The family loves this 40+ mpg gone shopping little car, but it won't start.I have 118 psi on all three cylinders and no troble codes stored,new roto button, cleaned three contact points in distributor cap ,pulled gas line at carb and get a good flow, peaked in on timing belt and its rotating when cranking, pulled spark wires and plenty of fire,pulled plugs looked good, brushed and put back,shot quick start down throat of carb and nothing.any help or ideas will be appreciated. Bernie

 

I know this is ancient history now - but it sure sounds like the timing is off a mile. Pity I wasn't on here when this post was first written, these mini-cars are getting popular again. My own black-ops project is based on fronting a four cylinder metro/sprint clone, and the biggest issue I saw with it was the timing belt got old enough for the car to swallow a valve before the PO's (Previous Owners) got smart and tried to get it right.

When valve timing goes - the engine goes. Some engines are what we call "FREE RUNNING" while others are designed so that when the pistons are at top dead center the valves MUST be closed or they will slam into eachother. The second case I just mentioned is called a "SHARED SPACE" upper chamber, and is typical of high compression engines built for racing. Manufacturers have gotten away from that because of the damage that can happen with worn timing belts, among other reasons.

A Free Running engine doesn't have that issue - it is designed so that in normal circumstances the piston tops and valves can never interfere with eachother. This way, you can sling a T-belt and not have to replace the whole top end.