so how did you get on man?
just curious ;)
choice from chris

Hy Smj92845,I remember your advice,you told me you changed the dist and that took care of it. Before trying something drastic as getting rid of the system as a whole ,I tried to zero on the
fault,but it is not easy,at least for me,I am an enthusiast mechanic,not a pro.I thought about going to a japanesse spec points system,which has a better advance curve,but I think as of now I
am as close to the cause of the problem,as the orange in the tree right next to me,only 15 feet high! I will try the "trick" (excelent note,I am writing it in my book) from Bobs 1200 ,(by the
way,thanks Bob for that tech advise),and in the event there is nothing going on with the chain,I will try the transistor box,(which I will take to the dealer and ask the guys there if there
would not be a problem in connecting it (78box) to my car (76). There is always a posibility that a diod,or transistor or something else is different and KAPUT! with my electro system. In the
event the box is bad(which I always suspected),I will post a picture of a beer so that we can all celebrate!(sorry guys,but the distance between us gives me as my only option to share my
success the posting of a cold,refreshing beer). In the event the box does nothing,then my only posibility would be a distributor shaft ,or weights,or something within the distributor
problem,in which case I will try another distributor,or a reconditioned one. Teretonga tells me something about the chain,I do not know exactly what you mean teretonga with that comment. The
chain is still moving the cam,although is an ohv. But you might have the last word,perhaps there is a perf. cam inside the engine.
Thanks to all .
Jaime KGB mechanic

Knowing tensandtwenties, I think he DOES like to be disagreeable sometimes. I do concede that there are engines with gear driven cams. The A-series isn't one
of them however.

Not to be disagreeable (never having opended an A timing cover), but plenty of push-rod motors just use meshed gears. Seems like a simple
mistake. ;^)

By: dimlight65
Date: 2/14/02 9:29 am

I hate to flame people, but have you ever even been inside an A-series teretonga? If there is no timing chain, what makes your cam go round
and round?

I hate to flame people, but have you ever even been inside an A-series teretonga? If there is no timing chain, what makes your cam go round and round? I'm sorry, I don't mean to be
an asshole but come on, you brought that on yourself. I just hope the DLF sees this post berating you and decides not come take you away in the night. Oh and happy VD (Valentines
Day) everyone.
Tim

Any vacuum leaks? i think you have done something with the carb lately. you know how it is, sometimes you get 'tunnel' vision tracking down a problem
and miss the obvious.
angelo

Jaime,
Like I told once, I was having the same rough idle problem with the a-14 engine that I put into my coupe.(Timing mark jumping back and forth under the timing strobe light). I decided to
replace the electronic ignition with plain old points and condenser, and that solved the problem. I m not sure if it was the electroinic transistor box or not, but its worth a try for
you to try the other box and see if theres an improvement. I know that being a '76 with smog equipment, you can't put points and condensor distributor in yours, though.
Steve

you can check for timing chain stretch by placing a wrench on crankshaft rotate it clockwise remove the cap from the distributor now turn the crank counter clockwise
the distributor rotor should move as soon as you turn the crank, if not you have excesive slack in your chain.

Hi Jaime,

No timing chain with the A-series - push rod power all the way. A bad chain can make noise but only on
an OHC motor.

Hey Chris. I took the spark plug cables out of each plug ,one at a time,and the feeling is the same for each cylinder.My old plugs looked all alike,as if all cylinders are working all the
same. The RPM is about 800.The timing is as stock,I checked it and ,after disconecting the dist.vaccum hose ,seted it to specs( I do not have the exact # on me know). One thing ,the timming
mark is a little bit jumpy. I thoughht about the timming chain,but there is no chain noise,and others have told me(could be wrong) that a bad chain would sound,make noise. As Teretonga
says,it could be due to a tricked cam in the engine,I do not know that part,and to get rid of one more posible culprit,I want to try a 78 transistor ignition unit(brain),but I have not done
it yet ,because I want to make sure the 78 and 76 are compatible.The only thing that I found messed up once was the reluctor(steel star like wheel inside distributor),it has 4 teeth,this
one had one almost gone,so I got a new one from nissan,as well as a new pick up coil.
This is a job for the russian KGB!