Re: Dumb Spider question --- firing order

["Paul Irvine" <pi@domain.elided>]

Bryan Carter wrote:

>  I know this is a dumb question but what is the correct firing order
>for a '74 Spider?  I'm assuming it's 1-3-4-2 (as indicated by the
>markings on the cap) but when I put the plug wires in that order it
>won't run at all.  If I move them 90 degrees to 2-1-3-4 then it runs,
>but only on 3 cylinders.  I wouldn't think the distributor would have
>enough of an adjustment range that it could be off 90 degrees, so my
>only thought is that I got the order wrong.  I'm sure this is a simple
>problem but for some reason my brain isn't working today.

The fact that the car is 25 years old means that it's a near certainty that
the engine has been apart at least once. When it gets put back together the
oil pump is supposed to be installed with #1 at TDC so that the distributor
rotor points forward. It's not hard to get it 180 deg out even while being
careful. AMHIK... Some, less than perfectionist mechanics opt at that point
to just swap the wires rather than reposition the cams to set it right. The
result is a car that runs fine but doesn't conform to the specifications in
the manual.

At this point, I'd say the only way you can really find out for sure what's
going on is to set the engine with #1 cylinder at TDC (crank pulley pointer
to "P" and both cam lobes for #1 pointing outwards) and see where the dist
rotor is pointing. You'll have to pull the cam cover off to do this.

Paul Irvine  - Antioch CA
72 Spider - 79 Sprint Veloce - 82 GTV6
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Project Alfa - http://www.crl.com/~pi/project
E-Mail - mailto:pi@domain.elided

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