ok so today i went out to change the distibter rotor, and when i was all done the car wouldnt start, it turns over but wont catch, i tripple checked everything and its all back on in the right spot, and every once in awhile it makes a loud shratching sound.

please help me out here, i have no clue whats going on, and not sure how i could have messed up so bad

 

Take the distributor cap off and look inside the cap for damage, also look at the rotor button for damage too...You may have misaligned the cap or rotor button when you put them on....

 

neither of them are damadged, ill see if u can line then up differently

 

ok so i checked those and still cant get it to start

 

Check the ignition wires are inserted in the right order. This is always #1 when dealing with distributor.

 

all ignition wire are in the right order, checked that a few times, i got it started but its ideling very weird and when i tried to drive there was almost no power

 

o and i am getting alot of smoke outta my exaust

 

check and see if you knocked something else loose.....like the injector plugs......a vaccum hose... just look around for stuff that doesnt conenct to anything but i would check your injector plugs

 

get a timing light and check your timing.
you may have inadvertently knocked the distributor out of time when you did the cap and rotor

 

where can i get a timing light at? and how much should i expect to pay for one?

 

sears, most part stores.
price goes from about $20for a cheap one on up.

you can actually try to see if the distributor housing can be turned be hand. if it can then you'll need to play a bit to get timing right

 

how would i tune the distrubutor by hand?

 

by turning it, til the car runs best.
this means the distributor is still attached to the motor.

 

Did you have trouble getting the rotor off. I did and by forcing it off by turning it with pliers I damaged the timing plate under the cover below the rotor. Yes I did remove set screw first! You can remove the two screws in cover plate to see if thin timing wheel is damaged, if so you must replace distributor as part is not available separately.

 

but the timing plate looks perfectly fine, and by timing plate you mean the little silver disc under the golden cap type thing

 

Ok I have a rotor problem as well and need help really bad to get the Max back on the road... I took my distrib. off and marked the set screw but not he rotor...I was replacing the valve cover gaskets...(I know stupid) but it has turned and I don't know what do do now. Do I set the motor to TDC and then aligen the rotor to fire on the # 1 cylinder? Any help here would be great...

 

It definitly sounds like you threw the timing WAY off. Try checking to see if you are getting spark at each wire. Take a screw driver and stick it in the end of the wire with another part of the screw driver almost touching metel while you turn it over you should see a spark. If all fireing start at TDC and go from there.

As long as you didn't move anything when you removed the Valve covers it should still be in time... in theroy! Unless you messed somethong else up. But i would start at the wires

 

I had to remove the dist. to get the valve cover off and it spun so I don't think it will go back in there the same while it? Is it keyed to only go in on certain teeth?