Above are the wires to the female lead I found hiding near the distributor

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1359429657.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1359429681.jpg
Existing wires coming out somewhere from the bottom of the distributor out to the housing that I have the msd wired into

ok looks like the tapped into the old CDI box plug with spade connectors, that should be ok for now the green wire is a coax cable coming out of the distributor to the old CDI box, there is 2 wires yes but, like your cable box at home, only the wire in the middle counts, the other wire or shielding is to prevent interference from nuclear EMP radiation. keep up the good work, now, lets look at the dissy. Do you have a timing light? the impulse type (clips on the #1 sparkplug wire) and does it flash as you are trying to start the engine?

It's hard to follow the wiring from your pictures, but the signal wire coming from the dizzy is coax and splits at some point to two wires on the MSD. It might go directly or into the engine harness first, depending on how it was installed. Off the top of my head I think they are purple and green coming from the MSD. The signal off the dizzy is a square wave. If the purple and green are backward, you'll get spark, but it will be at the wrong time.

The other basics mentioned (plug wires, rotor at TDC) are critical as well, but my money is on those wires being flipped.

By the way James. That distributor and wires are beautiful!

Yes it flashes when I hook it up to spark plug wire 1

thanks, ok, we got spark!! now fuel, air and timing

Hey fellas,
To add insult to injury, after trying to time the car previously the nut on the distributor housing was never tightened back down. So, I am in their moving vacuum hoses and wallah the distributor move almost all the way to the opposite end it was resting at when we last tried to time it. My question is what do I do now... Do I try to move it back? Do I just leave it and when I try to crank it over next time it will just be more out of whack. Advice is appreciated.
Thanks,
Gary

as long as the engine is at the correct TDC, take the cap off and make sure the rotor is lined up with the little notch in the dissy. that should be in the ballpark to get it started.

A little extra ignition at cold start won't hurt, I'd give it a tad extra. No more than 10deg BTDC.

Thanks. The engine is not timed correctly. We tried to get it started before and father in law could not get it into time. was way off. So based on this information what do I do?
Do i nudge it back close to the spot it was orginally and then try and time it from there?
Or
Do I leave it where it is at and then start cranking the engine to try and time it.
This engine has not started yet. It cranks but doesn't turn over.
I am going to try and reverse the wires of the msd to see if that may make a difference after I get a response from my generous friends on this forum.
Thanks again,

Gary

The suggestion was already made: Set Cyl#1 TDC compression stroke and then simply have the rotor line up with distributor mark and your close enough for getting it started.

Thanks for hitting me over the head with that. Sometimes I gotta hear it twice.
Seriously, I appreciate the follow up.
Will report back on outcome.

It's alive! Sort of but it's progress. Maybe I am learning thing that I don't want to know. But here goes.
Switched purple and black wires in 6 prong harness. Low and behold I try and turn it over and it tries...really tries. Goes beyond cranking.
Get brother in law over and try to time it again. As we turn it back to its original spot it start to choke and cough. More white smoke as I give it a few pumps of gas.
Finally I just turn it without putting my foot on the gas and it turn over. Awesome.
She / he started and turned over and stayed running on its own. After about 5 seconds of a nice idle I got out of the car to hi five brother in law and all of a sudden the motor just started racing. The rpms were like someone was flooring the car. I instantly turned to turn it off but then the car just died on its own. Out of the tail pipe came vomit. Literally the car vomited a brownish thick chocolate milky quite a bit actually . A lot. It probably spit out a pint of this crap. I collected my breath and turned it over again and it fired right up but then wanted to race and the rpms started to go up line my foot was on the pedal, I turned off the key. Looked back and saw that it spit out a little more. Next time I tried again the battery gave up and wound down. So that's where I am. Battery charging and car waiting for tomorrow.
Input and guidance on next best steps are appreciated.
Gary

Awesome! Porsche vomit!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scoop it up and put it in a jar!

LOL that's too funny..

Car sat for 5 years, oil leaked into exhaust. Mixed with all the fuel and condensation from many attempted starts.
It'll clean itself out eventually!

Sweet, glad my wire flip suggestion worked, although I had the colors wrong. Racing can be a number of things, including a vacuum leak, but let's start simple.

First screw in the idle adjustment screw all the way, then back out a half-turn and see if the racing is gone. You may have to use the throttle a little to get/keep it running. Then back it out to get a reasonable idle, you're not shooting for the perfect 950 rpm yet, go a little high, say 1200 after the AAR has closed.

Now get your timing light on it and follow the specs for your car. Sorry, I don't know them for a 78, but it's in your manual or someone can chime in who knows. If the timing was really advanced, that would cause high idle also.

Once it's timed, get the idle where you want it. Then you'll want to check your CO levels, but that's a topic for another day :) Good luck, you're getting there.

Steve

Thanks a bunch gents. I will follow suggestions and report back

Gary

Racing condition at idle is most likely a combination of Rich Mixture and to much Ignition Advance. Either or both of these will cause idle hunting and or racing.

As suggested get it running and warm it up then set the Mixture and Ignition.

Porsche puke
 

Hey gents,

Haven't had a chance to work on timing and idle, but thought I would share an image of the second spit up.

Enjoy. And if looking at it tells you something I should watch out for other than putting it in a cup, please share.

Thanks,

Garyhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1360020453.jpg