Gave Jake's suggestion a try. Same result, It sounds like maybe only one
cylinder fires. I was home on lunch break so that's all I did.  I have a
friend coming over at 4pm so that he can crank and I can check for spark at
each plug.

I think unknowingly I damaged the hall sensor. I think this because when I
removed the distributor to inspect it last night I couldn't easily turn the
center shaft until i tweaked the metal cup with the cutouts a bit.  Maybe It
got banged while I had it stored in a box waiting for the new engine.

:-|

-Ry
http://www.google.com/profiles/rylincoln

On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 11:52 AM, Jake de Villiers <
crescentbeachguitar@gmail.com> wrote:

> Sounds like the timing's maybe a little advanced - retard it 3/8" of an
> inch and see what happens.
>
> Clockwise would be retard.
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 9:17 AM, Ry <rylincoln@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the help folks.  I'm still troubleshooting it. Mark, I DO have
>> my
>> transmission filled with oil, I promise, rigged up a nice long hose and
>> big
>> funnel hanging from rear a/c grating worked great for filling it up.
>>  Miguel, I removed the plugs and #2 and #4 were carbon coated more than
>> the
>> rest, I cleaned them all.  Scott thanks for the advice on raising the
>> rearend and letting the wheels spin a bit to get the oil all up in brand
>> new
>> transmission, I'll be doing that once I get the engine started again.
>>
>>
>> Here's a photo of my distributor and TDC settings.
>> http://is.gd/aM4Dz
>>
>> And some audio of me cranking the engine with timing set by eye as best I
>> know how. It fires just a little bit.
>> http://is.gd/aM4Cs
>>
>> Thanks again to all.
>>
>> -Ry
>> http://www.google.com/profiles/rylincoln
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 10:07 PM, Benny boy <huotb@videotron.ca> wrote:
>>
>> > When something work and you move/touch something and it's stop working,
>> go
>> > back in time and put it the way it was before. Double check what you did
>> > that could have created the problem.
>> >
>> > Timing may be way off and it was somewhat ok with the plug wire not at
>> the
>> > right position. Now you need to make sure TDC is right and concord with
>> the
>> > rotor/distributor cap.
>> >
>> > What is wrong now is timing. Maybe the distributor gear is not align?
>> >
>> > The basic of TDC
>> > http://www.benplace.com/tdc.htm
>> >
>> > Ben
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:31:47 -0500, Ry <rylincoln@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> >
>> > >ok so I made a mistake.  i had the spark plugs hooked up on the
>> > distributor
>> > >cap so that it was firing 1-2-3-4 instead of 1-4-3-2  even though I
>> KNEW
>> > >what it was supposed to be, just a late evening working all day shoulda
>> > >taken a break mistake.
>> > >
>> > >Thing is it started right up that way though was rough and a bit
>> loud(now
>> > i
>> > >know why!).
>> > >Now that I got it all hooked up proper like, it doesn't want to start,
>> it
>> > >has sputtered a few times. :(  did i do something awful?
>> > >
>> > >I'm letting it rest right now and charging the batter(i didn't try so
>> long
>> > >that i let the battery go dead, just knew it hadn't been charged in
>> more
>> > >than a month)
>> > >
>> > >sigh... any hep?
>> > >-Ry
>> > >http://www.google.com/profiles/rylincoln
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 12:34 PM, mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net>
>> > wrote:
>> > >
>> > >> I hope you did manage to put oil in the tranny before running the
>> engine
>> > >> much. You can ruin the dry tranny without driving the van, since the
>> > engine
>> > >> will always turn the tranny mainshaft.
>> > >>
>> > >> Mark
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> Ry wrote:
>> > >>
>> > >>> Update:
>> > >>> A few loose bolts on engine tin, timing not dialed in yet, coolant
>> > system
>> > >>> needs to be bled some more(not that hard imho) and DOH i forgot to
>> put
>> > >>> trans
>> > >>> oil in BEFORE i bolted it all up and made it more difficult to do.
>> > >>>
>> > >>> BUT first try and it started right up :)
>> > >>>
>> > >>>
>> > >>>
>> >
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jake
>
> 1984 Vanagon GL
> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
>
> Crescent Beach, BC
>
> www.thebassspa.com
> www.crescentbeachguitar.com
> http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27
>
>