Trouble starting after rebuild. Help!

[stephenpolhill]

Just finished rebuilding my 1098 engine, put everything back in OK. The first time we turned it over, it 'spat' petrol out from the carb. We checked the distributor drive was in the right way round and didn't think it was to turned it round (180degrees). Engine rotates nicely and sounds normal on the starter button (no ignition on) however as soon as it is started with ignition on, it turns and slowly stops and feels like its really struggling on one turn. Sounds like when you have a flat battery but the battery is fine.
-Did we have the drive the right way round to start with but it wouldn't fire up for another reason?
-Is it NOW 180 degrees out of sequence and needs to be turned around?
-What could be causing the slow/struggling effect when turned over on ignition?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Steve

[PSL184]

Slow cranking with ign on means timing is too far advanced....

[stephenpolhill]

We tried setting the timing three times. Any advice on how to check for sure if it is right and if not how much to retard it by?

[bmcecosse]

Hope you wound up the oil pressure before attempting to start! If you have a gauge - get it up to 50 psi. If no gauge - keep going for 10 seconds after the oil light goes out. As PSL says - it's likely kicking against the starter - good sign - it's going to start! Just retard the ignition slightly (turn dizzy anti-clock slightly) until it does start!

[stephenpolhill]

Yep, we did wind up the oil pressure. The light went out after turning over the engine without ignition etc.
Dad has said it sounds like you're right so hopefully tomorrow we will have a look at it and do as you've advised. I'll let you know

[bmcecosse]

It'll be fine. Good luck with it!

[Mogwai]

an easy way to set the distributor to get a good base starting point is to get cylinder 1 to about 3°BTDC. (With the plug out you can feel for the compression stroke with your thumb over the hole whilst turning.)
substitute the coil with a test light, bulb etc & turn the distributor body clockwise until the bulb goes out ,this indicates the point that the points open . then note which pole of the distributor cap lines up with the rotor arm for No1 lead, then the others can be plugged in 1,3,4,2 in an anticlockwise direction. once everything is reassembled it should start & any further adjustments can then be made as necessary from this known point

[stephenpolhill]

Mogwai, as far as I recall we did do this. Think it says to in the Haynes. Whether or not we got something a bit out I'm not sure but what we did seems to match your description.

[stephenpolhill]

Well another day, another bit of progress. We checked everything again and tried starting it this morning, still a sluggish turn over but after 3 tries, I just turned the key to start it and didn't take it off for a while and it eventually sparked into life.
Again after lunch time we tried again and did the same though was a tad more eager to start. It sounded a bit rough but was still running!. However we tried to get the timing right and it still sounds a bit out and after 10 mins of idling, I revved it slightly and it sounded as though it wasn't firing correctly on one cylinder. A few mins after that it died.
Any ideas? Is it time to take it to a garage to get it tuned properly?
Thanks
Steve

[bmcecosse]

Did it die due to lack of fuel ? Is the fuel pump ticking ok ? Check the valve gaps - are you sure they are right ? And - are you SURE the camshaft is timed in absolutely correctly - dot to dot ? It maybe has an oiled up plug (due to the fresh oil in the bores) - try another set - even old ones. Main thing is to get it running and get some heat in it - so you can torque it down and reset the valve gaps. Then you can play with the ignition timing and the carb settings.
A 'garage' will just rip you off mercilessly!

[PSL184]

Sounds very much like the plug leads are not in the correct order. Re check just to be sure....

[bmcecosse]

Plug order could well be the problem - 1342 anticlockwise round the dizzy cap! If there is any doubt about the cam timing - I can take you through the method for checking it!