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I borrowed a similar one from a mechanic friend and had to drop the keepers into the retainer first, dab em with some oil to keep them there, then compress the spring which was damn awkward at times, jam the compressor arc in my armpit to keep pressure on it while i used my finger to guide the keeprs into place. first one took a looong time but all the other ones have gone fairly smoothly so far. still have 6 to do after finishing coffee. and find the last valve seal.. im sure its in the box somewhere with the rest of the gaskets.

Distributor can go on two ways, does it matter which? There is a notch on one of the blades and not a.matching on in the cam.

You might as well remove them and put a new HG on. You have to remove the cams/springs/retainers etc. Then make sure the valve doesn't drop. It would quicker and easier to remove the heads.

I'm a few steps ahead of that heh

Factory manual was unhelpful. Guess ill just start it and if it doesn't, flip the distro

the distributor is sort of keyed. It should only go in one way...

The confusion is that the key goes all the way through the rot. Shaft. The cam doesnt appear to have a matching notch like the key, just slotted through.

Its prob as you say, I only looked at it for 5 minutes in the dark.

sooooo.

got everything in and hooked up. car wont start though..
i took the distro out and cleaned all the blades, tested for spark on the windsheild while cranking. though i did notice that unless the plug grounded to the wiper there was no spark, so im wondering if there is a ground issue? or am i look at a distributor/coil problem? the car did run before so not sure what would have changed. every once in a while it will sputter and try to start but then i think it just floods out and thats it.
unplugged injectors, turned over a few seconds, reattach, nothing.

so now im back to wondering if the distro can be installed the wrong way. i went on faith and "aligned the marks" but i still dont see any indication on the camshaft that it can only go in one way..

of course, it has sat for a some months, so could it be bad gas?

Did you install your fuel lines the right way? Easy to mess up.

I didn't think that would matter as the rails are bridged. Ill try it when home though.

[quote="valk1317"]sooooo.

got everything in and hooked up. car wont start though..
i took the distro out and cleaned all the blades, tested for spark on the windsheild while cranking. though i did notice that unless the plug grounded to the wiper there was no sparkquote]
Sounds like you figured it out to me, New disty time. To make sure bring your #1 cylinder to top dead center and pop off your disty cap while its bolted in. Then make sure your rotor is lined up to the contact point for wire #1, put the cap back on, recheck your wire positions and turn it over again. If no spark still, buy a new disty

Which means peeling back the timing cover again... happy times

valk1317 wrote:Which means peeling back the timing cover again... happy times

Nope, just spin it with an extension in the plug hole and watch till it comes to its top most position, and check the timing marks on the covers with your balancer, should line up pretty easy that way.

valk1317 wrote:sooooo.
... tested for spark on the windsheild while cranking. though i did notice that unless the plug grounded to the wiper there was no spark, so im wondering if there is a ground issue?

If you have a spark plug in the cable then the ground strap on the spark plug must be grounded (like it is when installed). It sounds like you might have spark.
Could your timing be way off? Are you certain that timing marks on camshaft and crankshaft lined up when you installed the timing belt? Are spark plug wires connected correctly?

When you do what Sleeper suggests you should find the mark on the crankshaft pulley at 0' on the timing cover and the rotor pointing to where the #1 spark plug wire is connected.

Its possible thetiming is off but I doubt it. I followed the mark method and everything lined up unless 170 was toward the rear of the car but even then, only one tooth off should at least start.
Ill check it out again. I get spark from all leads with the plug grounded. Its prob just in backwards.