Well. I like an idiot changed the cap, rotor, and plug wires on my 911. The car sometimes would develop a slight miss at low RPM if the old wires were disturbed or fiddled with.
I did the job as I had on any american car in the past. I removed everything all at once then put the new parts on. I installed the #1 plug wire on the terminal on the cap that aligned with the mark on the distributor. Then followed the firing order of the engine and installed each plug wire in onto the following terminal.
Now...she no run! I now know there is a trick, procedure, sequence, or whatever to do this. I just don't know what it is. I give up !

 

Does your dist. rotor turn clockwise, or counter clockwise?

 

I thought the manual said clock wise. Do the 3.0 have different rotor rotations?
The only thing I've heard was about the rotor has to do 2 rotations for each firing. ?????
I did not remove the distibutor so I would assume that lining the engine up to Z1 and making sure the rotor is in line with the mark on the distributor is not needed.
I'm doing this alone so to spin the engine and watch the rotor is hard to do.

 

Usually there is a decal on the rear deck lid sill that has the direction of rotation. I honestly forgot which way it turns, I will see if I can find a diagram to help. In the mean time, take a 22mm wrench(adjustable will do) and turn the alternator nut clockwise, you may have to squeeze the fan belt to turn the crank. You will see which way it turns with the cap off - or just put the car in 4th gear and bump it forward from the rear bumper while looking at the rotor.

 

3.0 turns CCW so the wires are installed reverse so only 1 and 4 are correct in the clockwise situation.
Bruce

 

thats what I thought. my confusion comes from some early BMWs I played with where they swapped the rotation, and something in my obscure memory tells me that the 911 could have had a change too.
Most of the air-cooled cars have the little decal somewhere.

 

Yes, the SC turns ccw, which is the reverse of the 3.2 911.

 

Okay this is a sibject of which i have a lot of experince as mos know ...
THE BENTLY IS WRONG >>>> THE SC AS POINTED OUT ABSOLUTELY TURNS CCW. AFTE YOU FIX THIS MISPRINT IN YOUR MANUAL FIX YOUR WIRES AND CALL IT A NIGHT .. THE BACKFIRES CAN BLOW YOUR AIR BOX RIGHT OFF YOUR CAR. ALL THAT CRANKING HAS DUMPED FUEL INTO YOUR INTAKES SO LET IT AIR OUT OVER NIGHT.

 

Okay, thanks guys. Unfortunatly I don't have a lot of time to play with the car right now. I did re-arrange the wires to the ccw rotation. It did start but still does not un right. I'll have to play with it some more again.

 

Hey everyone. Just wanted to say thank you for the input on my problem. Unfortunately I still have not been able to give the car any attention. Just moved, just got married, new bussniess. And all the other stuff going on. Wish I knew someone in my area that knew Porsche ! I'd pay him to fix it ! I want to drive it ssssoooo bad. I just can't spend the time on it right now.

 

Good luck Jim and congrats. A 911 compliments a healthy life in many respects and you seem to have all the right directives. Post up your location and maybe a fellow Rlister can assist. There is probably an easy solution, so don't give up.

 

The rotor should be fully seated, and if the cap has a square lug in it's base, then it probaby registers into a correspondimg notch in the distributor body. Make sure the cap is not installed backwards 180 deg.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I'm in Olmsted Ohio. About 5 minutes from Cleveland Hopkins airport. Any help anyone can give would be great. I know it's something stupid.

As I said earlier anytime the wires would be disturbed the car would develop a slight miss. That's why I decided to change the wires. The cap and rotor are seated and installed correctly. This makes me feel pretty stupid. I'm actually a pretty good wrench. I just have zero experience with the air cooled Porsche.

 

Is there any chance you installed generic U-splice wires? Or did you use Magnacor or Beru? Have you tested for spark?

 

The wires I used were Clewett wires. I do have to say that I was not happy with the fit on the plug side. It actually took hours to get them on to where I thought they were installed correctly. I even used an old wire on #5 because that one would not go on. I even reinstalled the old wires just to make sure it wasn't something I was doing wrong. The cap and rotor are on correctly also.

I hate to admit this because at this point this has become some what of an ego killer, but I'm actually a good wrench. I just have no history with Porsche. And I have learned over the years that experience is everything.

Thanks again