BTW, the Thermo time switch has been bypassed, wires looped back together. Is this why the car stumbles, and bogs as soon as you get on the gas?

Wait? going clockwise? The wires are placed counter clockwise.

Looking at the engine from the Drivers side?

Thanks for your help BTW.

I'm sorry...on the dizzy it's 1-5-3-6-2-4 counter clockwise.

The cylinders are 1 2 3 4 5 6 from front to back regardless of where you stand

...did you see the pics I loaded? thats how I have the wires ran, and it won't start...I had it running earlier....I'm at a loss now...

We've told you how it's supposed to be. Rotate the crank so that the pointer is at 0. Remove the valve cover and make sure the first two cam lobes are pointing up...not necessarily straight up... just up. Now you're at TDC compression stroke. The rotor should be pointed at the #1 terminal on the dizzy now.

If it is pointing to #6 then remove the dizzy, disassemble enough that you can turn that part circled in red in the diagram around. Reassemble the dizzy. Install plug wires in correct positions. You should be fine then if everything else is in order.

Let me know if you need any tips on disassembling the dizzy to turn that upper shaft around.

yeah, I'm working on that now. If it doesn't matter, I may leave it. I just can't figure out why everything is where its supposed to be, but the car won't start. I'm getting a blue arc at the plug. It does look a little faint, but its blue, and it'll arc about 3/4". Can you buy new points for these, or you gotta get the whole dizzy?

It was running earlier, it'll idle, and as soon as you get on the gas, it just falls on its face. The plugs are black too. Its got a new ig. coil. plugs were put in last night. I hate to just start throwing parts at it ya know?

yeah, I'm working on that now. If it doesn't matter, I may leave it. I just can't figure out why everything is where its supposed to be, but the car won't start. I'm getting a blue arc at the plug. It does look a little faint, but its blue, and it'll arc about 3/4". Can you buy new points for these, or you gotta get the whole dizzy?

It was running earlier, it'll idle, and as soon as you get on the gas, it just falls on its face. The plugs are black too. Its got a new ig. coil. plugs were put in last night. I hate to just start throwing parts at it ya know?

Is this the same car referenced in the original post???

As easy as it was to swap the Dizzys rotor shaft, I just did it anyway. Tomorrow I'll swap the wires around where they are supposed to go.

I also found that the rubbing thing (don't know exact name) inside the dist. wasn't rubbing, and the air gap was just enough it didn't rub. So I'll try again tomorrow with it, and BTW...sry OP, for thread jacking...I got the same problem too, maybe we can put our heads together, and figure both our problems out.

Oh, Sry mike BTW no this is a 76 280.

Edited September 5, 201014 yr by Snakeyes711

The info so far is just enough to keep it confusing; 71 240/76 280, Pertronix/stock 76 EI, clockwise/counter-clockwise, smog pump/no smog pump, flip the oil pump/flip the distributor shaft.....so rather than adding to the mix with my take, I think I'll just sit back and watch.

As stated previously...on the dizzy the terminal nearest the radiator is #1. Going clockwise from there its #5-#3-#6-#2-#4

Damn...it was only 7pm when I posted so I don't even have an excuse

HAA! Sry for adding all the confusion. I flipped the Dizzy shaft, and redid the wires, it started up, just runs terrible. Worse with the vacuum advance not attached. Its missing, and running ruff something awful.

My dad said it had a new wireset, then today I asked him when were they put on. 3 years ago! So they aren't new more like 3yrs old new. I seen lots of arcing on the engine last night, from the coil, to the wires arcing on the engine. So I'm going to try a new wire set and dizzy cap.

It could be the pick up coils are bad, I'll try to find in the FSM how to check them. If they are they're like 95 dollars at the cheapest! might as well get the whole dizzy.

Hey! at least it runs! It did start thanks to the info here, and mikes help! I'll keep at it.

Edited September 5, 201014 yr by Snakeyes711

For the poster who said that the car idles better with the vacuum advance hooked up than not - you need to plug the vacuum line when its unhooked or you'll have a huge vacuum leak. The vacuum advance has zero effect on the idle.

I plugged the line when I took it off, so it wasn't sucking in unmetered air. I put a new wireset on it, and its got new plugs, same thing. IT revs nice, pull out the drive way its got good power, second gear good, and stiff, few seconds later, it hits a brick wall. When I got back home the plugs were sooty...I'm clueless?

Edit: I can't post for some reason, it says (Your submission could not be processed because the token has expired.

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Edited September 6, 201014 yr by Snakeyes711

HAA! Sry for adding all the confusion. I flipped the Dizzy shaft, and redid the wires, it started up, just runs terrible. Worse with the vacuum advance not attached. Its missing, and running ruff something awful.

My dad said it had a new wireset, then today I asked him when were they put on. 3 years ago! So they aren't new more like 3yrs old new. I seen lots of arcing on the engine last night, from the coil, to the wires arcing on the engine. So I'm going to try a new wire set and dizzy cap.

It could be the pick up coils are bad, I'll try to find in the FSM how to check them. If they are they're like 95 dollars at the cheapest! might as well get the whole dizzy.

Hey! at least it runs! It did start thanks to the info here, and mikes help! I'll keep at it.

Pick-up coils are cheap and easy to replace. Measure the resistance between the green and red wire. Should be 1 to 2 ohms according to the electrical guru at HZ. I don't think it's bad from what you've written so far. New wires and cap should help a lot if you have visible arcing.