Missing spark

[PMan_S13]

1. I just finished a rebuild and have been trying to put the car back in time... This is a 91 KA24DE with turbo

When I have the timing light trigger squeezed it will show a strobe, but it skips or misses every few seconds in no specific pattern. Also, the motor will miss as well when the light doesn't strobe. I tested this on the rest of the plug wires, they are all missing. So for some reason I am missing spark sparatically.

I'm guessing it's the distributer coil going bad.. my manual didn't show a very good picture of how to test its resistance, but I tried unplugging connectors and testing the prongs. I got 1.2-1.3 ohms.

I tried holding it at higher rpms (2-3k) and it still misses.Tried adjusting the timing, still misses.It doesn't pull timing when it misses.

2. Also, off topic, what is the normal advance of timing? I can't get the car to idle below 900 rpms, so the standard of 20 degrees btdc is somewhat irrelevant. At the moment it is at probably 25-35 degrees btdc and it seems to run pretty good.. besides the missing of course.

Thanks

[PMan_S13]

bump

[NISTECH]

maybe your distributor is off a tooth? check your mechanical timing again.

[PMan_S13]

what -is- the best way to check mechanical timing?

I've tried looking in my manuals (chiltons and FSM) but neither seem to have any better advice than "must be installed in the same position they came out in". I'm not even going to mention how unhelpful that is... oops

[NISTECH]

fsm should show the marks on both gears and how to align them with marks on the head and the block.

[PMan_S13]

Ok, since last time I have taken everything apart again. I found the correct way to set mechanical timing, so I put everything back the exact way it shows in the book. All marks lined up perfect.

Now the problem I'm still having...

..it stumbles at low rpms. By stumble I mean it is not getting spark 100% of the time.

I haven't had a chance to test any of the ignition system yet since I work all the time and it seems to be raining on my off days. But I'm guessing it is either the ignition or maybe a ground wire that didn't get put back on?

I'll be testing everything this weekend.. but I wanted some advice so I'm not stumbling into this completely blindly.

Thanks