pinto 1.8 sohc will not start.

[hammersm]

I have been messing around with my pinto 1.8 sohc all day and cannot get it to start. I am rebuilding and therefore cannot assume anything is correct. Have checked that the spark plugs are sparking at the correct times, have put the crankshaft pulley at 6 degrees past top dead centre and then put in the distributor. Then lined up the dist rock arm with the mark on the boch dist body. The spark looks like it is in the right place but it will not fire. Even when I put some petrol in the carb it still does not fire. I am sure it is something to do with the timing as I have had it going before and the only thing I have touched is the distributor.

What am I doing wrong. Also another point is that I have a pierburg 2E carb and it has lot of hoses that I have no idea as where they go. I have checked the haynes manual and it does not show it in detail. Is there anywhere can get a better diagram?

Thanks

Mark

[Psychopete]

I work on a lot of 60 degree Ford V6s. Some of this could be of some help:

Are you getting spark on the plugs for certain? You could have set the timing on the wrong stroke. If you unhook your fuel pump relay (I have no idea on these cars) and it starts at least giving some feedback, you're firing at the wrong time and your engine is getting flooded out causing it not to do anything. This is dangerous because it will cause fire to shoot out of your exhaust manifolds and could start a fire if you don't have the complete exhaust on. Fire it up a little bit and see if your engine is flooding out. If so, put a little oil in the cylinders, I said a LITTLE bit , and crank it over with out the spark plugs in. An engine with high mileage that gets flooded causes the oil to get washed off the cylinder walls, creating a situation where you loose a lot of compression.

Best %100 way I've found to get the timing correct is by placing your thumb over #1's spark plug hole and turning the engine over until you feel it going into the compression stroke (blows a little air). Once this is found, set the harmonic balancer to the approiate place, pull the spout if your engine has one and then give it fire. If it runs, set your timing and tighten your distributor. Check the timing again after tightening, if all checks out, put the spout back in.

Scan the engine for codes (KOEO). I have no idea how to do that on these cars as well.

Remember: Engines need compression, spark and fuel. You probably have compression, so I would look into the fuel system if all fails.

Good Luck,
Pete