hey board,
I'm back for some feed back, i'm getting tired of putting money in my bird with no result. I just got through a overheating problem and now i'm working with a timing/starting problem. My car will not keep a steady time, it jumps at least 4 or 5 degrees every couple rotations. I have changed the plugs, the module, the coil, and put an new distirbuter cap on, as well as putting a new timing chain on it, and it still does not help. the next thing that has been suggested to me is to change the distibuter altogether. is this a good next step, or am i heading in the wrong direction?

anything helps

Are you sure the distributor clamp is holding it down properly? Have someone else watch your timing and get back there and hold the distributor as steady as you possibly can, and ask them to see if the timing reading steadies out. If so, get a new clamp...

And to eliminate any sort of electronic malfunction, disconnect the EST and watch what the timing does. That eliminates a malfunctioning electronic advance as the culprit.

Distributor endplay, perhaps?

Nasty stretch in the timing chain? Pickup in the distributor shot?

Also, be careful if you decide to hold your distributor down by hand, I shocked the hell out of my hand turning it once, my cap had a bit of a crack in it and I didn't know and I got one hell of a jump.