[DeTomaso] Help!

[Christopher Kimball]

Well, this is what I get for trying to work on a Pantera myself...

The car timing, as you might recall, was strange, and there seemed to be a slight "missing" when it was running well (at 38 degrees instead of the recommended 16 degrees).  It was postulated that it might be the spark plugs, so I bought new ones (Taylor) and installed them.

While I was at it, I noticed that with the damper at tdc, the rotor's contact was actually more between #1 and the next cylinder over, instead of pointing directly at #1.  The distributor had a small mark on it, indicating (I think) the correct position for the distributor to be when checking these things.

Remembering that someone suggested the distributor might be out of place by one gear, I decided to move it over one position so that the contact would line up with the #1 cylinder (the base of the distributor was marked so with the cap off I know where the #1 position is when the distributor is rotated in the correct position).

When I tried to start it, the car chugged in a very strange way, but wouldn't start.

I assumed I had moved the distributor over too far, so I moved it again, and it seems to be dead on pointing at the #1 cylinder, but now the car won't start at all.  It just turns over and over.  I checked the MSD box, and I think the LED is supposed to flash when trying to start the car, but the LED did not come on at all.

Did I destroy my MSD box, and if so, how?

Any suggestions?

Sincerely,

Chris