Car: 1977 Fiat 124 1800 with weber carb.
Problem: Not starting, but was running quite well.
The background: First of all, had the head on this car rebuilt about less than 2 years ago. Shop went out of business and I had to track my car down at the shop that bought the inventory in a near by town. Car has not run right since the head work. I have Terrible (about 12 mpg) gas mileage and I feel like I also have a bit less power. I paid a lot of money for the work (i could have purchased a new head and installed it for less...all because of a little coolant leak around the headgasket), but there is no guarantee or even anyone to ask what they did. All the new shop owner did was tell me how much I owed them...let's say I should have learned my lesson there...but I didn't. Since this work, I may have put 8k miles on the car.
Fast forward to now: There was oil leaking around my distributor (coming out the little hole in the bottom and dripping onto my exhaust manifold). I did some forum browsing and everything pointed to the distributor gasket needing to be replaced. I took it in to a shop to have this done. I was nervous about doing damage to the distributor shaft...anyhow...this is where things start to go downhill...the mechanic had a hard time getting the pin out and when putting it back in, had to spot weld it...they put the distributor back in the car and checked the timing and clearances. They said things were out of whack on the exhaust side and they had to adjust the shims. Ok, well, car has not run well since this work.
I decided to get brave and try to work on it myself. Here's where you guys come in...So far I have:
1. disconnected the battery
2. changed the inline fuel filter, the alternator, and a few vacuum lines
3. pulled the distributor - have another one to put in...old distributor shaft has a lot of play
4. pulled the plugs
5. hand turned the engine to TDC (good old dowel to its peak method in #1)
6. checked the four points for timing (intake and exhaust cam, crankshaft and aux shaft)
7. found that the only two that line up at TDC are the Intake cam and the crankshaft. exhaust cam is off a bit and aux shaft mark is at noon. NOT 1 or 2...
So, I need to adjust the exhaust cam and the aux shaft. I have already purchased a new timing belt and am on my way to get the recommended water pump to change that while i am in there...This is where I need guidance...is it as simple as taking the timing belt off and then simply turning the exhaust cam and aux shaft to the correct positions? Then, refitting the timing belt and then, with the engine still at TDC, putting the distributor back in with the rotor pointing to #4?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give to this novice-
Cheers, Olivia