Ignition timing problem

[gknracer]

I have been lurking for several months, but I bought a beater 1991 240SX that would not start. When I bought it I figured that he had the cam chains off a tooth or something like that. I was fooling around with it before tearing it apart and by fully retarding the timing it seemed like it would almost start. First thing I did was to check where the timing was. I did not have a timing light so I pulled the plugs and found cylinder 1 TDC. Pulling the distributor to see where the rotor was aiming seemed to point toward the number 1 terminal. On a whim I decided to pull the distributor and reset it one tooth retarded. Because the gear is a helical I actually put it in at the exact same location the first attempt. I tried again and got it moved over one tooth. Bam! the car fired right up. The previous owner had the car for over 6 months and could not get it to run and changed the fuel pressure regulator, plug wires, ignition parts (cap and rotor), etc.

Just wanted to let you know that the car would sometimes fire, but not stay running at full retard.