I have a 79 with 90K original miles I'm working on, and I'm having some issues.

First, I am definately getting spark to all plugs.

Next, I'm definately getting fuel, as I can see it being squirted into the carb.

Then, it does have compression, 3 nice solid puffs on each rotor.

Finally, it will pull start, BUT it makes a sound that sounds like there's a freaking rock in the engine or something. It's a very loud ticking or banging sound that goes away after you rev it up and the RPMS are dropping (it only goes away as the RPMS drop). The engine will run if we keep it above 1500-3000 RPM, but as soon as it drops below that, no amount of gas will bring it back up.


Any ideas?

 

Probably not it, but. . . . you don't have a vacuum leak, do you?

Probably not it, due to the weird noise. . . . but there's been stranger things happen.

 

Sounds like rocks in the engine? Your timing or fuel is off. I'm betting on the timing seeing as how you have to pull start the engine.

 

Yah, I was wondering about that. We pulled the distributer and it was in backwards, so we fixed that, but it didn't correct the problem. I guess the timing could still be way off or something:S


As for a vacuum leak, we looked pretty hard and couldn't find anything.

 

Have you checked your starter. Becuase my 85 did that same thing happened to mine. so you might just want to check it out.Couldn't hurt right. good luck

 

Timing. Too advanced. Get a timing light and check it.

 

Yours did the same thing as far as the sound goes, or the starting problem? The starter is new, but we did have to return the first one we bought because it was FUBAR.

 

how many cold cranking amps is ur battery?

 

Sounds like timing. Look for the timing mark on the pulley make sure it's clean and paint white and yellow marks as appropriate (see manual). Use a timing light to set timing. It won't start with starter because starter won't spin it at the 1800rpm required to run (if you continue to have starter problems put in new battery cables since the old ones are probably corroded aluminum).

I think the 79 has points and condenser, which is poor, but you can static-time that system. You can also convert to electronic with $20 of parts from the junkyard. Note that plug gap is about .30 for mechanical and .60 for electronic so plugs must change.

If electronic ignition make sure ignitors are OK: there are instructions in manual and in our archive for doing this.

B