924Board.org

[Fasteddie313]

Dot on the back side of the cam pulley right?
Just look under the oil cap and make sure the cam loves are pointing upwards for #1 while #1 is at tdc and you are on compression stroke..

Technically you can start the plug wires anywhere you want on the distributor cap as long as you also start the distributor correctly for them and they are still in the correct order.. But usually you would want to point the distributor rotor pointing at the #1 cylinder, like toward the front left of the car where it is on the pickup on the dist cap, and start #1 there.. iirc..
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80 Turbo - Slightly Modified

[bureau13]

Yes, dot on the back of the cam pulley...although the oil cap trick is pretty good way to confirm, I never thought of that.

[bureau13]

Just a quick update....I gave up on trying to get the old dizzy to work, and put the Mittelmotor back in. Of course it worked fine, now that it has been sitting idle for a while. I have no idea why that is, but it's the second time that has happened. However, I got an email from Mittelmotor saying they shipped my exchange to TRE already, so I don't think it would be right to tell them to hang on it until it starts failing again, so I pulled it back off and send it in. I also finally spoke to the TRE person (Jonathan) who is familiar with this stuff, so we're all on the same page there. He'll send me the new one as soon as he gets the one from me, and I'll put it on once I get it.
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1982 931
1986.5 Silver 928S
2007 Hummer H3 (Daily Driver)

Past lives (I miss them all):
2004 RX-8 (Wrecked)
1993 RX-7 (Sold)
1987 RX-7 Turbo II (Sold)
1985 RX-7 GSL (Stolen)

[bureau13]

Holy thread resurrection batman! So...following my last post, I received the replacement ignition, put it in, and promptly bent some valves due to stupidity (see my head installation thread etc etc).

So, things were going really well, and then my low RPM serious drivability issues came back, complete with loud backfiring, etc etc. However, I noticed some other things, but I'm not sure they really make sense.

First, my charging circuit had stopped working and I didn't realize it, and with an almost dead battery, it was doing this REALLY badly. Replaced the battery, everything was fine. I kept it on the trickle charger while I diagnosed the charging circuit problem (there's a thread in the General (?) area about that).

So, charging circuit is working, but the other night the problem started coming back, I was barely able to get the car home. Oddly, if I can get the RPMs up over three and get into boost things work OK. Starting up from a stop though...ugh. No bueno. Also noticed the bluetooth streaming cutting out, but just assumed that was a problem with the stereo as it's not always worked as it should. Note: No trouble starting during any of this, it didn't sound sluggish running the starter motor, etc.

Anyway, I put it on the trickle just as an experiment, and assumed it would be topped up by morning if the alternator were really doing it's job. Two days later, the charge complete light had still not turned green. I took it for a test drive though, and night and day difference. The car ran flawlessly.

Does it make sense that my ignition system could be affected by having a partially drained battery, even though it's still sufficient to easily and repeatedly start the car? That just seems really odd to me.

I think I may just get a new alternator regardless. I have some driving lights I want to put on, that will be yet another drain on the system. I don't know if I have a 75amp or 90amp alternator (I THINK you could have either one? I might be wrong about that) but I think I will make sure to get a 90amp one.
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1982 931
1986.5 Silver 928S
2007 Hummer H3 (Daily Driver)

Past lives (I miss them all):
2004 RX-8 (Wrecked)
1993 RX-7 (Sold)
1987 RX-7 Turbo II (Sold)
1985 RX-7 GSL (Stolen)

[bureau13]

I'm still not sure that it makes sense to me that I can easily start a car but somehow not have enough juice to properly run the ignition system until I've topped up the battery, but there's no doubt the alternator was not putting out the voltage it should be putting out, so I replaced it.

I don't want to jinx myself, so I'm absolutely NOT saying it's fixed my issue here, but let's just say I haven't had a problem with it in a few days. Fingers crossed...
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1982 931
1986.5 Silver 928S
2007 Hummer H3 (Daily Driver)

Past lives (I miss them all):
2004 RX-8 (Wrecked)
1993 RX-7 (Sold)
1987 RX-7 Turbo II (Sold)
1985 RX-7 GSL (Stolen)

[chuck21401]

[bureau13]

I did! And so far, so good...fingers crossed!
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-----------------------------------------
1982 931
1986.5 Silver 928S
2007 Hummer H3 (Daily Driver)

Past lives (I miss them all):
2004 RX-8 (Wrecked)
1993 RX-7 (Sold)
1987 RX-7 Turbo II (Sold)
1985 RX-7 GSL (Stolen)

[bureau13]

Well, it's been enough time that I think I can safely say that this entire thread: The "fuel delivery problem," which turned into an ignition problem, which turned into me replacing my Mittelmotor distributor with another one, being stupid and bending valves, removing the head, buying a used head to scavenge parts, waiting 6-8 months on the machine shop to finish the head, and then all the struggling to get the head back on and the car to actually start....all of it...could have been solved or avoided by a $150 alternator and about 15 minutes to install it.

Or, to put it another way...it does seem like my car is finally driving again. This thread is concluded! Probably!
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-----------------------------------------
1982 931
1986.5 Silver 928S
2007 Hummer H3 (Daily Driver)

Past lives (I miss them all):
2004 RX-8 (Wrecked)
1993 RX-7 (Sold)
1987 RX-7 Turbo II (Sold)
1985 RX-7 GSL (Stolen)

[Eliza]

Hooray! Good for you!

I feel you pain - how often did I go on a totally blown-out-of-proportion wild goose chase then to find the problem was completely elsewhere and easily sorted... at least, yours IS at last sorted.

Perseverance rules!

Eliza
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1985 924 NA RoW
1981 931 S2 RoW

[bureau13]

Definitely true! Well...always plenty of items to sort, but at least this one seems to be done!