MX-3.com

hopefully the head gaskets survived.. not that they were expensive, i think i paid $100 cdn for all the gaskets to do the top end? no cometic quality but who cares.

got thos ebitches torqued down this time as per the manual to the letter. timing is CORRECT this time. there was a lot of black s--- obstructing the mark on the crank. took a little time to mess with the belt and cams to get it all right but should be perfect. should get to fire her up this afternoon. let her idle for a good while to run in a bit.

kinda sad that it took me like 3 months to get to this point.. but the second time ripping everything off was much much faster. though i didnt ahve to mess with the heads or the valves this time.

there was one vaccum nipple just behind the throttle body that i couldnt identify. i ran all the hoses back the way they wanted to sit, since most of them are very hard now. but there is one very shiney nipple on a module that has two vaccum attachments that nothing went to... maybe ill rip the boost gauge out of my msp and hoot it up to see if thats a problem.

looks like either the coil or the distro went out, no spark.
ah well. at least its together and i can clean up the shop a little bit.

Make sure you got that little ground wore near the dusty regrounded to the engine.

valk1317 wrote:looks like either the coil or the distro went out, no spark.
ah well. at least its together and i can clean up the shop a little bit.

dont feel bad, when my first motor died from cylinder 1 it also mysteriously killed the disty when trying to restart with the new motor.

I might try the ignition mod. looks like it would cheaper than a new disty too.

rockauto has a closeout, 109 for a distributor w/30 day warranty or 170 for lifetime warranty w/cap and rotor. I sprung for the lifetime warranty. If mine goes bad... just get a new one.
It's always nice to have a backup stock distributor that works as well.

If the HEI mod works as its said to, i wont need a new disty. just disable the factory coil and mod the cap for the external coil plug.

definitely not spending any kind of money on this car if i can avoid it. if it was a very nice condition mx3 or mx6 that would be something else.
as it stands it has a $1000 dent in the passenger quarter, peeling paint on the roof, rusty pitted hood, rust in ALL the fenderwells, rusting and crappy suspension parts lol.. the only saving grace is the interior is in decent shape and i put new tires on it lol.
this is very much a grassroots project if its possible.

Just keep in mind that the HEI mod replaces the igniter (with the HEI module) and the coil - if you replace the coil too. It is not the same as replacing the whole unit.
I'm a little suspicious that the distributor suddenly failed when you reassembled for a second time. Before you spend any money - even to do the HEI mod you might just check over your connections - especially grounds. Also check the member sales. There are a few part outs that might get you a working distributor for less $ than the HEI mod, especially if you plan on replacing the coil at the same time. While distributors can be a weak spot there are many that don't fail. I've got one that is 22 years old, was in a K8 for about 172K and is now in a KLDE for about 25K miles and still going strong.

Ill check it out.
Though the car had difficulties starting before we took it off the road. I unplugged injectors and cranked a few times, reconnected abd it took a serious effort to get it to go. When the spark was working, it wasn't that stellar. Orangy color.

The HEI mod is a good mod to perform. but you do have to buy the module, external coil and rewire it. Then mod the distributo cap, which means you have to buy a power tower and an additional hefty spark wire from the coil to the distributor.

This may cost you more than 100 bucks and can lead to more troubleshooting headaches.

Which is why I'd be prone to suggest getting a distributor. I mean, look how long the last one lasted...

obviously the disty is the simplest option but the write up for the hei mod is very very straight foward. the hardest part would be modding the disty cap and disabling the stock coil ect.
i have a very good soldering station for my rc racing hobby and wouldn't bother with any crimp connections.

doesn't really matter atm though. I have a rc race in vancouver this week so $100 might as well be $1000 with my budget stretched as it is this summer.
though i might know somone with an mx6 who has a disty to try.

Buy a new distributor. Just. Buy. A. New. One. I fought with my HEI for a month before I gave in and bought a new disty, lifetime warranty and no ugly wiring in the engine bay to get in the way. Just my .02

Why? It's just gonna fail you again. Maybe it happens one day after you finish a job wrenching but maybe it happens during an important trip and you can't take the time to replace it? These distributors are a pile of crap and ticking time bombs with the fail rate being stupidly high.

I have a box full of spares in my garage because I fought doing the HEI mod but it'll save money and time not having to pull over on to the side of the road, figure out what's wrong, pull that bastard out and stick another in. Even if you have lifetime warranty you have to go to the shop that you got it from and if they don't have it in stock you're s--- out of luck.

My time is worth more then a few ugly wires in my engine bay and 99 percent of the people here will agree. Sure I can swap a disty in two minutes because I carry over 100 lbs of tools in my trunk and I've only had to do it fifty times already but I'd much rather not waste my time doing that.

Valk, HEI mod will cost you less and save you the inconvenience of being stranded when your distributor dies again. If you can stretch your dollar for it I'd recommend it. If not, wait till you can find a deal. Sometimes you can pick up a cheap disty or find one at pick n pull and toss it in just to get you going, but it will fail again unfortunately.

Rob,

I would agree with you if the OP can perform the mod successfully and can understand how to troubleshoot the additional components should they fail roadside. The Hei module can be more of a pain to trouble shoot when it goes bad in my opinion then a factory distributor, speaking from experience of myself and someone else that has dealt with this mod. Now I run 2 distributors because I got so fed up with it, one new in the car and one in the glovebox with my 8mm clutch bleeding wrench and my 2 recent permanent additions, a cheapo ratchet with a 10&12mm should I ever need it. Granted i got lucky and could exchange the disty that was in the car for another new reman when I bought mine b/c it was the same brand but it would be just as easy as you said to hit a JY and pick up a spare for emergency service cheap.

Yes theres a con of higher initial investment but I think the pros of easy troubleshooting, space saving in an already cramped bay and factory reliability outweigh carrying around a spare ignition module and hoping thats the cause. If not, I have a spare coil and ignition wire for sale

OK, I think Valk has enough data to make his decision. Both has its pros and cons. Lets wait till he makes a move and offer our help depending on which route he goes.