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Hello everyone, I've been trying to figure out my no spark situation on my 1980 rx7. Upon further investigation I've found that I have a 1981-1985 distributor in my 1980 12a. It seems my 1981-1985 distributor is missing the leading igniter off the side. I swapped the trailing igniter to the leading side of the distributor. With thermal paste. Hooked up the positive spade to the positive side of the ignition coil. And vice versa for the negative spade to the negative side of the coil. I cranked the engine but go no fire. I then made a sort of test harness for my j-109 ignitor and found that when I switched the power on the light stayed on, even when I switched the power off. Thinking this may be a problem, I then pulled the j 105s off my 1980 factory ignitor block (hoping to swap them onto the 81-85 dristributor) * I know they are longer*. I hooked up the j105s the same way I tested the j109 and this time when I switched the power on and off the light came on and off. Does this mean my j109 is bad? And can I run my 81-85 distributor with the old j105 ignitors. I hooked either one up to the distributor and put 1 screw in with thermal paste and still had no fire.
Can you post closeup pics of distributor with cap and rotor off and of wiring going from distributor to ignition coils. Has this car run since being in your possession?
^ there is a link to a video I just posted on what I did to get it running. Its not right im sure but if someone that knows where I should go from here can let me know. Id sure appreciate it.
I would first check the mechanical timing. My concern is I don't trust anything as it sits on you car. including the timing pulley. You can confirm the timing by removing the inspection plate on the bell housing and the flywheel has a flat spot:
once you confirm top dead center by the flywheel, look to see if the timing mark is lined up with the yellowfins timing mark on the pulley. Now set the distributor. If you remove the distributor there are two dots near the gear drive:
If you confirm the mechanical timing is correct, the you can undo the electrical nightmare you have going down.
If you have 1981-85 distributor on your 1980 rx-7, then it is safe to assume that you cannot assume the timing pulley isn't off by +/90 degrees or 180 degrees.
A picture of the flat spot on the flywheel would be NICE.
Wish I knew about this when I f'd up and did the pulley wrong when I installed a rebuilt engine. I sorted things out by turning the distributor 90 degrees multiple times and trying to start the car. Then I installed the pulley so its timing mark matched the dist's position. This is a lousy hazardous to the engine 1/2 *** way to find the right position for the timing pulley. But it worked.
Last edited by midnight mechanic; 10-24-19 at 06:08 PM.
10-22-19, 01:24 PM
