Neal, I ordered a new condenser today. It will be here tomorrow. I'll see what happens then. Thanks everone for the help so far!

    

A few from my past and present. 60 Falcon, 65 Barracuda, 71 Gremlin!!!, 73 Fiat Spider, 75 TR7, 76 MGB, 95 Miata, 71 Chevelle, 71 Austin Mini, 76 MG Midget, 77 Corvette and a new addition 72 big block 454 Corvette.

Glad to hear you're getting some assistance .... hopefully you'll be driving it shortly.  Looking forward to hearing of your further progress.

SE7EN

Hi Don, thanks for the offer! I'll try again today when I get home. I'll let you know how I make out. If I don't do any good, Sunday would be great. Thanks again!

A few from my past and present. 60 Falcon, 65 Barracuda, 71 Gremlin!!!, 73 Fiat Spider, 75 TR7, 76 MGB, 95 Miata, 71 Chevelle, 71 Austin Mini, 76 MG Midget, 77 Corvette and a new addition 72 big block 454 Corvette.

Jan,   Been out of town on business and thought I'd be home today and tomorrow, but had to go shopping tonight.  Then I got another field service call in WV for tomrrow, which came up at 4PM today.   Will be out of town again for most of the weekend, but home late Saturday.  If you can't get it running by Sunday, let me know and I should be able to stop by sometime then.  I know sometimes all it takes is a set fresh eyes to look at something you've looked at over and over again and it looks OK, but isn't.  I know I've done that myself.

Thanks,     Don

Why take the time to learn when ignorance is instantaneous?..... Hobbes   (to Calvin)

Seems funny to place a post your first time up in the middle of a thread on a completely different subject.  BUT ....there's a thread about garage door opener programming started on www.northamericanmotoring.com, where there is far more MINI info than there is here.

SE7EN

can anyone help with programing my garage door opener and my new mini club ?

Neal, That is exactly what it was doing on Sunday when I thought I had it wired wrong from the get go. Ok I'll pick up a new condensor tomorrow and see what happens. Didn't have time today Had to cut the grass and put new plugs and wires in my Santa Fe. What a picnic that was. You have to remove the intake manifold to get to the back 3 plugs. Took me 5 hours! I thought Mini's were tough!

A few from my past and present. 60 Falcon, 65 Barracuda, 71 Gremlin!!!, 73 Fiat Spider, 75 TR7, 76 MGB, 95 Miata, 71 Chevelle, 71 Austin Mini, 76 MG Midget, 77 Corvette and a new addition 72 big block 454 Corvette.

I think you've got it.  TDC at the compression stroke of # 1 is what you're after.  It only happens at each cylinder every second rotation.  The other TDC occurence at each cylinder is exhaust.

Once you attain TDC compression, take a look at the inside of the dizzy.  Here's where it's important.  If you're close to one lobe, select that one to be #1 for now and do the work from there, no matter where it initially occurs relative to clock position.  Set the static timing off that one, make it # 1, follow around CCW with 3-4-2 from there, and give it a try.

 As for testing the condensor, there's likely a test method to be found on the web, but it's probably simpler to just try another.  Last time I had one fail (MME 2007), the car would start, but not rev, kinda like the vacuum advance was off, but far worse.

SE7EN

Neal, Let me see if I understand and I'll try it when I get home today. First off the points are gapped at .015 as per the instructions. TDC is hi lighited on the pully and flywheel with white paint. So at TDC markings it is either intake or exhaust stroke with each 360 degree revolution or 2? So once TDC is verified and with the power on rotate the dizzy body to get the light to fire. Then where the rotor points make it #1 and follow around counter clockwise with the wires accordingly. One more thing if the condensor is bad could it cut the spark down? How can I test it? Thanks!

  

A few from my past and present. 60 Falcon, 65 Barracuda, 71 Gremlin!!!, 73 Fiat Spider, 75 TR7, 76 MGB, 95 Miata, 71 Chevelle, 71 Austin Mini, 76 MG Midget, 77 Corvette and a new addition 72 big block 454 Corvette.

Let's go back to basics.  dklawson had a nice post on the Minispares board about insuring that you've correctly identified TDC.  Valves for cylinder 1 must be loose and rocking for it to be compression TDC, while at the same time the valves for cylinder 4 must be tight because they're in overlap at the end of the exhaust stroke ... exhaust just closing and intake just opening.

So the dizzy is fitted, you expect that the wiring locations from the cap to the plugs are correct, and you have spark at the plugs.  Now, when you fitted the dizzy, were the points and condensor already in the dizzy?  If so, did you verify that the connections were proper and secure and that the point gap was correct?  If the point gap is too wide, you may be getting spark, but not enough spark because you don't have an adequate dwell angle.

If you set the points right, and verify TDC (and make a reference mark on the flywheel or front pulley if it doesn't correlate to any markings), you should be able to rotate it back around two revolutins to just before TDC again (1/4" or so before the mark), then set the dizzy statically with a test light. Rotate the dizzy CCW until the light goes out, then back clockwise until it just lights.  If you do that and put the #1 wire to where the rotor is pointing at that juncture, it should fire, all else being correct (or close).

