Alfa Pages

[Guest]

Can anyone tell what the ignition timing should be for my carburretor'd 1.7 Alfa33 Cloverleaf Sportwagon please?
I've just fitted two new hydraulic followers to the left cylinder head, thinking the two 'cracked' ones were the source of my problem.
The engine started and idled a bit unevenly. I ran for a while but it didn't get hot enough for the rad fan to cut in (and allow me to retorque the head bolts once it had cooled down)
As the original problem hadn't been solved I had a play with the idle speed setting and mixture screws on the carbs in an attempt to smooth the idle, but to no avail. Then I swapped the plug leads round (ensuring that the lead went to the correct spark plug from the each post on the distributor cap) to see if that made a difference - the engine then refused to run at all(!?).
I checked out a few queries on this site to see if anyone else had asked and what info there was didn't make it clear which cylinders were which on the 1-3-2-4 firing order.
I've got the lead from the foremost post on the disi cap going to the foremost cylinder on the RHS of the engine. The right post of the disi then feeds to the rear cylinder on the RHS. The disi post nearest the wind screen feeds to the rear cylinder on the LHS and the leftmost post feeds the front cylinder on the LHS.
This is how I'm sure it was set up before I started playing with the engine, but if any one has any other info I'd be happy to try it.
I even swapped sides with the tops of the carburretors (to see if one float or needle valve was causing the problem) with no positive result.
It's beginning to bug me as it's only a mechanical device - not subject to fluctuating hormones or illogical actions.