I am having a fairly significant issue with my car. Looking for some troubleshooting ideas. Kind of a tough situation. Heres the deal-

I recently had the engine out for some unrelated work. I have the engine back in the car. Everything seems to work very well except that the spark plugs are not firing. I am getting fuel, starter is turning, motor spinning- just no sparks and therefore the engine will not run.

I have a 73 1.7l converted to 2.4l. Dual 40idfs. MSD 6AL with tach adapter. Everything is setup the same as when I removed the engine (it ran great when removed). Now, I have put everything back in however there are a few differences from when it previously ran. When I had the engine out of the car, I was also doing some work on the passenger cabin. I had some issues and the main group of wires leading back to the engine bay all got severed. I was able to clean everything and slice all of the wires back together. I did not think that would be an issue with the engine getting spark- however now i am not sure (what is I screwed some fo the wires up!!!)

I have checked all of the wires in the engine bay- everything is firmly and properly connected. I have checked to make sure that the MSD unit is getting power- it is. The starter is obviously getting power since it is running properly. I was playing around and unhooked the two wires from the msd unit to the distributor (pertronix). I did something quite stupid and let both of those bare wires touch the engien tin when the key was turned- the wires sparked like crazy so I assume they are getting power (the key was turned so the power is on but not turned enough where te starter in running).

I am trying to see if anybody has any ideas on what to check. Also, let say I switched two wires in the bundle that runs though the cabin tunnel or didn't amke a good connection on one- could this be my problem?- if so- which wires would be the culprit. I realize that it is difficult to help without seeing the engine, wiring, car, etc however I am just to looking for any ideas.

Thanks,
Steve

Take the MSD out of the circuit. Go back to points and a coil. (If you've got a points-replacement gizmo, go back to points.) Check for spark. Then install one gizmo at a time until you lose the spark. That last one is the one that's borked.

Pertronix units hate to be wired backwards. If you get it backwards it is fried.

Make sure you're getting +12V on the (+) terminal of the coil when the key is on. Make sure that the points can actually ground and then disconnect the single wire that goes to them when they open and close.

--DD

Totally agree with DD.

Unfortunately, I do not have points (or at least I can't find them). I will try to obtain some and see what happens. I take it that my cutting and repairing of the tunnel wires would not cause a problem like this?

Try things suggested here:
http://www.pertronix.com/support/tips/default.aspx