toddk042

iTrader: (1)

I rotated the engine by hand and there are no yellow or red paint marks. I did find these divots, which look like they are the marks.I temporarily put the green and purple marks on either side. I assume the green is the leading and the purple is trailing. I'll borrow some fingernail polish to mark them proper after I here back.

I think my timing light has gone on the fritz. When I started it would freeze things, but now the marks I've made jump all over the place, they are never in the same place twice it seems. they move all alround the pulley.

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

Yes - those are the timing marks.

toddk042

iTrader: (1)

I got the timing light on it, and it was very advanced, I got it back in time, I had to advance the trailing all the way, Took it for a drive and it feels stronger. I need to take it on the highway, to confirm, but it also seems to not be missing like it was. I was afraid to drive it too far from home because it felt like it was going to cutout.

rxtasy3

iTrader: (2)

check here, Foxed.ca - Mazda RX-7 Manuals, for shop manuals and wiring diagrams that could be beneficial to any diagnosis that may be needed. get the leading/trailing split right like it should be. trailing shouldn't have needed to been advanced all the way.

toddk042

iTrader: (1)

I agree something seems fishy, though I don't think it's electrical, now that you've made me think about it a bit more. The 79 has points instead of the electronic ignition that 80 has (which the fsm on fox is for), and the 79 vacuum advances are directly connected to carb, rather than through vacuum control solenoids on the 80. My Hypothesis is that the leading vacuum advance is stuck, in advance. I retarded the distributor to overcome that, but that also retarded the trailing, which I just advanced back into true.
i'll report back after digging into the distributor, and picking up one of those vacuum test pumps.
I did check for vacuum leaks using starter fluid, and nothing showed up.

toddk042

iTrader: (1)

I checked, and both the lead and trailing vacuum advances are free. I have new points and condensers on order.

toddk042

iTrader: (1)

Replacing the points, and getting them gapped properly did the trick.I was able to put the timing pretty much back to where it should be, and the trailing too. The car definitely has more getup and go now. Before I would not go above 6k rpm.
Thanks all for helping this noob!