If that's not getting it, perhaps the dizzy came with a bum condenser, and you're fighting with a bad component.  Keep plugging.

 

SE7EN

Yes I have spark at the plugs. I had it running yesterday badly wired up who knows how. I've tried so many things I can't remember. Oh sorry I guess that might help. I'd forgotten I'd taken out my location. I'm about 20 mins. north of Pittsburgh, Pa, in Lower Burrell.

A few from my past and present. 60 Falcon, 65 Barracuda, 71 Gremlin!!!, 73 Fiat Spider, 75 TR7, 76 MGB, 95 Miata, 71 Chevelle, 71 Austin Mini, 76 MG Midget, 77 Corvette and a new addition 72 big block 454 Corvette.

What's "local"?  Nothing in your profile.

I still think that the timing is not correct.  Just to be sure - do you have spark at the plugs? 

SE7EN

I installed the choke cable Sunday. Everything is where is should be but it doesn't fire. I'm out of ideas. Anyone else have any? Anybody local want to take a stab at it? Thanks!

A few from my past and present. 60 Falcon, 65 Barracuda, 71 Gremlin!!!, 73 Fiat Spider, 75 TR7, 76 MGB, 95 Miata, 71 Chevelle, 71 Austin Mini, 76 MG Midget, 77 Corvette and a new addition 72 big block 454 Corvette.

in your first post a few days ago, I think you said that you were trying to start it without using the choke.

Is that correct?

If so, please try it with the choke fully on.

If you are already doing that then, spark + fuel + compression = running engine, and you said you've confirmed all three, so your spark must still, somehow, not be at the right time.

Norm

Yes the vacuum take off on the carb is capped. Spent another couple of hours in the garage today and still no progress. I set the timing marks at TDC and pulled off the valve cover to make sure both valves on "1 weren't compresses so it was ready to fire. The rotor on the dizzy was pointing at around 2 o'clock so it should be ready to fire #1. Had it wired counterclock wise 1-3-4-2. Cranked it and nothing. If you crank it 360 degrees around to the timing mark again it points to #4 around the 8 o'clock position. I've run out of ideas and havn't a clue why it will not run. It's getting fuel and spark.

A few from my past and present. 60 Falcon, 65 Barracuda, 71 Gremlin!!!, 73 Fiat Spider, 75 TR7, 76 MGB, 95 Miata, 71 Chevelle, 71 Austin Mini, 76 MG Midget, 77 Corvette and a new addition 72 big block 454 Corvette.

The heated manifold is for heating your carb to prevent icing. When plumbed in, you'll get hot water there whenever using your heater, like when it's damp and cool and you need to clear the windscreen and are at risk of carb icing. It's not necessary.

Is the exhaust manifold hot or RED HOT? If it's glowing, your timing is likely too advanced.

Did you plug the vacuum port on the carb?

Is "engine chatter" pinging??? Another sign of too advanced timing.

Do the timing marks on the flywheel agree with those on the front pulley?

Do the wires enter your dizzy cap about parallel to the ground on the rad side? If so, #1 is the uppermost post.

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.
Charles Kuralt

Autox/Rallyx Videos

Agreed but the car couldn't run at all if the plugs were firing on the exhaust stroke? If I do move the dizzy to get the timing around 0 the engine chatters. With it a good 3 inches ahead of the marks it runs rough but still tries to run but giving it gas does nothing or kills the engine. Thanks for everyones help so far!

A few from my past and present. 60 Falcon, 65 Barracuda, 71 Gremlin!!!, 73 Fiat Spider, 75 TR7, 76 MGB, 95 Miata, 71 Chevelle, 71 Austin Mini, 76 MG Midget, 77 Corvette and a new addition 72 big block 454 Corvette.

  Sounds like timing is still out.  How does using a dowel yield TDC?  The piston tops out during the exhaust stroke as well as the intake stroke.  You need to know which you've found.

SE7EN

I checked the timing. It is a good 3 inches above the timing mark. If I move it down to 1 degree it runs really bad and stalls. This dizzy supplied has no vacuum advance on it. It's an Aldon yellow.

A few from my past and present. 60 Falcon, 65 Barracuda, 71 Gremlin!!!, 73 Fiat Spider, 75 TR7, 76 MGB, 95 Miata, 71 Chevelle, 71 Austin Mini, 76 MG Midget, 77 Corvette and a new addition 72 big block 454 Corvette.

     OK used a dowel to find TDC on #1 and adjusted the wires. It fired up and idles a little rough spitting every now and then. Giving it gas doesn't rev the engine just increases the rpm's slightly. If you give it too much gas it stalls. Smells like it's running too rich. On another note the intake manifold has inlets for water lines. MM said it isn't necessary to plumb them in? That manifold gets pretty hot from the exhaust manifold.

A few from my past and present. 60 Falcon, 65 Barracuda, 71 Gremlin!!!, 73 Fiat Spider, 75 TR7, 76 MGB, 95 Miata, 71 Chevelle, 71 Austin Mini, 76 MG Midget, 77 Corvette and a new addition 72 big block 454 Corvette.