it with a screwdriver or needle nose pliers but I found that easier to do anyway. And in true Blue Peter style here is one I did earlier. You can see how much I trimmed of the one arm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike6 Posted April 26, 2015 Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 Not sure what your problem is. If you marked up alignment of distributor when you set the cam timing ie when cam belt was added and used cable ties on the wheels you should have got a reasonable measure. You then mark up timing in white tipex or similar through the inspection hole and check with timing light. If it is slightly out you can make small adjustments at the distributor body using a long screwdriver via the gap in the carb body to undo the clamp which gives you the opportunity to adjust without having to undo the distributor body where you risk it springing out under pressure from the spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gold FFM Sparky Posted April 26, 2015 Gold FFM Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 Need more info. Spark at the coil, plugs? Fuel being delivered? 180deg out? Quote British Fart to Florida, Nude to New York, Dunce to Denmark, Numpty to Newfoundland. And Shitfaced Silly Sod to Sweden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cushing Posted April 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 OK, checked alignment of distributor, all seems OK, rotor arm pointing up to Nr 1, checked firing order, all ok, got it to start but rough gets better when turning distributor to the right looking from the rear but now the vacuum advance hits the oil filter, need to turn more but cant. Could be the oil pump cog is slightly out of alignment. What can I do about this ? it looks like if I switch the plug cables around i,e, move Nr 1 to the left it wont be enough. There is only a limited amount of movement on the distributor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gold FFM Sparky Posted April 26, 2015 Gold FFM Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 The distributor is an offset key, so you cant adjust there. Moving the leads around may give you enough to rotate the distributor enough the other way. If that's no good, then you have to take the belt off and retime the aux sprocket to accommodate. Quote British Fart to Florida, Nude to New York, Dunce to Denmark, Numpty to Newfoundland. And Shitfaced Silly Sod to Sweden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cushing Posted April 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 Yep, I think the belt has to come off again, bugger,, I've never done one with the engine in the car, not looking forward to that. I'll put a timing light on the car now to see how far I'm out, I'll also try to shift the plug cables around to see what happens. Thanks all for the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cushing Posted April 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 Just had a thought, is there a kit that will allow the oil filter to be re-positioned, that would give me the space I need and make oil changes a lot less messy ? if not then I'll see if I can get a XDI electromotive ignition system and remove the distributor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarBuff Posted April 27, 2015 Report Share Posted April 27, 2015 is there a kit that will allow the oil filter to be re-positioned, that would give me the space I need and make oil changes a lot less messy ? Look here: http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/3965569-post83.html Buy here: http://tinyurl.com/qet66uv Quote Atwell Haines '88 Esprit Succasunna, NJ USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cushing Posted April 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 All fixed, got a mate to help me, managed to re-align the the distributor cog, it was one tooth out !!. Thanks for the input. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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