It still looks to me as if your oil pump shaft is in the wrong position.  As Philip and others have pointed out, the tang on the top of the shaft should be in approx the 11:30 position while yours looks to be at around 1:00.  I think you may be off by one tooth on the oil pump gear. 

Can you reposition the oil pump gear so it is at 11:30?

Mike.

16 minutes ago, Mike W said:

It still looks to me as if your oil pump shaft is in the wrong position.  As Philip and others have pointed out, the tang on the top of the shaft should be in approx the 11:30 position while yours looks to be at around 1:00.  I think you may be off by one tooth on the oil pump gear. 

Can you reposition the oil pump gear so it is at 11:30?

Mike.

Mike, ive done that 7-8 times now. if i line up the dots, as shown in the fsm, and the article Site posted above, this is what i get. but, the rotor is pointed directly at #1 on the cap. ill try it again..............

53 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

My "disable the cylinders" comment wasn't just a flyer.  Find out where the popping is coming from.  You might have a bad cylinder.  

 Zed,i cant get it to run smooth enough to get popping now.

Edited April 8, 20177 yr by sweatybetty

34 minutes ago, siteunseen said:

You're most welcome.

I wish I could do more, I know you are frustrated. 

Site, frustrated is would be a good thing compared to how i feel right now. once again, thanks

i have moved up to frustrated!! Mike, i re-positioned the shaft and the pig fired up! i did that a few times with no success, but for some reason it worked this time. Zed, i found that #1 & #3 are hit and miss. i put my timing light on each wire and those two would not trigger the timing light. i think the next step is another new cap and rotor. does nissan still sell them? or is there a good aftermarket brand? napa maybe?

thanks to you all

Check your wires too.  And connections in the cap.  Not uncommon to not get the wires seated fully.  Swap wires to check, with the timing light.  Bad spark will follow bad wires.  If ti's the cap it will stay on 1 and 3.

This may not be helpful in this case. But one thing some people know and many do not is that on a L6 motor if you clamp the

timing light to the #6 wire and read your pulley, it will be the same as having it clamped to #1. If it were not then something is wrong

with your distributor. Its just a double check.

Quit calling it a pig!

Rub her gently and whisper in the pillar emblem, "okay Baby Doll we gonna do this nice and slow".  

Chickuh, bow-wow, right now! 

Don't line up the dots and seat. do this:

1. Line up dots.

2. Turn spindle ~ 10 degrees CCW (ref from top as viewed from distributor end).

3. Seat pump with spindle.

If it is still not enough repeat but with 20degrees in step 2.

Edited April 8, 20177 yr by 240260280

It runs now, with four solid sparks and two hit or miss, apparently, but not clear if it's popping now.  

Just realized that when you use the rotor to determine if the distributor is right, there's an inherent assumption that the spark trigger is in a certain place.  Either points are about to open or the electronic trigger is about to hit.  I would start from scratch, lining up damper timing mark, cam lobes, and rotor, and see where the trigger mechanism is.  The facts suggest that it's not where it should be.  With the range of adjustments on the Nissan distributors, there are many possibilities.  The trigger needs to be just at the trigger point when all of the other stuff is right.

3 hours ago, Zed Head said:

It runs now, with four solid sparks and two hit or miss, apparently, but not clear if it's popping now.  

Just realized that when you use the rotor to determine if the distributor is right, there's an inherent assumption that the spark trigger is in a certain place.  Either points are about to open or the electronic trigger is about to hit.  I would start from scratch, lining up damper timing mark, cam lobes, and rotor, and see where the trigger mechanism is.  The facts suggest that it's not where it should be.  With the range of adjustments on the Nissan distributors, there are many possibilities.  The trigger needs to be just at the trigger point when all of the other stuff is right.

I'm confused. Did you drive over tonight to help out. Are you both working on it?

No, I just posted that to contrast with 246's post about setting timing.  Just another view, about the current state-of-the-situation.  sweaty got a lot of suggestions about popping and timing when apparently it wouldn't even start any more.  Looks like he has/had two problems at the same time: popping and setting timing.  Probably two different causes, bad spark on 1 and 3 and something's off mechanically.