ok, now I don't know what to do. I have 12 volts at the battery. check voltage at solenoid and 12 volts out of that. check 2 different resistors and I cant get a voltage reading out of them. took off the coil wire to touch to ground no spark. touch my ohm leads to each of the posts of the coil and get 0.00 then the middle and still nothing. does this mean my coil is bad?

You may have a bad ballast resistor.

_________________
Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Somewhere in backwoods thinking i thouh the power came frombatt to solenoid the through other stuff and the ballast resistor then ti the coil pos side and the dist wire to the negative side. Well after no spark for many days i fiddle with something and ohmed it around enough to put myself in the ball park. At least it is turning over faster - till batt died again. Took off plug 1 and put screwdriver in it and close to ground with spark. Kind of an orange spark. Now im back i to tryi g to figure out if i bought the right points...anyone have the correct number to napa, advance, autozone ,etc for me to try? They open and close with light orange spark but engine just keeps turning over and over. Used my thumb for exhaust compression ans looked at the timing mark to the plate and it was 3 inch towards passenger side. Im going to have to break dow and buy or build a tdc tool. Just not sure how far to screw it down into chamber to not destroy chlinder head. And also, what size socket do i need to turn the dampening pulley with). Long story short, still no startystart

sorry about the misspelled words and the derailed train of thought...I was pretty tired and pissed off.
So, I now have minimal spark to the coil. I am not sure that the timing will ever be right on that dang car. It's little crap like this that makes people walk away...I know, just ask me.

I'm going to have to find TDC no matter what and start from there. The thumb in the hole doesn't seem to work so well for me and getting timing close. Man, it would be nice to have some handy dandy folks that are on here near me to stop over and help me figure this stupid thing out.

Thumb in the hole isnever a way I recommend to find TDC for timing purposes. Pull the valve cover and watch the movement of the valve. Rotate the crank by hand until the #1 intake valve opens and closes, then keep rotating until the timing mark lines up with 0 on the timing tab. The motor should now be at TDC on the compression stroke on the #1 piston.

Couple tricks Ive used in the past that has worked really well....

1: put in the #1 plug by hand without snugging it down. Turn it over and youll hear the compression push past the plug. When you start hearing it watch the timing mark and bring it to 0* You can usually take off the oil filler cap and feel the #1 rocker arms and they should have play in them.

2: a little more unorthadox, put a screw driver in the plug hole and turn it by hand. This only verifies TDC and not compression so youll have to check the rockers still to be sure. Just watch the screw driver, itll come up so far, then start going back down. That point is your TDC...

_________________
"if it aint broke, fix it till it is"
78 Plymouth Volare Super Six wagon
89 Volkswagen Golf GTI 16v
92 Chevrolet K1500 5.7
98 Ford Escort ZX2 zetech

I just don't understand the aversion to pulling the valve cover…..

Maybe the aversion would be that i still wouldnt know what i was looking at since ive never timed one that way and people usually teach in lingo that is way over my head. Thats all

(1) Pull valve cover

(2) identify #1 intake valve by finding the intake manifold runner closest to the radiator and look for the valve in-line with the intake runner

(3) turn the crank by hand using the bolt on the end of the crank or if that bolt is not there y using the fan and belts

(4) turn crank while watching intake valve until intake valve goes down (opens) and then back up (closes)

(5) after intake valve closes, keep turning crank and watch for timing mark

(6) keep turning until timing mark lines up with "0" on the timing tab

(7) stop turning

The engine is now at TDC on the compression stroke on the #1 cylinder. This is where you want it to be for purposes of timing the engine.

The factory service manual for your car is readily available on eBay or from other book sellers. It explains very clearly and with p[ictures how to set the timing from scratch. I strongly advise you to get a copy and read it until you have a better understanding of what you are doing. You can damage your car and yourself if you try to repair it by guessing.

It is very simple to watch the front 2 rocker arms and when the valve is being pushed into the head.

Richard

_________________
Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

A slant six like all other gas engines used in US cars is four cycle. Meaning it take four trips of the piston up and down or two full revolutions of crank shaft to get one cylinder to fill with air/fuel mix, compress it, burn the fuel, and expel the hot gasses out the exhaust pipe.

By observing the action of intake and exhaust valves on number one cylinder (closest to radiator) one can figure out which stroke the piston is compressing air/fuel mixture, and when it reaches its highest point in the bore; that is to say, TDC or Top Dead Center. Our slant six engines are timed to ignite the fuel mixture a few degrees of rotation of crank shaft Before the piston reaches TDC or BTDC to give the flame enough time to fully burn the fuel before it is expelled from the cylinder via the exhaust valve. This reference to BTDC in degrees is the setting we place the distributor at and is measured at the harmonic balance with a timing light when setting the engine's static timing; it is often set between 5 to 12 degrees on a slant.

To make this a bit clearer take a look at this illustration follow the four cycles of the piston. You should now be able to duplicate this example on your engine with the valve cover removed. To make the task of rolling the engine over easy, first remove all six plugs.

One more explanation.

Hope this helps.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

For me, its a little laziness. If I dont HAVE too, I probably wont lol. The other is not wanting to buy a new gasket, and I wont reuse one. So if there are alternative ways, Ill get it done.

Ultimately, since you are learning, best thing for you would be pull the valve cover... 8 small bolts, and moving a couple things out of the way will get the cover off. Once its off youll clearly see all the rockers. All your looking for are the first 2 arms at the very front (cyl #1). Turn the engine over by hand and youll see them move up and down. Closest to the front is exhaust rocker, next inline is the intake. After the intake comes all the way back up, the piston will be starting its way up on the compression stroke, watch the crank and line the mark up on the balancer with the timing tab. Dont be afraid to roll it over a couple times to get a feel for the way everything moves. Take your time about it, youll be good.

Hope thats explained simple enough ang gets you where you need to be

_________________
"if it aint broke, fix it till it is"
78 Plymouth Volare Super Six wagon
89 Volkswagen Golf GTI 16v
92 Chevrolet K1500 5.7
98 Ford Escort ZX2 zetech

It may not be the best way, but as long as you can feel it pushing air out of the cylinder then you are on the compression stroke. As soon as you feel he air coming out, then stop and rotate the engine by hand until your mark is lined up on zero. Now your done!

Rick

_________________
2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

thanks for all the replies. I do have a manual downloaded. sometimes its a little lengthy to open up and slow, but it does open up. I've worked on cars for a while, just never really got into the rebuilding of the inside of the engines. Always seemed a little overdaunting for me. But I do live by the moto...there's nothing to it but to do it. I recently purchased new gasket set for the engine when I replaced the exhaust mani. So, I have a new valve cover gasket already. I think I was getting myself confused with the opening and closing of the valves. Seems backawards that when the intake valve goes down it is open and vice versa.

I'll be getting to it a little more this Saturday, so...more to come. and more questions im sure. thanks again.