I bought a 1990 iroc 2 months ago. the car has 78,000 miles and is pretty much complete except for the ignition system. it was missing the distributor, sparkplugs,and wires. i got it all, hooked it up, i did the ignition timing the best i could. i went to try and start it and it will not spark, it wont even try. the engine will just keep cranking. i figured the next step would to be check the fuses and they were all fine then i checked to see if im missing any. according to the repair manual im missing two fuses for the ignition? problem is, the fuses dont say how many amps in the picture. and i showed the local kragens the picture in my manual and they couldnt help me. i know that the 90-92 fuse blocks are the same and my friends got a 91 z28 so im planning to check his to get a better idea of what my car is suppose to look like..... so my question is am i on the right track? are those fuses that uncommon? and if my car still wont start after this step is done does anybody have any suggestions? any info would be appreciated

 

You say it's not *sparking*? As in, your spark plugs aren't sparking? How did you set your timing if your spark plugs aren't firing?

 

yeah pretty much you know when you try to start a car sometimes it will at least spark but the car still wont start my car just isn't sparking at all. even if my timing was way off it should still spark. but i set the timing by manually cranking the engine until #1 was at the top then i set the rotor on the distributor as close as to the #1 tower on the cap as i could. i know its not perfect but i think it should be good enough to get the car started at least

 

Ah, ok. Yeah, it should definitely be sparking and at least running for a few seconds. Put those fuses in first. Then if it still won't spark, check your ignition coil. If it's cranking, your ECM should be good, but the wires themselves between that and your coil could be broken. But do yourself a favor and GET THOSE FUSES IN before you screw around with ANYTHING else. What I mentioned are *possible* problems; what you've mentioned is a DEFINITE problem.

 

You could be 180 degrees out on the timing. There are 2 strokes for each timing cycle, compression stroke and exhaust stroke - you might have balancer set to zero on the exhaust stroke (180 degrees out). The ONLY way to set in a distributor is:

Remove #1 spark plug.
Place finger over hole.
Rotate engine until you feel outwards air pressure on your finger.
Then - align balancer with ZERO mark
Replace #1 spark plug
Remove dist cap - wherever the rotor points, that HAS to be the #1 spark plug wire
Follow firing order from there.

 

yeah i just checked the fuse block on my frends 91 z28 his didnt have the fuses either but his car runs... i need to do more homework it might be my ignition coil there is some rust on it

 

that is exactly what i did thats what is fusturating me im not expecting it to be perfect but it should at least spark

 

take a spark plug out, attach it to the wire, touch it to the engine block, and have someone crank the engine over, that will tell you indefinatly if your spark plugs are firing.

 

Even if the dizzy was 180 out it would still have spark it just wouldnt crank...

 

might want to pay more attention to post dates. A engine will crank with a distributor 180 out but won’t start!