here we go ,i'm building an 88 carbureted sami.i cannot get spark to the "+" positive coil terminal. with a jumper to the "+" positive battery terminal it starts and runs awesome.i'v put in a brand new ignition switch[which was junk], changed the igniter, swapped out ecu's,dizzy ground is good,changed the tach noise suppressor,changed and cleaned 15 amp fuse,done all the multimeter tests,main relay clicks.what am i forgetting,this is getting stupid,thanks in advance for any ideas short of an IED.

haaaa!! i found the b|removethispart|@5tard!it was the previous owner![again] this guy hooked up the ciggarette lighter power line to a key-off power source. i'm assuming because he did'nt know how to clean/change fuses. so when i went through all the fuses i created my own problem.took the wire off and voila.starts every time.no lie, this is about the 15th thing i've had to fix from the mickey mouse mofo who owned this before me. what a hack! thank god sam was cheap,and i didnt have to throw money at it.

Now that sounds like a pain to track down.  So the lighter was shorting out the coil?

i'm not sure if the dome light/ecu is tied in with the lighter circuit,i dont have a fsm, but if i hook it back up, it won't start.i got that all done,went to do the valve seals, took off the valve cover, and found 2 of the rocker shaft retainer bolts laying in the head!!unfortunately, the rest of them refused to come out. i personally have never seen rocker shafts held in with phillips head screws.bad design as far as i'm concerned,potential stripsville.so i adjusted the valves instead,put it back together,started it up, and in 2 minutes of idle in the driveway, the water pump blew.i cant believe what you have to go through to replace that.retarded setup for a consumable part.i get my new pump tomorrow,any more grief out of this motor and i'm gonna use it for target practice.

Hey Son of sam,  I think those  rocker screws are meant to be removed and replaced with an impact screwdriver.  It is a silly design though.  Allen head, torx, or inverted torx would have been better.


This one looks a little cheap, but it's only $5.99
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.harborfreight.com%2Fcpi%2Fctaf%2FDisplayitem.taf%3Fitemnumber%3D37530&ei=LTH6ScHWEJLEMZug8LwE&usg=AFQjCNER4k7LquwghP1cZtXDCt2nPP9sTw

thanks, i appreciate the tip, i usually dont like taking a hammer to my motors ,but this time,i'll make an exception! has anyone dropped a grand national v6 in a sami? just wondering if the downpipe fits,thanks again.