hey guys- im stumped- i think i may have crossed some wires doing a "simple" tune up this weekend, and for the life of me i cant find any diagrams on line or in the forums showing the wire order or firing order of my 79-


heres what i did to put me in this predicament-

i replaced the plugs, cap, rotor, coil, advance springs, and vacuum advance canister. i had the car running well and it was set at 10 degrees initial at idle. no problems. just had to fine tune the mechanical advance by putting in a different set of springs. i then shut off the car, take the dist cap off, the rotor, and swap out the springs to fine tune my mech advance.

i put it together, i turn it over and it doesnt start (thanks to me forgetting to install the rotor!!)

correcting that, i put it all together, and then the car becomes hard to start, in fact its difficult to turn over, then begrudingly starts and runs  rough and sputters, then stalls at idle. i was damn sure i was careful not to lose track of my sp. plug wires. so i take it apart again to see if theres something i missed- it was all put in ok- fits the way its supposed to. Put it back to gether and it runs the same way- bad

i checked the wires, all snug. swapped wire positions on the cap so see if i switched it, no change. moved the distributer every which way, some improvement, but still rough no matter what.

took it apart again to see if i missed anything- all correctly installed.

at this point,  I decide to put it back together with all the old parts to make sure it wasnt that, and once again it turned over fine but doesnt start (forgot the rotor yet again!)im losing it at this point!

so i put the rotor back in, put the old cap and coil back in, put it all together, check that the plugs are connected well, checked i had the wires the right way according to my numbering i marked before i started this disaster, and when i started it, i got the same thing as before- difficult turn over, missing and rough idle, and eventual stall. at this point its getting dark out and im frustrated beyond belief. i packed it in for another day.

this morning i wake up and thought about it- it must be the wires, and i must have swapped them at the plugs and not realized it maybe two adjacent plugs on one side or the other.

like i said, it ran fine till i opened the cap and messed with the wires and what not  the second time. i can double check myself if i had a spark plug wire diagram.

can anyone help me out here? im going to assume its something stupid and simple first, before i go nuts and buy more parts, or think the worst.

Steve, I feel yer pain! Every "simple" project seems to turn into a nightmare, but there's always a solution(so THEY say!
The firing order is:
1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2, and it is a clockwise rotation.
If you look on your dist cap wire retainer, you will see that it is numbered where the wire "tits" fit thru it. As long as the timming chain has not slipped, or the dist. has not been moved(in relation to the cam), you can check the wires for the proper location at the dist cap.
Then you need to verify the wires are on the correct plugs. Driver side is 1-3-5-7
pass side is 2-4-6-8
Hope this gets you on the right track!

stevep316,

 If you have a Haynes manual it is in the tune-up section. I am at work and can't get to my manual.

 

 Silverbullett

Have you checked all of you vacuum lines? If one became dislodged while you were in there, it could make a difference.

as soon as i get some daylight to look at it, im gonna check out all of the above. all are very good suggestions. i think that its a combination of wires and timing screwed up at this point, but its not out of the question i yanked a vacuum hose in the process.

i found some real good diagrams online for the wires and distributor on of all places autozones website. there is a car repair forum that has alot of tune up specs and general repair info. Theres lots of informative diagrams on the corvette in there- go to http://www.autozone.com and make up a profile for your vette- then go to repair info. youll find alot of downloadable, printable diagrams and pictures for reference.

thanks for the input guys- ill keep you posted on my progress.

UPDATE- SHE RUNS!

turns out i did something really simple and dumb- turns out i had the right wires hooked up, but one terminal over, giving an impossibly advanced timing, which explains why the timing mark would not come in, or why it wouldnt turn over easy. once i put it all back together with the new parts, i started it up, let it warm to operating temp, set the initial timing to 10 degrees, and left it alone.

not only does it run, it has made a huge improvement from before i started- like seat of the pants difference!

all your suggestions really helped me out! thanks guys!!!