73 240z won’t start. Have spark

[Zed Head]

39 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

To put the second part above in to useful terms -

Rotate the engine until the timing mark is at 10 degrees on the damper pulley, on the compression stroke.  Then loosen the distributor clamp and rotate the distributor until the points are just about to open.  Make sure that the rotor is pointing at the #1 position of the distributor cap.  Clamp it down and try to start.

For where you're at right now I would do the above.  Whenever you try to start the engine and nothing happens you suck raw fuel in to the cylinders.  Do the above, pull a spark plug and make sure it's not soaked with gasoline, then try to start it with starting fluid if the plugs are dry.  When you spray the fluid in to the carburetors make sure the carbs are open so that the starting fluid can get in to the intake manifolds and cylinders.

Also consider the choke.

Edited May 16 by Zed Head
erurs

[240dkw]

3 hours ago, Shawninvancouver said:

Ok 240 I flipped the mounting bracket over on the dizzy. We put it back on the car then we took the valve cover off got the camshaft position up with the piston at the top so we were in top dead centre then finally the distributor rotor was pointing at 8:30, which is exactly where the mark was on the top of the distributor cap so it was properly done and then put the spark plugs in the proper order and had spark and all cylinders. My only question now is if the timing was too advanced to retarded with the car, not start because we did nothing to do with timing. The distributor could still rotate with the one lockdown screw on the distributor which we did not rotate at all.

Still not understanding what you did, if you look at the picture that GredD posted the slot that the shaft of the dizzy fits into is offset, you can’t just rotate the dizzy 180 and put it back in. If you want to have the dizzy lined up as per the manual you need to set it at TDC on the compression stroke and drop the oil pump, Aline the marks and reinstall as per the manual. I think your sparking all of the cylinders on the exhaust stroke and will never fire that way.

[Shawninvancouver]

240.  I took off the plate in the photo.  Then just flipped it around and put it back on. Then the vacuum advanced disc was pointing down towards the left fender instead of towards the engine after he did that we had the valve cover off. We had the one and two camshafts pointing up like rabbit ears had the piston at the top so he assumed it was top dead centre when we put the distributor rotor back on it was pointing at 8:30. We were pretty sure that was top dead center. We put the spark plugs on properly and was getting spark. Reassume that spark should fire the engine but nothing ever happened. It’s very possible it was flooded. We never checked the spark plugs. I did drain the float bowl and then try to gain, but nothing happened.

should I loosen the mounting bracket on the distributor and rotate it like the air in the photo?

 

 

Edited May 16 by Shawninvancouver

[240dkw]

Flipping the mounting bracket did nothing for the alignment, if you don’t want to go through the hassle of dropping the oil pump, put everything back the way it was before, then do your TDC with the two lobes up, where ever the rotor is call that #1 and install the rest of the plug wires in the correct firing order counting counterclockwise and try it again.

Again the bracket has nothing to do with the two shafts lining up, the way you have it now the rotor is aligned to #1 but the points are 180 degrees out of phase.

[Zed Head]

The stuff in Post #11 will answer the question about the oil pump.  If you do the things and the rotor is pointing the wrong way then you'll know the oil pump is off.  Still might not need to change anything.  Just get the timing mark and the points opening and the rotor alligned with #1, then put the rest of the wires in.

But #11 answers many questions.  Do #11 (make sure the cam lobes are up), take pictures, come back.

Worst case is the lock down screw won't have a hole to thread in to.  Then it can be decided whether or not to reset the oil pump.

 

Progress is slow but it is happening.

[Shawninvancouver]

240 flipping the mounting bracket around changes the direction of the vacuum advance disc from pointing to the engine to pointing to the left fender. Once this is done the and the engine is top dead centre when the lid is on the distributor, the rotor points to the mark on the distributor cap, which is number one, which is at 8:30 if we flip the mounting bracket back to normal on the distributor, the rotor will point to the other side, which would be 3 o’clock so changing the mounting bracket does change where things point maybe zed head he can chime in here I thought the mounting bracket would be in the wrong place because when it the vacuum advance disc is pointing towards the engine, the tube actually jams into one of the other pipes and it doesn’t even look like it fits there  we have another car in the garage with a working distributor and his distributor has the vacuum and bath disk pointing towards the left fender that’s why I thought it would be the proper way to have it pointed all the other ones that I’ve seen also have the vacuum advanced to  left fender not pointing towards the engine So once again once the engine is at top dead centre the rotor will either point to 830 or point to 2 oclock depending which way the vac advance is pointing

photo of how it was before flipping bracket.  

[240dkw]

I understand that, but the rotor,shaft and cam are independent of the dizzy body so by rotating one you are not rotating the other. You may get away with what you’re trying by aligning everything like Zed Head is listing but I am not sure you will have enough adjustment on the points to make it work. I still think that your points are now out of phase. Remember the only reason the vacuum pot was at the top is that someone probably wrongly set it up on the exhaust stroke instead of the compression stroke (which is a common thing) and over came this problem by messing with the plug wire starting point. So doing three different things to try and correct it may work, just not the way I would do it.

[Shawninvancouver]

OK, so you suggest flipping the mounting bracket back to the way it was having the distributor vacuum advance. Back to the engine and then try the whole system over again top dead centre see where the rotors pointing and then that will be number one this time and that will make a difference. ??

[240dkw]

Yes that’s what I am suggesting, remember that the dizzy tang and slot in the oil pump shaft are keyed by having the two offset so they only fit together one way. And check that the points are working like Zed Head said in post 10. I can’t guarantee that will work but it is worth it to try. Don’t worry about the vacuum hose connection for trying it get it started. 

[Shawninvancouver]

OK and the points should open and close anytime specifically or just as her rotating the crankshaft the points will just open and close??? do they have to open when the engine is a top dead centre anytime specifically or not just opening and closing as a crankshaft is turning?? I actually thought about it after and did realize that when I flipped the mounting bracket on the distributor and turn the distributor around so that the vacuum seal desk was pointing towards the left fender, I never reset the points so I must’ve had to regap and set and check the points and check them, which I did not do so maybe the points were off the whole time. I was trying to start the car. 

[Zed Head]

This video might help.  I copied from the "point" where he talks about the rotating shaft.  Watch this video and others from the sidebar.

 

[Zed Head]

Another.