Classic/Antique Car Repair: 1979 Pontiac Trans Am, spark plug cable, engine cranks

Question
Having troubles starting my car. It will not fire up. Any suggestions?

Answer
This is really too new a car for me to know much about, but I can give you a few ideas, and I suggest you also post your question to someone who is more familiar with recent cars.  While a 1979 must seem to you like an old car, to me it is modern!  If it were a 1939 Pontiac, I could be some real help to you.

As for the ideas, you can do some sorting yourself.

If it cranks over on the starter at normal speeds,  your battery and starter and the wiring for those things are OK.  

If it cranks over much too fast, there is a serious problem with the camshaft or timing gears - so don't bother trying to fix it yourself unless you are able to rebuild an engine

If it cranks too slowly, check your battery state of charge, your battery cables (tight, clean at both ends, no clamp on repair ends).

If all the above seems OK, then try this trick:  Get a friend to crank the engine while you spray some WD-40 into the carburetor air inlet. If the engine starts, even for a second or so, you know your problem is lack of fuel.   Look down into the carburetor while your helper pumps the gas pedal a few times - there should be two healthy squirts of gas each time the pedal is pushed to the floor.  If not, there is no gas in the carburetor or the accelerator pump has failed.  If there is no gas in the carburetor, check the fuel pump pressure and delivery rate, and check the carburetor needle valve to make sure it isn't stuck shut (blow into the fuel inlet fitting - if it is blocked, it is probably stuck shut).

If the fuel pump isn't putting out a healthy pulse of gas each time the engine cranks over, either you are out of gas or you have a bad pump (or the fuel line is blocked).

If it didn't start on the WD-40, your problem is ignition.  Pull a spark plug cable off one of the plugs, and lay it so the metal end is within about 1/8 inch of the engine block.  See if you can see spark jumping when the engine is cranked. If not, clean or replace your points and condenser, and inspect the wiring from the coil to the distributor (both wires!).   

If that didn't help, Put an extra wire on the + terminal of the coil and connect that wire directly to the + terminal of the battery. If that makes it start and run, you have a bad ignition switch or a wire has come loose somewhere in the ignition circuit.

OK< I'll quit now - and hope this gets you going.

Dick