4AC timing

[StarTrekAdmiral]

I have just spent the last month of weekends rebuilding my 1986 Toyota Corolla SR5's 4AC engine. I had no compression in piston #3. Replaced pistons, put in gaskets, torqued all the bolts to engine specs and put it back in the car. Unfortunately, I can not get the car to start. It will fire but not catch. I believe the timing is off. It is set to 5 degrees off center with the #1 piston at TDC. What am I missing? I need to have this car up and running this weekend. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[fkn16v]

Have you checked the earth of the coil.

Your question is exact some thing happened to me once, i thought no one touched the coil, i know i didnt, but sure enough the earth (single black wire from memory) was off.

Other then that all i can suggest is to get the dizzy and cam timing 100%, it can be fiddly, even if it looks right it might not be, dizzy could be 180 degres out.

[StarTrekAdmiral]

Thank you, Steve. I am pretty certain that my earth (or grounds), are all attached. However, I will check and recheck if necessary.

Also, the thought of being 180 degrees off had occurred to me. On my crankshaft pulley, there are two separate marks. A hole on one end and a nipple of some sorts on the other. I can not for the life of me remember which one was the marking point for timing.

I thank you very much for your feedback on this issue.

Jim

[StarTrekAdmiral]

Well, as it turns out, my distributor was 180 degrees off. Although the car is running now, I still have to get the head shaved. The last person that worked on her was an idiot. He over tightened the head and warped it. Back to tearing her back down and completing the engine. Wish me luck. And thank you, Steve.