924Board.org

[Julian]

I have a couple questions to ask. I picked up a 78 924 with about 52,000 miles on it. Has never run well. I drove it onto the rollback to bring it home. The idle was very high. I found the fuel distributor piston was stuck giving full fuel all the time.
I corrected this issue but still won't run correctly. I looked into the timing. I set the crank pulley V notch at the pointer on the oil pump and the timing mark on the cam gearwas off 45 degrees to the left facing the car.
My manual shows the cam timing mark being on the back of the cam gear. Mine is on the front. I'm suspecting the cam gear may be on backwards.
When I put the cam gear timing mark on the pointer on the valve cover, does it need to be on the compression stroke. With the crank pulley mark at the pointer on the oil pump.
Any suggestions, or information??

Thanks

[jeanette]

First of all ...a cup of calming herbal tea.
You are about to embark on teasing apart 30 year old CIS.
It could be something as simple as a vacuum leak...
OR
It could be a multitude of 'thingies" simple and small that are causing your car's problems.
OR someone before you tried to *fix* simple and small problems, and may have thrown your car's balance of spark/fuel/air out of whack.
If you don't have the equipment (IE exhaust gas analyzer) I suggest professional shop help, at least for the first. They can also check for air/vacuum leaks, and stuff like distributors with bent shafts.

OR if you feel that you can handle peeling the CIS artichoke, then get you hands on a Haynes or Clymer's manual and follow the CIS section.

if you think it's spark, it's gas
if you think it's gas, it's electrical,
if you think it's electrical, it's air
if you think it's air, it's mechanical.
_________________
"person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt person who is doing it"

[Julian]

I think it's timimg. I see the markers are off. I think in an attempt to correct the fuel issue. Past owner made changes to the timing. I've tracked the fuel issue to a stuck piston. I see the cam timing mark is off 45 degrees.
I am not sure if the cam gear is on backwards. If there is a flat spot and it's on backward I may be off 45 degrees the other way for a total of 90 degrees.
I've run fuel pressure checks and injector flow and pump flow volume. Seems to be working correctly now. The timing I know is off.
For starters I need to find out if the cam gear may be on backward. If the the timing mark should be on the rear of the gear or not.
The manual shows the timing mark on a tooth of the gear and the gear I have has the mark on the valley of the gear. I think I can deal with the mark once I'm sure the gear is facing the correct direction.

[Harm]