'71 911T Won't Start!!

[corysurf]

I need some help from those of you with more experience than me. I just got this car which has not been driven consistently in a few years. It started and ran about 2 months ago, before I got it, then died and has not started since. The starter turns over, I just replaced ignition wires, coil, plugs, points, rotor, cap. And now I have spark again, but it still will not start. The ignition timing has not been changed since 2 months ago so i assume it is at least close enough to start the car. I did have trouble with the points gap though, as I could not get the distributor to stop with the points open, so I eyeballed it. Could that make the car not run. I am getting a good fat spark though. The gas does not appear to be rusty, the fuel filter was just replaced, the fuel pump is working, I added water remover to the tank to make sure there was not water in it somehow. And yet it still won't start. Can anybody help me? Could the gas be bad? The car turns over and occasionally will sound like one cylinder fires but mostly just doesn't even sound like it is getting any combustion. Thanks.

[jtf914]

Sounds like you need to set the dwell angle on your new points. The first time I replaced my points the car would just crank over and over. I bought a dwell meter, adjusted the points, and it started right up. I'm sure somone on the board can tell you the dwell angle for a 71 T, the dwell for my -6 which is the same engine as the 69 T is 40 + or - 3 degrees.

Also try searching the Pelican BBS archives, I'm sure you can find a lot of info on setting the dwell angle.


Justin

[jkeyzer]

If the points won't open and close properly (which is easy to get wrong if you don't gap them carefully) then the car won't start. I have experienced this first hand on the side of the road...

To set the points you need to manually rotate the crankshaft pulley (clockwise only) until you are close to a lump on the distributor points cam. You can then usually rotate the shaft a little by hand to get it right onto the bump, and gap the points there. At least that is how I used to do it before I got electronic points.

And of course make sure you put the rotor on correctly and get the cap down right, easy to screw up.

Dwell spec for 71T is 38 +- 3 deg if you have a Bosch distributor according to Haynes. Gap is 0.012". For Marelli it is different...