My distributor had been in 180 degrees out for a long time and finally got around to fixing it. Followed the directions on some previous posts about the subject, and the car starts but will only run for a second. Starts really strong with a nice gurgle but then dies. I adjusted the idle mixture to 1 1/2 turns out from maybe 3 turns out previously. I also had taken out the breaker plate and replaced the little nylon rubbings. Anyway, could the breaker plate be a problem, or does anyone have some suggestions? Thanks

 

Huh? If your distributor had been 180 out, it would not have run at all.

 

No im pretty sure 180 runs , anything else won't

 

No, it won't. 180* out means you're firing every cylinder on the exhaust stroke. Engine won't run like that, and you'll get lots of backfiring.

You need a timing light. Rotate the distributor until the engine stays running, then set the timing at idle (with the vacuum advance disconnected and the hose plugged) at 8*.

 

You can stab the distributor in any way you want as long as the wires are put on the cap in the correct firing order. For example, on a 302 with firing order 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8, if the distributor is installed with #1 cylinder at TDC on the firing stroke but the rotor is pointing at the socket in the cap for the # 4 cylinder, then terminal 4 gets the #1 plug wire, 2 gets 5, and so on working around the cap in firing order. The wires aren't in the "right" spot on the cap but the car will run fine.

That said, you shouldn't have to mess with mixture to get the distributor in "right".

 

Will fire 180 CAMSHAFT degrees out.... if the plug wires are in the right (revised) position on the cap.

To answer the question that is the problem....

I am saying that the ignition wire is not "HOT"... it is starting on the START circuit from the solenoid, but then the engine falls dead as soon as the key is released from "start" position.

Probably, the ignition wire got into a short circuit at some point when the distributor was out and the key was switched on blowing a fuse,,, or the ignition wire is just not hooked to the coil... (just the start wire is hooked).

 

found out it wasn't advanced enough, got it to start good enough to time it, now it's good, thanks