any more thoughts on this because I am struggling now. Possibly the leads and plugs?
i really am at my wits end !:(

To me it sounds like the coil is weak. I am thinking this since the timing light won't light. Are you sure it works?
Cancel the fuel pump and try to start the car. Do thid for about 15 seconds, a couple of times. Don't crank on it longer than that, you don't want to burn up the starter. This will "clean out the cylinders" If it trys to start you are flooded.
Make sure to engage the clutch while doing this, no need to add the trans to the cranking duties.
And an SC rotor rotates counter clockwise

I know the sc rotates counter clockwise ! I have tried with an msd blaster coil and a standard bosch blue coil. Nada from each !!!

So down in the dumps with this ! :( :(

Gordon,

1. Those plugs sound way, way too cold for an SC engine! Have you pulled them lately to see if they are carbon-fouled? Six fouled plugs can make a coil look weak -- even when it is fine!

2. Have you checked the condition of the green coax signal cable from the distributor? If it has turned brown, or is cracked ... I would suggest replacing it!

3. Have you checked the socket for the CDI unit at terminals #31d and #7 for continuity and 600 Ohms [+/- 10% at room temperature] resistance with a good digital multimeter? There should be a low level 1.0 - 2.0 Volt AC waveform-Voltage signal there during cranking.

Here is more documentation on the 6-pin CDI unit and some troubleshooting precautions:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=203100&highlight=cdi+do cumentation

have you checked the battery. possible the battery is weak and cant get enough cranking amps to the coil. that was my problem at first. new battery and it started right up.

the plugs are the Porschce reccomended part if you cant get BERU.
I am going to get this bloody car started one way or another !

Gordon

hi,

thabk you for the reply.

I have the Bentley book, which as i say actually said that the direction of the rotor is "clockwise" which I know is wrong!

I am running an MSD 6a

can a pop off valve leak? i didnt think of that.

as for the airbox i havent had it off to see if it is cracked.

Gordon

O.K. Let the MSD experts chime in.

I am heavily tempted to go back to the cdi to be honest !

Gordon

oh joy of joys. to put the tin hat on everything i think I have now ruined the battery. It only seems to be charging on 3 cells!!!!

maybe that's been the problem the whole time. Let's hope so since that's an easy fix.

I hope so, I really do !

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

started today !1 had to take the distributor out and reset it, fitted new plugs etc, went fine, timed to 5* at 950 and 25 at 4000 rpm. My only worry is that it is as smokey as can be when I first started it. Could it have too much oil in? would that give me problems with smoke ? thing is this smoke is coming from inside the he's! out of the heater system!

Sounds good.
Get the long 3mm Allen, read up on how to do it and set the mixture.
Check oil level with engine really hot and keep the level in the middle of the stick, no more!
Remove the airfilter and clean out the oil from the airbox.
Let it run for a while to burn off the excess oil.
If your heater boxes are really rusty, the headers/pipes from the exaust ports may be leaking into the HE?

ah the he's are brand spanking ssi's. i do think the car is overfull of oil though, at top of stick when hot, nice and clean though, interestingly the revs drop when I remove the oil cap, should that happen?

many thanks to all of you here who helped, the distributor setting info was brilliant. SmileWavy

just for good measure i went out this am in the very cold weather, turned the key and bingo off she went runnning like a good 'un:D

Glad to hear all is good!

smoking has now stopped, seemed as if she just needed to be ru for a while. Now to set about the calipers!!

Yes, RPM will drop about 50 when opening the oil cap, very normal.
If it doesn't drop, it means that there is a vacuum leak in the breather circuit (hose from the case to the filler stud), not good.

When changing oil and filter, fill with 10 liters first, run the engine hot, top up if necessary but not more than the middle of the marks on the stick!