I have a gutless 87 turbo, slow as a dog, no boost at all. A buddy of mine suggested checking the timing before i swap the engine, is this possible with the dis system? somebody help me

Dunno if this helps, but I had a similar problem with a '90 turbo. Turned out that the front catalytic converter (the one that hooks straight up to the elbow from the turbo) was shattered inside, so was preventing a good exhaust flow. Removing the contents of the cat pretty much solved the problem. Also, any exhaust or inlet hose leaks will likely affect boost very badly. Could be worth a look anyway? With no boost, the car will just crawl. It gotta have that boost to be anything like usable.

As for timing, not sure I understand your question? I think the ECU will report timing that is _way_ out of whack, but you can certainly time it up by setting the ECU in diagnostic mode (can't remember the pins to do this, but there must be posts on this - it's the same as for reading the ECU error codes).

Tony

i also ran into another problem the car no longer starts, this has never hapened before, and it really sounds like ignition timing. I just need to know how to adjust the ignition timing

OK, Connect terminals T1 and E1 on the Diagnostic port and start the engine checking that it idles at 650RPM [sorry, I know you say there's a problem starting, but I guess you will just have to experiment with the timing to get it *somewhere* near first :S]

Then turn the cam position sensor until it reads at 10 degrees BTDC with a timing light. (This is done with transmission in Neutral btw). Then, remove the T1/E1 link and re-start the engine and check that the ignition timing retards to between 10-12 degrees BTDC @ idle

Hope that info is of some help?

Tony

about that diagnostic port, my little covor that protects the terminals is long gone, so im not sure which one is T1 and E1, could you narrow it down for me as to which ones to connect, or maybe e-mail me a picture? Thank you for all your help

i never got into a situation like that so i wouldn't know

http://www.supra.co.nz/timing.htm ;)