I'm confused

Ok,I get that but they dont get 'tight' or 'loose' like normal points do they? I thought that was the advantage of electronic over old style points, that they dont wear.Once theyre set (in the right position) they dont need any adjusting?

The pick up may be bad. Locate the connections and test the leads while cranking the engine. Better with a test light to see how it operates under load.
Steve

Question: Were the valve clearances within spec or did you have to change shims?

They where within spec but getting tight. At the moment I have them all at .007. I'm pretty frustrated right now. I've got the plugs out and I'm cranking it every couple hours hoping it was just flooded

So you haven't checked the pick up yet.
Steve

not sure what the pick up is? sorry if its simple but yesterday i cleaned every wire getting off most of the oxidization and cleaning id with a de-greaser and the a db of wd-40 to help prevent future corrosion and i adjusted the spark plug gaps. now i have bright blue sparks on both plugs and i can smell the gas but its still not firing! something to point out i did notice a thin layer of carbon buildup of the pistons that had a wet consistency. ive adjusted the valve within spec 4 times now and ive got an electronic ignition so im not sure what else to do.

davido wrote: Ok,I get that but they dont get 'tight' or 'loose' like normal points do they? I thought that was the advantage of electronic over old style points, that they dont wear.Once theyre set (in the right position) they dont need any adjusting?

Nope, they don't wear, or make contact, or even get closer together unless the crank bearings get really worn out, or the advancer mechanism gets loose.

Since the time it was last running, have you had the timing advancer apart? It's possible to put it back together the wrong way. The way to check is, when the pistons are at top-dead-center, the pointy part of the ignition rotor should be just slightly counter clockwise of the center of the pickup.

The pickup is the little black plastic box under the timing cover. You posted a photo of it. In your photo, the rotor is at about the correct position if the pistons are at TDC.

Richardb98 wrote: not sure what the pick up is? sorry if its simple but yesterday i cleaned every wire getting off most of the oxidization and cleaning id with a de-greaser and the a dab of wd-40 to help prevent future corrosion and i adjusted the spark plug gaps. now i have bright blue sparks on both plugs and i can smell the gas but its still not firing! something to point out i did notice a thin layer of carbon buildup of the pistons that had a wet consistency. ive adjusted the valve within spec 4 times now and ive got an electronic ignition so im not sure what else to do.

Bad idea! WD40 is a bad thing to use on wires, contacts, etc.! More than one person on this site has suffered the effects of using it that way. Use Deoxit or some other contact cleaner to clean that WD40 off anything electrical before that WD40 crap sets up and becomes an insulator. Ed

650ed wrote:

Richardb98 wrote: not sure what the pick up is? sorry if its simple but yesterday i cleaned every wire getting off most of the oxidization and cleaning id with a de-greaser and the a dab of wd-40 to help prevent future corrosion and i adjusted the spark plug gaps. now i have bright blue sparks on both plugs and i can smell the gas but its still not firing! something to point out i did notice a thin layer of carbon buildup of the pistons that had a wet consistency. ive adjusted the valve within spec 4 times now and ive got an electronic ignition so im not sure what else to do.

Bad idea! WD40 is a bad thing to use on wires, contacts, etc.! More than one person on this site has suffered the effects of using it that way. Use Deoxit or some other contact cleaner to clean that WD40 off anything electrical before that WD40 crap sets up and becomes an insulator. Ed

Yes.
As a matter of fact dielectric grease isn't a great idea either. Dielectric is essentially an insulator for the purposes of conducting electricity. I've spent many hours cleaning dielectric grease out of connections. It heats up, liquefies, then gets wicked into contacts. The contact area that actually carries current then is reduced and heats up more.

Just got done replacing headlight connectors on a Civic. They were full of grease (that looked cooked), and the bulbs were dim. Only chopping off the connectors and replacing them got the bulbs back to full brightness.

www.deoxit.com is the electrical contact cleaner/preservative I've used for years. My home Audio cables, cordless telephone charging cradle, motorcycle and car , get an occasional "spritz", to keep them operating as they should.

I've got it to fire today so I can say it's not timing. Now the only problem is that it's idling At about 5k RPM. looks like another weekend in the garage. Also it takes about 20 seconds of cranking it to get it started and I don't want to burn up my starter moter